DISCOURSE PARTICLES AND PRAGMATIC MEANING IN MALAY-ENGLISH BILINGUAL SPEECH

Discourse particles are linguistic elements that contribute to the pragmatic interpretation of utterances rather than their propositional meaning. In bilingual communities, discourse particles frequently emerge as important communicative tools that facilitate interaction, express speaker attitudes, and negotiate social relationships. This study investigates the use of discourse particles in Malay-English bilingual speech and examines the pragmatic meanings they convey in everyday communication. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, commonly occurring discourse particles such as lah, kan, ah, eh, and mah are analyzed within bilingual conversational contexts.