Mandarin Chinese is rich in sentence-final particles, which have to follow a rigid linear order when they cluster. In much of the literature, researchers focus on clarifying the functions of individual particles, with less attention being paid to the explanations of their highly restricted order. Based on corpus data and using the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG, Hengeveld & Mackenzie 2008), this paper explores the questions which particles can cluster and why they cluster in a specific order. We show that maximally three Mandarin sentence-final particles can cluster, and we argue that their sequence is restricted by their positioning in a strict four-layered hierarchical structure, in which each particle pertains to a specific semantic or pragmatic layer. In addition, Mandarin particles provide evidence that there are operators at a higher discourse level than so far assumed to exist in FDG.

中文翻译：

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汉语句末助词*

普通话的句末助词很丰富，它们在聚集时必须遵循严格的线性顺序。在许多文献中，研究人员专注于阐明单个粒子的功能，而很少关注对其高度受限的顺序的解释。本文基于语料库数据并使用功能性话语语法框架（FDG, Hengeveld & Mackenzie 2008），探讨了哪些粒子可以聚类以及为什么它们以特定顺序聚类的问题。我们证明了最多三个普通话句末助词可以聚类，并且我们认为它们的序列受到它们在严格的四层层次结构中的定位的限制，其中每个助词都属于特定的语义或语用层。此外，