particlePlaced at the end of a sentence to accentuate the mood or attitude of the speaker. · Placed at the end of a sentence to convey reassurance or express solidarity. · Indicates an attempt at expressing sympathy, conveying informality or sincerity, or establishing a rapport with the listener. · Placed at the end of an assertive statement to express denial or dismissiveness.
Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventoryFrom Malay lah, Hokkien 啦 (--la) and Cantonese 啦 (laa¹). Doublet of la in colloquial Hong Kong English.
Lim (2007) lists multiple sources:
* Bazaar Malay, for its use as a particle of emphasis (akin to Malay lah), and the senses expressing commands, invitations and "solidarity, familiarity [and] informality".
* Hokkien 啦 (--la), which indicates finality, completion and confirmation-seeking, as well as "emphasis, persuasiveness, dismissiveness [and] listing".
* Cantonese 啦 (laa¹), expressing a "general lack of definiteness or forcefulness", and for its role in softening commands.
This page abbreviates 13 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "etymid",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Chinese"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "wp",
"args": {
"1": "Singlish"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "wp",
"args": {
"1": "Manglish"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ms",
"3": "lah"
},
"expansion": "Malay lah"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nan-hbl",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Hokkien"
},
{
"name": "zh-l",
"args": {
"1": "啦",
"tr": "--la"
},
"expansion": "啦 (--la)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "yue",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Cantonese"
},
{
"name": "sup",
"args": {
"1": "1"
},
"expansion": "¹"
},
{
"name": "zh-l",
"args": {
"1": "啦",
"tr": "laa¹"
},
"expansion": "啦 (laa¹)"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la#Etymology 6"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of la"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "ms",
"2": "lah"
},
"expansion": "Malay lah"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nan-hbl",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Hokkien"
},
{
"name": "zh-l",
"args": {
"1": "啦",
"tr": "--la"
},
"expansion": "啦 (--la)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "yue",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Cantonese"
},
{
"name": "sup",
"args": {
"1": "1"
},
"expansion": "¹"
},
{
"name": "zh-l",
"args": {
"1": "啦",
"tr": "laa¹"
},
"expansion": "啦 (laa¹)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"lah",
"lah#Malay"
],
[
"啦",
"啦#Chinese"
],
[
"啦",
"啦#Chinese"
],
[
"la",
"la#Etymology 6"
],
[
"lah",
"lah#Malay"
],
[
"啦",
"啦#Chinese"
],
[
"啦",
"啦#Chinese"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "particle",
"glosses": [
"Placed at the end of a sentence to accentuate the mood or attitude of the speaker.",
"Placed at the end of a sentence to convey reassurance or express solidarity.",
"Indicates an attempt at expressing sympathy, conveying informality or sincerity, or establishing a rapport with the listener.",
"Placed at the end of an assertive statement to express denial or dismissiveness."
],
"tags": [],
"recordId": "bf58937b39c9dcc92619b38eb9243116c35e0d557e63d712ab65983cfb66115f",
"rawRecordSha256": "5c39cde10c634252a59760557688fda48f0e661dcb12a4f0a1e9af5a6db18d0e",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 165464
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 13,
"glosses": 0
}
}