Particle Man, Particle Man, Can do anything that a particle can...

こんにちは！

Particles have long been an interesting aspect of languages for me. Particles are what you can call "discourse markers"--sounds that have implied meaning, if you are competent in the language. My first real noticable encounter was through Chinese. While 吗 (ma) was provided as a question particle, I originally saw it as being more similar to the WH-words that we use in English.

How are you?          你好吗？ (ni hao ma?) [lit. you good (question)]

Have you eaten?      吃饭了吗？(chi le ma?) [lit. eat food/rice (perfectiv) (question)]

However, it was learning the particle 吧 (ba) that really opened my eyes. This one sound placed at the end of a sentence shows the listener that you are encouraging the action. It's like adding "Let's do it" or "please, please, please" or "come on, you know you want to..." at the end of a sentence.

Eat up!             吃吧！   (chi ba) [lit. eat (emphatic)]
Go with me!    跟我出去吧！(gen wo chu qu ba) [lit. with me outward go (emphatic)]

My love of particles became more pronounced when I researched particles used in Singapore English. This again has been influenced by the mixing of Chinese languages (Mandarin and Hokkien). Again these sounds added at the end of a sentence can truly add flavor to what you are saying.

Particle	Tone	Example	Usage
Ah	Sharply Rising	“Never listen ah!”	Show displeasure
Ah	Falling	“He won ah!”	Surprise
Ah	Sharply Falling	“This belongs to him ah?”	Yes/No Questions
Ah	Rising	“Where is Gordon ah?”	WH-Questions
La	Mid-Rising	“Try this la. It’s nice.”	Persuasion
La	Falling	“So you didn’t do it la.”	Annoyance
La	Low	“Not now la”	Objection
Wut	Low	“You told me to wait here wut!”	Confusion
Meh	High	“You don’t know meh?”	Confirmation
Figure 1. Particles of Singapore English Adapted from Platt, Weber, & Ho 1984:142 and Wong 2004

Now in Japanese, I am learning more about particles. While we had already learned か (ka) as a question particle, よ (yo) and ね (ne) are more intriguing examples that I am currently focusing on. ね is the much easier of the two because I had noticed it before we ever learned about it. This particle is placed at the end to seek agreement.

Isn't that delicious! おいしいね！(oishii ne!)  [lit. delicious (agreement-seeking)]

よ, on the other hand, has a very different meaning. It is used to indicate new information. In some ways I see it as being translated as "you know", "trust me", or "I'm telling you".

Trust me, it is delicious! おいしいよ！ (oishii yo!) [lit. delicious (new fact)]

So, what about English, are there particles in English? Yes, some are more particle like than others. Japanese ね could easily be translated as "..., right?" and Chinese 呗 (bei) which I like to translate as "..., duh!" However, sometimes in English we like to use longer phrases, "isn't that correct?" "You know," this comparison tells us one thing: particles are words. While they pack a lot of meaning into a little sound, they are still words nonetheless.

さよなら！

Platt, J., Weber, H., & Ho, M. L. (1984). The New Englishes. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Wong, J. (2004). The particles of Singapore English: a semantic and cultural interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 739-793.