2018 participants
Kwong (Chloe) Sou Meng
Malaysian Colloquial English (MCE) is spoken widely in Malaysia, and is influenced by Chinese in various ways. This research focuses on the use of originally Chinese particles in MCE, such as lah, lor, meh, liao la. They affect the meaning of a sentence in ways that are often hard to describe. For example, in conjunction with the English modal verb can, Can lah means ‘Yes’, Can gua means ‘Maybe’, whereas Can liao la means ‘OK! Enough’. Relevant research has been undertaken on Singapore English but not yet on MCE. I have collected data in Malaysia by dyadic interview, in order to answer two questions. The first is, what are the non-English particles used in MCE and what is their precise effect on the meaning of the sentence? The second is, are they the same as in Singapore English? This study provides clues to how languages affect each other and how they survive in a community.
Funding source: Newcastle University
Project Supervisor: Prof Anders Holmberg