2.3 Definition of Particle
Particle is the smallest element of
word. A word that does not change its form through inflection and does not
easily fit into the established system of parts of speech. Particles are
closely linked to verbs to form multi-word verbs.
According to McArthur, Tom in his book entitled The Oxford Companion to the English
Language, in grammar, a particle
is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes (such as nouns,
pronouns, verbs, or articles). It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set
of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition. It is mostly used
for words that help to encode grammatical categories (such as negation, mood or case), clitics or fillers
or discourse markers that facilitate discourse such as well, ah, anyway,
etc. Particles are uninflected (McArthur, 1992:72).
Confirmation particles include words
that are not subjected to changes
in shape and only serves to show the elements that accompanied by particle. In
Indonesian, there are four particles attests,
namely -kah, -lah,
-tah, and -pun. The first three are clitics
while the fourth is
not.
2.4
Kinds of Particle
There are four kind of particles
attests, they are particle -kah, -lah,
-tah, and -pun. Particle –kah used in interrogative sentences and assert function.Transform
declarative sentences into interrogative sentences.
Example:
SL: Diakah yang akan datang?
TL: Is he the one
who will come?
Particle
–kah is arbitrary in
the interrogative sentence
that has the question words such as what, where, and
how.
Example:
SL:
Apakah ayahmu sudah datang?
TL:
Did your father come?
Clarify interrogative sentences that do not have the question.
Example:
SL: Akan datangkah dia nanti malam?
TL: will he come tonight?
Particle-lah used
in the imperative or declarative sentence.
Smooth the tone slightly
imperative sentence commands.
Example:
SL: Pergilah
sekarang, sebelum hujan turun!
TL:
Go now before the rain!
Give firmness harder in declarative sentences.
Example:
SL:
Dari ceritamu, jelaslah kamu yang
salah.
TL: From your
story, it is clear you are wrong.
Particle
–tah
used in interrogative sentences. Is rhetorical: The questioner did not expect to get answers
and seemed just
ask to their self.
Particle-tah
widely used in old literature but now no longer
widely used.
Example:
SL:
Apatah artinya hidup ini tanpa
engkau?
TL:
What does it mean to live without you?
Particle
pun used in declarative sentences. Harden the meaning of the word that accompanied by.
Example:
SL:
Mereka pun akhirnya setuju dengan
usul kami.
TL:
They were finally agreed with our proposal.
Signifies the act or process of going into
effect or if it was shared.
SL:
Tidak lama kemudian hujan pun
turunlah dengan derasnya.
TL: was not long before the rain came down with
the surge.
But in this paper, we will concern
about Particle -lah.
2.5 Particle -lah
Although referred to as a particle,-lah is always written attached to be
preceding word. Particle -lah has
been called, among other things, a ‘predicative marker’ and a ‘foreground
marker’. Its most common is to mark the predicate when the predicate is out of
its normal position, usually when it is placed before the subject. Since the
predicate is strongly foregrounded of highlighted in this position, -lah is associated with that
foregrounding, as in the following examples :
1) SL: Kira-kira tahun 1400 masuklah pengaruh Islam di Indonesia (Sneddon:261).
TL: About the year 1400 the influence of Islam
entered Indonesia (Sneddon:261).
2) SL:
Sesudah mengucapkan kata-kata itu, bangkitlah
dia dari kursi dan terus pergi tanpa mengucapkan kata-kata pamit (Sneddon:261).
TL: After uttering those words he got up from his
chair and straightaway went, without taking leave (Sneddon:261).
Particle -lah
attaches to the first word of the predicate, which may be a negative, temporal
marker or modal:
1) SL: Dapatlah
disimpulkan bahwa serangan itu direncanakan lama sebelumnya.
TL: It can be concluded that the attack was planned
well in advance (Sneddon:262).
2) SL: Tidaklah
pantas kalau pemburuan kangguru masih tetap diizinkan.
TL: It is not appropriate if kangaroo hunting is
permitted to continue (Sneddon:262).
Particle
-lah can also attach to negatives to
give emphasis (or foregrounding), even if the predicate is in its normal
position:
1) SL: Hubungan antara kedua petinggi itu saat
ini tidaklah terlalu baik.
TL:
Relations between the two important figures at the moment are not too good
(Sneddon:262).
2) SL: Hutan lindung kapuk bukanlah hutan lindung pertama yang berubah fungsi.
TL: The
kapuk protected forest is not the first protected forest to undergo a change of
function (Sneddon:262).
It sometimes also
occurs with other words, such as modifying adverbs, to emphasize them without
the predicate being fronted :
1) SL: Hubungan
Indonesia dan Amerika sangatlah
dekat.
TL: Relations between Indonesia and America are very
close (Sneddon:262).
Particle -lah is very obligatory; it is particularly
common in certain construction where the predicate typically precedes the
object, such as identifying clauses and certain imperatives, and is discussed
separately for such constructions.
A predicative marked by
-lah does not occur before the
subject if this is marked for emphasis by pun:
1) SL: Dan penonton menyambut dengan tepuk tangan
yang meriah. Kemudian layar pun tutuplah.
TL: and the audience applauded (our performance)
with cheerful clapping. Afterwards the curtain closed (Sneddon:263).
2) SL: Anak-anak mulai bubar. Dan yang tinggal di
ruang kelas enam, tempat kami disunati, hanyalah orang tua-tua. Mereka pun pulanglah seorang demi seorang...
TL: The children dispersed, and only the elders
remained in class room six, where we were circumcised. Then they too went home
one by one... (Sneddon:263).
Besides occurring the
predicate, -lah can be attached to a
clause adjunct to foreground it. The adjuncts always occur first in the clause
with -lah attached to its last word.
Such constructions are usually translated by cleft sentence in English. We can
see it in the examples bellow:
1) SL: Sejak tahun itulah Indonesia secara resmi menjadi jajahan Belanda.
TL: It was from that year Indonesia officially
became a Dutch colony (Sneddon:263).
2) SL: Beginilah terungkapkan cinta dan
kesetiaan terhadap para leluhur.
TL: In this way can be expressed love and
faithfulness towards the ancestors (Sneddon:263).
In writing and formal
speech -lah is optionally added to
the verb in imperatives constructions. This can also occur in informal styles
but is much less frequent. Its occurrence here is to mark the predicate, which
is out of its normal position, occurring at the beginning of the clause.
Example:
1) SL: Bukalah pintu itu!
TL: Open that
door(Sneddon328)!
2) SL: Berangkatlah sekarang!
TL: Depart
now(Sneddon328)!
It is frequently stated
in teaching text that -lah makes an
imperative polite. Some writers even translate it as ‘please’. Further, it is
used so frequently in some works as to give the impression it is more or less
obligatory and some even refer to it as an ‘imperative particle’. However it is
probably the case that for most Indonesian’s -lah does not function as a softener and rarely occurs in the
imperative constructions in everyday speech. Moreover, some people regard an
imperative with -lah as being
stronger rather than softer.
If -lah occurs with a softener it usually attaches to the softener,
which is the first word of the clause. Alternatively, it can follow the verb.
Like the example bellow:
1.) SL: Tolonglah
buka jendela itu.
SL: Tolong bukalah
jendela itu.
TL: Please open that
window (Sneddon330).
Credits: Wisnu