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2. Vocative ah
Vocative ah is the simple one. It is used to strengthen the speaker‟s
attitude toward the addressee. It usually appears after the addressee‟s name.
4. Amy ah.
As the example, a boy named Bob, he walks in J-walk and he sees a person, who is familiar to him. He is surprised when meeting that person in that
moment and place. Then, Bob greets that person “Amy ah.” Bob‟s greeting
sounds like an amazement of meeting Amy in J-walk in that certain moment. Bob also wants to make sure that she is a real Amy that he knew before. “Amy ah” is
like the English “Hey, Amy”.
3. Emphatic ah
Emphatic ah is discourse particle ah which has the function to make the sentence seems to be said in a strong way and without any doubt. Emphatic ah is
rather similar to declarative ah. Thus, the declarative ah is used to declare or explain something, but the emphatic ah is used to emphasize the sentence to be
stronger. Emphatic ah can be used to reveal a fact that should be remembered by the
addressee because that fact is considered as important. As the example:
5. “The keys ah, I put here” Wong 2001, p. 15 as cited in Lay, 2005.
The speaker wants to emphasize that he puts the keys in a certain place. He asks the addressee to memorize the place, so when the addressee wants to use the
key, she knows where it is located. The use of emphatic ah in the example above
is meant to emphasize the important information.
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Another example is from Gupta 1992, p. 52 which is cited by Lay 2005. The second example below shows that the speaker emphasizes the certain
object is very nice.
6. “That one ah, very nice”. 4.
Question marker ah
Question marker ah is similar to interrogative ah, which occurs in the interrogative sentence. Thus, the differentiation is in the tone of the discourse
particle ah. Interrogative ah uses rising tone, but in question marker ah uses low tone. Therefore, the differentiation is in the tone when the speaker is pronouncing
ah .
7. Are you worried ah? b.
Type of Discourse Particle Lah
According to Platt 1987, as cited in Leimgruber 2009, discourse particle lah is used among the speakers when the matter discussed is known by the
addressee. Besides, „the information is assumed to be new; of which the speaker is certain
‟ Platt 1987. It means that discourse particle could be used to mark certainty among the speakers. As the example, people talk about the eruption of
Merapi Mountain. Everybody knows about that natural disaster. However, one of the speakers just gets the newest news that the mist goes to the south. When
people talk about something that is considered as familiar, the communication can increase the unity among the speakers.Wong 2004 as cited in Lay 2005, p. 247
identifies some types of lah as follows: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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1. Impositional lah
According to Wong 2004, p. 765, as cited in Lay 2005, p. 274, impositional lah is pronounced with low tone. The purpose of impositional lah is
to force or expect an idea or premise to the addressee. It could be underlined that impositional lah tries
to modify the addressee‟s action p. 274. It means that impositional lah gives a new perspective to make the addressee thinks twice and
changes their action or idea. The speaker also wants the addressee to think similar to what the speaker thought. Although the speaker forces and expects, particle ah
uses low tone. It is used to smoothen the „idea impose‟ to the addressee.
Here are some „explication‟ of the discourse particle lah from Wong 2004 as cited in Lay 2005, p. 274:
I think something now I think you don‟t like this
I don‟t want this I want you to think like this
I think if I say something, you can think like this I say it now
The example in 8 below, shows that the speaker, sabotage the addresse
e‟s action. The speaker‟s sentence causes the addressee to change his action.
8. We do lah. 2.
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