Taxonomy of meanings for 哉:　　

  • zāi (OC: skɯɯ MC: tsəi) 祖才切 平 廣韻：【語助 】
    • MODAL PARTICLES
      • ppostadSemphatic marker of the imperative modality.
      • specificlly> EXCLAMATORY PARTICLE
        • ppost.npro{PRED}exclamatory彼哉彼哉 "such a person! such a person!"
        • ppostadN{PRED}ah, the N!
        • ppostadSexclamatory
        • ppostadV.+N{SUBJ}賢哉回也　exclamatory particle (note that the 也 is optional)
        • ppostadV(0)exclamatory particle
        • ppostadVexclamatoryfinal particle in verbal exclamatory sentences 管仲之器小哉"Guǎnzhòng's format is so small!"
        • ppostN.+Vexclamatory小人哉
        • ppostadNvocative, exlamatoryOh N!CH
        • ppostadN{PRED}.+N{SUBJ}小人哉樊須也！marks an exclamatorily marked nominal predicate preceding its subjectCH
        • ppostadSS=nominal predicateThe modified sentence conistists of a predicative NCH
        • interrogatory> QUESTION PARTICLES
          • ppostadSmarking urgent questionsCH
          • ppostad.npro{Q}questionquestion marker
          • ppostadSrhetorical question天何言哉？(in questions) rhetorical
          • ppostadSexpected answer: no!final particle used after rhetorical questions inviting a negative answer MOVE TO PRECEDING
          • ppostadnpro{Q}particle marking a question as being of particular concernCH

    Additional information about 哉

    說文解字:

      Criteria
    • ALAS

      [DECLARATIVE/EXCLAMATORY]

      [EMOTIONAL/UNEMOTIONAL]

      [EMPHATIC/UNEMPHATIC]

      [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

      1. Wū hū 嗚呼 / 於乎 / 於呼 expresses an emphatic complaint. Note that there is is specially large number of graphic variants used to write this word.

      [EMOTIONAL], [EXCLAMATORY], [HIGH-DEGREE]

      2. A1i zāi 哀哉 adds to the complaint the judgment that something is indeed sad.

      [DECLARATIVE], [EMPHATIC]

    • EXCLAMATORY PARTICLE

      1. The current general exclamatory particle is zāi 哉, and this word expresses the speaker's intensely held emphatic attitude towards what he says.

      2. Hū 乎 typically invites a commonality of intensely held emphatic attitude between speaker and listener and is thus semantically related to final fú 夫 meaning n'est ce pas in that these particles, although express quite different nuances of meaning, do contain the same element of communicative appeal to audience rather than straight expressiveness as such.

      3. Xī 嘻 "Ha!" expresses surprise.

    • MODAL PARTICLES

      也 is judgmental and judgmentally descriptive, never narrative: "it is the case that; the point is that"矣 narrative or narratively descriptive and marks to a currently new, currently relevant or currently conditioned narrative statement.已 is judgmental as well as emphatic or definitive: "definitively!, definitely"而已 is decisive and exclusive of alternatives: "and that is all".耳 is a less emphatic 而已.爾 is a scribal variant for 耳 and writes the same word.哉 is emphatic and marks emotionally charged statements: "!".夫 =否乎 is tentative and marks statements the truth of which is held to open to doubt: "n'est-ce pas?"

    • QUESTION PARTICLES

      Basic sentence-final question particles:乎 marks narrative or narratively descriptive verbal questions, and also indirect questions.耶 marks judgmental questions.也 can mark objective judgmental questions “何謂也　"what does this mean" not "what are you trying to say?" 哉 can mark emotionally charged rhetorical questions.

    • PEOPLE

      1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9

      2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.

      3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".

      4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.

      5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.

      6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.

      7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.

      8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.

      9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.

      10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.