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In linguistics, the term particle is a word lacking a strict definition but has the function of changing the relation of the parts of the sentence to one another, and is therefore called a function word. It does not change its form by adding affixes and does not reflect gender, tense or person (has therefore no inflections) and is thus an uninflected word.1
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Further definitions
Depending on its context, the meaning of the term may overlap with such notions or meanings as "morpheme", "marker", or even "adverb" (another catch-all term). Like many linguistic concepts, the precise content of the notion is very language-specific.
Under the strictest definition, which demands that a particle be an uninflected word, English deictics like this and that would not be classed as such (since they have plurals), and neither would Romance articles (since they are inflected for number and gender).
Other languages
The term particle is often used in descriptions of Japanese 2and Korean3, where they are used to mark nouns according to their case or their role (subject, object, complement, or topic) in a sentence or clause. Some of these particles are best analysed as case markers and some as postpositions. There are sentence-tagging particles such as Japanese and Chinese question markers. There are lists of Thai particles.4
Different types of particles in English
Articles, infinitival, prepositional, and adverbial particles
- The definite article the (the indefinite article a or an cannot really be classed as uninflected, due to their inherently singular meaning disbarring them from plural usage)
- the infinitive to, as in to walk
- prepositions, such as over in I went over the hill
- adverbs, such as even in even the youngest of them; or phrasal verbs, such as put off in we put it off too long
Interjections, sentence connectors, and conjunctions
Sentence connectors, tags or tag questions, and conjunctions connect to what has been said in a previous clause or sentence. These three types of grammatical particles (similarly to modal particles in some other languages) also reflect the speaker's mood and attitude toward what has come before in the conversation, or is likely to follow later. A particle may be defined simply as an invariable word, in that interjections are to be classed as particles56. Because of their similar functions, interjections, sentence connectors, and conjunctions should be grouped together:
Interjections
- ah
- alas
- farewell
- goodbye
- hello
- hi
- hmm
- hum
- meh
- no
- oh
- ouch
- wow
- yes
- Zzz (as in a cartoon for someone sleeping, one of the few non-vocal interjections)
The list of interjections is probably never-ending as it belongs to the open class word category and is subject to new creations at all times.
Sentence connectors
- so (as in So what)
- well (as in Well, we can’t help that)
- still (as in Still, it could have been a lot worse)
- yet (as in I am older now, yet I still enjoy some of the things I used to do)
- as
- also
- however
- nevertheless
- otherwise
- moreover
- in addition
- furthermore
- besides
- first
- second
- finally
- last but not least
- lastly
- thus
- hence
- on the other hand
- anyway
- then
- too (as in that, too, has been said in the past}
Tags or tag questions (sentence-finals)
- "...didn't they?" or "...did they not?…"; "...wasn't it?" or "...was it not?…"; "...shouldn't it?" or "...should it not? ", etc.
Conjunctions
- and (together with)
- or
- nor
- but
- while (as in while it is true that all line repairs are undertaken on Sundays, not all trains should be assumed to be late)
- although/though
- for (as in she could not see the film, for she was too young)
- because
- unless
- since (as in since you asked, I will tell you)
See also
External links
- ^ McArthur, Tom: “The Oxford Companion to the English Language”, pp72-76, Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-2114183-X. For various keywords
- ^ http://japanese.about.com/blparticles.htm List of Japanese particles
- ^ http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/portnerp/nsfsite/KoreanParticlesMiokPak.pdf List of Korean particles
- ^ http://www.geocities.com/siamsmile365/thaiparticles/thaiparticles.htm Large list of Thai particles
- ^ http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Ueberblick/Flexionslos.html?lang=en&darj=1 Interjections
- ^ http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/fun/welsh/Glossary_main.html Interjections
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 21 November 2008, at 05:52.
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