Jing-Schmidt, ZhuoZhu, Lin2021-09-132021-09-132021-09-13https://hdl.handle.net/1794/26611This dissertation adopts the usage-based constructionist approach to investigate three sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Mandarin Chinese, bei, ne, and a, with the help of British corpus linguistics techniques. The study is based on data collected from the BCC corpus and the instant communication tool WeChat. The results show that their functions are best understood holistically as part of those constructions, instead of associating functions with SFPs as morphemes. This study therefore demystifies the long-held belief that SFPs are elusive.en-USAll Rights Reserved.construction grammarcorpus linguisticsMandarinpragmaticssemantic prosodysentence-final particleElectronic Thesis or Dissertation