I took a rudimentary Japanese linguistics class and we were told that the function of "ne" as a sentence-final particle not only seeks out agreement, but is a verbal cue for the listener to indicate that a) they are still listening and b) they understand what is being said. The listener will respond with either "un" (in casual settings) or some other affirmative indicator like nodding.
He gave an example where two people were describing an earthquake and one woman was trying to describe how a salsa bottle fell, but she couldn't remember the word for it so she called it 'taco bottle' (translated) and added "ne" at the end. She didn't continue speaking until the listener had nodded to indicate that she understood what the object was, signalling that the speaker could continue. I'm under the impression that "ne" is a very important conversational cue.
I took a rudimentary Japanese
I took a rudimentary Japanese linguistics class and we were told that the function of "ne" as a sentence-final particle not only seeks out agreement, but is a verbal cue for the listener to indicate that a) they are still listening and b) they understand what is being said. The listener will respond with either "un" (in casual settings) or some other affirmative indicator like nodding.
He gave an example where two people were describing an earthquake and one woman was trying to describe how a salsa bottle fell, but she couldn't remember the word for it so she called it 'taco bottle' (translated) and added "ne" at the end. She didn't continue speaking until the listener had nodded to indicate that she understood what the object was, signalling that the speaker could continue. I'm under the impression that "ne" is a very important conversational cue.