I Am Aliiiiiive

Parce que les singapouriens parlent comme ça-lah !
Tu comprends mieux-lah ?
Non-lah ?
Alors va voir là-lah !

Lah

The ubiquitous word lah (/lɑ́/ or /lɑ̂/) is used at the end of a sentence. Lim (2004) describes it as a particle that simultaneously asserts a position and entices solidarity.

Note that ‘lah’ is often written after a comma for clarity, but there is never a pause before a lah. This is because in the original Malay, ‘lah’ is appended to the end of the word and is not a separate word by itself.

In Malay, ‘lah’ is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite. To drink is minum, but ‘Here, drink!’ is “minumlah!”. Similarly, ‘lah’ is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish:

• Drink, lah! (Come on, drink!)

Tags: Singapore

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 4th, 2006 at 10:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.