A Comparative Review of Modal Particles in Chinese and Burmese and Its Implications for Chinese Teaching to Burmese Learners

Abstract

With the advancement of international Chinese language education, research on second language teaching of Chinese modal particles has increased significantly, yet studies targeting Burmese Chinese learners remain inadequate. Addressing this research gap, this paper focuses on a comparative review of Chinese-Burmese modal particles and its pedagogical implications. It systematically examines the conceptual evolution of "modality" in domestic and international scholarship, analyzing existing research achievements regarding nomenclature, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatic functions of modal particles in both languages. Comparative analysis reveals that while Chinese and Burmese modal particles share commonalities in phonological variations, syntactic auxiliary functions, co-occurrence phenomena, and core modality expression, they demonstrate significant differences in phonetic features, syntactic distributions, semantic functions, and pragmatic strategies. Current limitations include the absence of a comprehensive theoretical framework for Burmese modal particles, insufficient depth in cross-linguistic comparisons, and weak pedagogical orientation in second language instruction. To address these issues, the study proposes strategic solutions: cultivating interdisciplinary teaching teams, establishing dedicated corpus analysis platforms, implementing contextualized tiered instruction, and developing AI-driven teaching systems. These recommendations aim to strengthen current research deficiencies and promote the scientific systematization of Chinese modal particle instruction for Burmese learners.