The Functions Of Discourse Particles English Language Essay

The Functions Of Discourse Particles slope Language Es consecrateAccording to Loraine K. Obler and Kris Gjerlow (Language and the Brain,1999, pp. 131-132), many bilinguals, in accompaniment to speaking two or more lectures fluently, have ability to employ elements of both languages when speaking with an new(prenominal) bilingual and this is known as code- transposition and it is governed by internalized rules. Code-switching is a very normal phenomenon in many parts of the world and one has always to take into account the distinction between, on the one hand, community (or national) and the other individual bilingualism and multilingualism and they ar not necessary closely related. (Pride, The Social Meaning of Language, 1971, p. 26) on that point argon many types of code-switching such as tag switching, intrasentential switching and intersentential switching.Kamisah Ariffin and Shameem Rafik Galea (Code Switching as a Communication Device in Conversation) found that their subje cts employ code switching as a personal communication strategy. The strategies they apply are signalling tender relationships and language preferences, obviating difficulties, framing discourse, contrasting personalisation and objectification, conveying cultural-expressive message, dramatising key words, lowering language barriers, maintaining appropriateness of context, showing membership and affiliation with others and reinterring messages.What is Malayan English?Malaysian English or more prevalently known as Manglish, is the colloquial version of English spoken in Malaysia and it is similar to Singlish, which is capital of Singapore English. While Bahasa Malaysia is the national language, English is still widely utilize and is the second language in Malaysia. Many Malay words are being introduced into Manglish. The close common example is suffixing a article of faith with the -lah particle which does not have any specific meaning on the sentence. Besides the influence of Bahasa Malaysia, there are also influence from other languages and dialects like Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil in Malaysian English.Language as Social SemioticHalliday (1973, 1985) proposed a systemic, officeal view of language which sees it in the social function it serves. He believes that language is a systematic resource for expressing meaning in context, not the set of all feasible well-formed sentences. (Jordan, Theory Construction in Second Language Acquisition, 2004, p.6) He believes that there are two main functions of language which are ideational function and the social function. Ideational function allows people to deal with their ideas, perspectives and happenings on a particular subject whereas interpersonal function allows people to deal with each other. He believes that the social function of the languages is more important than the grammatical aspects of the languages. For example, a person may not be able to construct a grammatically correct sentence but he/she is able to convey their idea effectively and is recogniseable by others.Communication Accommodation TheoryAccording to Howard Giles and Peter F. Powesland, accommodation by means of speech rout out be regarded as an attempt on the part of a speaker to modify or disguise his persona in score to make it more acceptable to the person addressed. (Speech Style and Social Evaluation, 1975, p. 158) When we speak to people from different age, status, culture, etc, we tend to switch to a mode which the person we are speaking to is comfortable in. For example, when speaking to babies, we tend to use simpler words and shorter sentences and this is called baby talk. On the other hand, when speaking to a professor, we tend to switch to a conventional language and use jargons in the field that we specialise in.Maya Khemlani David (Tolerance and Communication in Multi-ethnic Malaysia) found that the particles lah and meh are used in informal settings to specify emphasis on somethi ng or to s much a speech act like requests. The info collected from her research found that even though the Chinese students in that particular school are proficient in English, they tend to code switch for many reasons such as to emphasis, to quote someone else, for distancing or making a formal complaint and to signify solidarity with members of their group. Hence, she concluded that her findings show that people from other ethnic groups accommodate and switch to a language they are comfortable in when communicating with each other.It is very common for us to use the particles lah, ah, mah, etc in our daily life because we are so used to them and we often use them in our daily discourse. These particles only exist in Malaysian English and Singapore English. However, what are the functions of these particles? Hence, this paper is going to examine the functions of these particles in a conversation.MethodA 15 minute conversation was reputationed and transcribed. The conversation w as among four ladies aged 24 and they are all university graduates. They are proficient in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Besides that, they are also proficient in their mother tongue. The reason this conversation is used is because it was a casual conversation among them. Casual conversation is chosen over formal interviews because we tend to switch to a formal language when we are in a formal setting. Hence, the result of the study leave alone not be accurate because in standard English, we do not use the particles. These particles only exist in casual conversations because there is a wish for the speakers to accommodate with each other.The transcription was analysed for the discourse particles used throughout the 15 minute conversation.Results and DiscussionParticleNumber of timesExamplesAh18You apply where ah?Your acquire drive ah?Three or four ah.Aiyah1AiyahHaiya1Haiya, just now we talked about Patricias video, we should record mah.Haiyo2Yea lah, haiyo.Haiyo, that one another full-grown story lah.Hor3Just now he came horThen hor, he eat a lot you knowLah37Just say lah.I