Meanings and functions of discourse particle suda in Papuan Malay
Discourse particle suda in Papuan Malay (PM) – a hybrid language spoken in Tanah Papua, Indonesia – plays an important role in natural conversations and written exchanges among the speakers. It becomes evident in utterances or sentences from various stories written by named and unnamed authors...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2025
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25953/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25953/1/Gema_25_1_2.pdf |
| Summary: | Discourse particle suda in Papuan Malay (PM) – a hybrid language spoken in Tanah Papua,
Indonesia – plays an important role in natural conversations and written exchanges among the
speakers. It becomes evident in utterances or sentences from various stories written by named and
unnamed authors in blogs and websites and mobilized by the internet for readers. However, there
has not been a study on this particle and therefore this study is to investigate its meanings and
functions in utterances or sentences in PM. The content analysis, semantic, and pragmatic methods
are used to explore the meanings and functions of this particle in twenty-five utterances or
sentences in which it occurs. The results show that the particle suda is not inflected grammatically.
It is not a clitic particle so its form does not change regardless of where it appears in an utterance
or a sentence. It is both a final-ending type and an initial type. Semantically, it carries more than
one meaning. It can have one meaning in one context but entirely different meaning in another
context. Pragmatically, it conveys more than one function, but, it cannot serve as one-word answer
to a question. The findings can be used by future researchers as a guideline, specifically its
methodology, for exploring other discourse particles of PM awaiting to investigate. They can also
contribute to the scholarship of discourse particles. |
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