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ERIC Number: EJ871712
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Mar
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0883-2919
EISSN: N/A
The Particle "ya" in Colloquial Singapore English
Wee, Lionel
World Englishes, v29 n1 p45-58 Mar 2010
It has been recently argued that the particles in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) constitute a grammatical category that actively draws new members to it. Drawing on distributional and collocational evidence, this paper establishes that CSE has a new particle, "ya". The paper then proceeds to analyse the discourse pragmatic function of the particle. It shows that a speaker uses the particle "ya" to (weakly) boost the illocutionary force of a statement, and to also signal that this is a statement that the speaker considers to be uncontroversial in nature. The paper then closes by discussing some observations--from the perspective of grammaticalization and sociolinguistic studies--that are consistent with the relative newness of this particle. Regarding grammaticalization, the paper shows that the particle "ya" is actually more grammaticalized than affirmative "yes/ya". It is by comparison more expressive of the speaker's belief-state or attitude. Regarding sociolinguistics, the paper observes that users of the particle "ya" seem to be mainly females who are in their late thirties or younger.
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2429/WileyCDA/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Singapore
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A