DISCOURSE PARTICLES FREQUENTLY USED BY SOME INDIAN SPEAKERS OF SINGAPORE ENGLISH

Abstract

This is a study of discourse particles as used in the Indian Community in Singapore. The discourse particles used can be grouped into three categories: a) those identified with Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) - namely ah, lah, what and meh b) those used in Standard English and in SCE - namely you know, OK, right, you see and man c) those that are used in SCE only by ethnic Indian speakers - namely dey and dah. The subjects all used the three SCE particles that are thought to be used across ethnic groups - ah, lah and what. In addition, some subjects used the SCE particle meh. There are no substantial differences between the way the subjects used these particles and the way they are used by the other ethnic groups. The Standard English particles have never been discussed at length in relation to SCE. The subjects used the Standard English particles less frequently than the SCE particles. The dah and dey particles function to indicate Indian group membership, as the particles hor, leh and mah may function for the Chinese. The speakers sometimes used two consecutive particles, which I term Particle Complexes. Particles Complexes have never been identified in SCE before.