Sentence-final (pragmatic) particles

Header division

Utterances in spoken Qohenje very commonly end with a particle that says something about the speaker's attitude towards the person addressed, or the content of the message or both. These particles mostly have a High [HI] and a normal form, and vary according to whether the interlocutors are the same gender or not.

There are seven categories:

  1. General politeness [POL], used to indicate general socially appropriate distance and respect between like-aged people who do not know each other, or from younger to older, or lower to higher rank.
  2. Self-effacement [EFF], used to overtly subjugate oneself to a higher authority, or someone of higher social standing. These particles are also used to acknowledge the wisdom of another having received sound or valuable advice. There are only HI forms of these particles.
  3. Abject submission [SUB], used to indicate that the speaker is shamed or unworthy of the honour of the person being addressed. The high forms are only heard in the case of a dignitary having committed an unconscionable crime. The normal forms are most commonly used by servants.
  4. Polite assertion [INS], used to politely assert one's opinion in the face of disagreement of difference of opinion.
  5. Emphatic [EMP], stronger than INS, this form constitutes a gentle but firm command. It is only used towards younger or lower-ranking individuals and there are no HI forms.
  6. Strong emphatic [ANG], this is an agressive emphatic, used only in anger, and only to inferiors. This particle is not sexually deictic.
  7. Seeking agreement [AGR], this particle looks to encourage a positive or supportive response from the interlocutor.

There are in addition three deictic types:

  1. Same sex [SS], used when the speaker is addressing someone of the same gender
  2. Different sex [DS], for addressing members of the opposite sex.
  3. Mixed gender[MX], when addressing a group in wihch genders are mixed.

The forms are as follows:

   
POL
SUB
INS
EFF
AGR
EMP
ANG
SS HI              
(norm)
 
DS HI            
(norm)
 
MX HI          
(norm)