The birth of a particle: know in Colloquial Singapore English

Abstract

The discourse marker you know has been widely noted and analyzed in different varieties of English. However, it is less widely recognized that Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), in addition to the marker you know, has also developed the particle know. This paper provides data showing that know has distributional and collocational properties that distinguish it from you know, even though their discourse–pragmatic functions are similar. The differences between you know and know indicate that the latter has become a member of a linguistic category, referred to in this paper as the discourse particle. This category is exemplified by more familiar forms such as lah, lor, and meh. The paper suggests that the mechanism by which know has joined the other particles is that of analogical change, made possible because (1) CSE already contains a rich inventory of such particles, and (2) it is a pro–drop language. The first feature motivates the extraction of a category where members are monosyllabic, occur in clause–final position, and perform discourse–pragmatic functions. You know possesses two of the three characteristics, but is excluded because it is not monosyllabic. However, the pro–drop feature allows the monosyllabic know to emerge and join the category of discourse particle.