It is usually a mixture of English, Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, and other local dialects like Hokkien, Cantonese or Teochew. It is used in casual contexts between Singaporeans, but is avoided in formal events when certain Singlish phrases may be considered unedifying. (Source Wiki)
Why do Singaporen say 'lah' at every end of their sentence?
"lah" in Singlish is a discourse particle in Linguistics terms, that is, a word or a particle that does not change the semantic meaning of the sentence, but for pragmatic functions such as indicating tone.
Examples of Usage
- "There's something here for everyone lah." ("There IS something here for everyone.")
- "OK lah, bye bye." ("OK then, bye bye.")
- "You see my husband's not at home lah. That's the problem, ah." ("You see my husband's not at home, you understand. That's the problem, you see.")
- "Her price is too high for me lah" ("Her price is too high for me, I am afraid.")
Source from Singaporean blogger, mrbrown.
the great CAN!
Lah, Leh, lor, Liao, mah, meh, etc.. Those are not sounds nor musical notes. The three ‘L’s are particles that have no lexical meaning on their own, but are associated with another word or phrase to impart meaning or create a certain mood. What this means is that they are not empty, miscellaneous sounds that people toss in for fun and games. Nor are they pointless fillers in between proper sentence constructs. One does not simply use lah at his disposal.
Sample phrase with meaning.
I dun have lah. - I really don't have it.
I dun have leh. - For some reason, I don't have it.
I dun have lor. - I wish I had it, but sadly I don't.
I dun have liao. - I used to have it, but I don't anymore.
I dun have ha. - I remind you that I don't have it!
I dun have hor. - Don't look at me; I don't have it.
I dun have mah. - It would help if I had it, but I don't have it.
I dun have meh? - You think I don't have it?
I dun have siah! - I can't freaking believe I don't have it!
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