#Linguistics The pragmatics of discourse particles
The discourse particles are discourse marker which serves function as innovation in world Englishes. It helps to structure the communication. Discourse particles are words, phrases like so, of course, actually, anyway, after all, by and large etc. sometimes discourse particles are syntactically independent like removing the marker still leads the sentences. It provides signal to hearer or listener how to interpret the utterance and meaning of utterance. For example, “la” in Singaporean English and “only” in Indian English are considered as discourse particles. The particle “la” in Singlish has different function as it has got three varieties first one is pitch height of low (La3), mid-rising (la2) and high-falling (la4). Among them the most famous is la with low pitch which shows gentle persuasion to the speaker to force on his/her on the hearer.
For example, Son: Dad, it’s private, how can I let you read it?
Father: Can la, I’m your father.
The “only” discourse particle is used in Indian English which is used to show the focus. For example, when does she work? She works on Monday and Tuesday only.
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