Interpersonal Particles in Ò̩kọ
A Particles is a little element that contributes additional meaning beyond the main wording in a sentence. The table below shows the approximate use of interpersonal Particles.
| Interpersonal particle | Designation | Imperative | Declarative | Interrogative: (yes/no) | Interrogative: E-a |
| [a ] clause-final | Interrogative Pronoun Completive Particle 1. (ICP) /Suggestive Particle 2.(SG) | 3. SP – ‘why not do’ (order) | 4. ICP – ‘…’ Usually at clause final position. It completes the sense of the interrogative Pronoun ( E-a) | ||
| [ama] clause-initial | Clause Initial Interrogative Particle 5. (CIIP) | ‘I’ presume (the proposition) | |||
| [go] clause-final | Informative Offering Ending Particle 6. (IOEP) | ‘I’m informing you that’ – ‘believe me’ | |||
| [họn] clause initial-final | Polar Interrogative Particle 7. (PIP) | ‘I ask you’ – tone 2 ‘to confirm or negate’(proposition) | |||
| final only: tone 1-2.’I’m sure of the proposition, but confirm’ | |||||
| [i/u] clause-initial | Predicator Focus Particle 8. (PHP) | ‘it is that’ | ‘is it that?’ | ||
| [naa] clause-final | Attitudinal Particle. 9. (AP) | ‘you know/ of course’ | |||
| [o] clause-final | Conclusive Statement Particle 10. (CSP) | ‘my preceding proposition is conclusive’ | |||
| [oo] clause-final | Open Interrogative Particle 11.(OIP) | ‘I demand information (say something) about this’ – Subject | |||
| [ro] clause final | Information Statement Ending Particle 13. (ISEP) | ‘you had better be…’ | ‘you must be aware that’ | ||
| [sọ ] clause-initial, | Attention Seeking Particle 14. (ASP) | ‘I want to tell you something’ ‘Give me your attention’ | |||
| [sọ] clause-final | 15. (ASP) | ‘is (the proposition) true?’ |
Interpersonal Particles and their approximate meanings
They are interactional elements, occurring as phonological features that convey interpersonal meanings. They may be little “chips”, but they have semantic properties of significant value in Ò̩kọ conversation.
Particles allow the Ò̩kọ speaker to convey his/her mood, emotions and attitude in a conversion. They are a kind of verbal gestures; and when a speaker uses any of them, s/he, in most cases, expects a response (verbal or non-verbal) from his/her addressee.
Particles occur in different positions in the sentence, assisting in the enactment of different interpersonal meanings. They do not construe experiential meaning (Read about experiential and interpersonal meanings in Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). Particles cannot be grouped under any grammatical word class, as they are not words.
For a detailed discussion of particles see Akerejola 2005, Section 5.4.
References
Akerejola, E. (2005) “A Text-based Lexicogrammatical description of Òkó: A systemic Functional Approach” Doctoral Dissertation, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. (2014). Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (4th ed.). Oxon Routledge.