Particle -lah in Bahasa Indonesia

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