think is last minute work lah.Its always like that one lah.Leh2I dont know leh.The clutch is like, dont know lehLor4 two lor got subtitle.The second day one ok lor, senyap lor.Mah6Lagi syok mah.Orang Teluk Intan mah ok lah.They should mention mah they give one weekWei1What are you doing wei?Wor4Eh, so nice wor Pangkor.Cantik wor tempat tu.I forgotten already wor.From the transcription, 12 particles were identified, namely ah, aiyah, haiya, haiyo, hor, lah, leh, lor, mah, wei, and wor. Based on the result we can observe that the particle lah is the most often used particle followed by ah, mah, wor, loh, hor, leh, haiyo, aiyah, wei and haiya. Most of the particles derived from Chinese expressions like mah, wor, lor, hor, leh, haiyo, aiyah, wei and haiya. On the other hand, particle lah derived from Malay expression.The results show that the particles can be change integrity into five cat egories according to their functions which are asking a header, affirming a statement, expressing disappointment, explaining something and expressing uncertainty.FunctionParticlesAsking a questionAh, weiAffirming a statementAh, lah, mahExpressing disappointmentAiyah, haiya, haiyoExplaining somethingHor, worStress the manifestLorExpressing uncertaintyLehParticle ah which is a common expression in Chinese, functions as filler or breaking points and it is used to bring out a question force like No point helping friends who are not interested, do you agree with that, ah? (Mohan K. Muniandy et al, 2010) The data collected shows that the subjects tend to attach the particle ah and wei in their questions like Your father drive ah? and What are you doing wei? Besides that, the data also shows that particle ah is used when the speaker affirms a statement like Three or four ah.Particle lah derived from colloquial Malay and they have various functions. For example, they are used in declarat ive sentences whose functions may be termed informational, which is to say the speakers subroutine is to let the addressee know something like Aku ada appointment lah. (Goddard, 1994) This particle lah is now common feature of colloquial Malaysian or Singapore English and they are used widely in conversations. From the data collected, we can see that the speakers used the particle lah when they are affirming a statement like I think is last minute work lah. The speaker was trying to tell her addressee that she feels that the problem caused was due to last minute work.Particle mah derived from Chinese and it has similar function with lah that is to affirm a statement like They should mention mah they give one week which means that if the person addressed in the conversation is granted one week to settle something, she should be informed earlier by the relevant authorities.Particles aiyah, haiya and haiyo have the same function, which is to express disappointment. For example, Haiya , just now we talked about Patricias video, we should record mah shows that the speaker is expressing disappointment because she did not record their conversation on her friends video clip. A browse into Urban Dictionary shows that the expression aiyah originates from the Cantonese expression of disappointment or displeasure when something bad or wrong happens.Wee (2002) noted that Cantonese has a particle lo which shows some similarities with Singapore English lor. Hence, particle lor might originate from Cantonese. There are many functions of particle lor but according to the examples from the transcription, particle lor was uttered when the speaker was trying to explaining something that is obvious to the other speakers. For example, Two lor got subtitle. Hence, lor in this example is to attempt the obvious. (Wee, 2002)When explaining something, the subjects tend to use particles hor and wor like I forgotten already wor. The speaker is trying to explain that she has forgotten t he important information when she was asked about something.Particle leh was used when the subjects was explaining uncertainty. It is also originate from Cantonese. For example, one of the subjects uttered I dont know leh when she was asked about something because she was uncertain on what is happening or how to answer the question asked.ConclusionWe can observe that most of the sentences uttered by the subjects were not grammatically correct. However, according to Halliday, the meanings conveyed in the utterances were more important than the grammatical aspect of it.There are numerous reasons why the subjects code switch to the particles when conversing in an informal situation. The main reason lies in the Communication Accommodation Theory whereby the subjects accommodate with each other by using the particles in the sentences they utter and this is known as convergence accommodation. This is because, they are from different ethnicity and have different mother tongue, so they need a common language to communicate effectively and Malaysian English is chosen over Standard English because they are comfortable communicating in Malaysian English.From the data collected, we can observe that most of the particles derived from Chinese, specifically the Cantonese dialect and also from Bahasa Malaysia. Two of the subjects are Indians but they do not use any particles that originated from Tamil. One possible reason is that these particles are widely used in their community hence they picked up these particles and use them in their conversation to add a better feel towards the subject they are talking about.There are limited research studies regarding to the use of the particles in Malaysian English. Not much research has been done to separate the functions of the particles in our Malaysian context. There is a need to have research studies that can identify origins and functions of the particles correctly. There are also questions left unanswered in this topic like how does a person know what particle to use when conversing? As mentioned above, most of the particles originate from the Cantonese dialect, so, how does a person from a different ethnicity understand and know what particle to use when he/she communicates with other people?