In adopting a discourse perspective to analyzing the forms and functions of Cantonese utterance-final
particles, Luke (1990) contends that the contribution of these particles to the meaning of an utterance is
contingent on the sequential contexts of the conversation, and not on syntactic or semantic relations. In
other words, how a particle affects the meaning of an utterance is dependent on what comes before and
after the utterance, or the previous and anticipated lines of conversation. Hence, Luke (pp. 263-287)
suggests that Cantonese utterance-final particles could be considered as discourse markers, following
Schiffrin's (1987, p. 31) definition of discourse markers as "sequentially dependent elements that bracket
units of talk." The main function of discourse markers is to provide "contextual coordinates" so that
speaker meanings in ongoing discourse can be interpreted appropriately.
The centrality of particles in constituting the modality of utterances in the specific contexts of everyday
conversational dialogues shows that utterance-final particles in Cantonese are a means by which speakers