Borrowed fromHokkien了(liáu) andTeochew了(liao2), with tone and spelling influenced byMandarin了(liǎo) and its romanization inHanyu Pinyin.
liao
While the termsalready (senses 4 and 5) andliao are mostly interchangeable,liao is restricted to the end of clauses, whereasalready can be used directly before verbs (e.g.,I already had my lunch).
As a marker ofinchoative aspect (sense 2),liao can describe a change that has just taken effect, or a change that is expected to occur in a short time. The sentencerain liao can mean “it has just started to rain”, but it can also be said in anticipation of the event happening in a very short time, e.g., when the clouds have turned grey. Strictly speaking, the point of focus is the moment of change; there is no regard for whether it is in the past, present or future. The sentenceyour ice cream melt liao conveys the meaning of “your ice cream has started melting”, which focuses on the beginning of the new state (melting), but there is some ambiguity here, as its use as an indicator ofperfective aspect (sense 1) makes the interpretation that the action is complete, i.e., “your ice cream has melted”, also possible. In that regard,rain liao can also be interpreted as “it has already rained” (it is not raining anymore), adding an additional layer of ambiguity to the phrase. Note that in all of these examples,liao is interchangeable withalready. Bao (1995) demonstrates this ambiguity foralready with this sentence:
It has two principal interpretations—“it could mean that my son has already gone to school, or my son now goes to school, having reached the school-going age”. More words may be used to get across an unambiguous message (e.g.,it’s going to melt liao “it’s going to melt any time now”).Liao is functionally equivalent toHokkien了(liáu) andMandarin了(liǎo).
Sense 2 ofliao is commonly used indicate a current state—e.g.,I’m at the airport liao “I’m already at the airport”—with the change of state (e.g., stepping into the airport) occurring at an unspecified moment in the past.
Liao can appear after conditional clauses to order events in a sequential manner, e.g.,find liao, can go already “we can go once you’ve found it.” It is also used inimperative sentences, e.g.,go liao! “let’s get going now!”
Liao may be used in interrogatives, e.g.,water the plants liaoah? “you’ve watered the plants, right?” As a stand-alone particle in apolar question, it uses a low-mid pitch contour[˨]. In all other contexts,liao has a low[˩] or low-dipping[˨˩] pitch contour.
| Discourse particles in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⟵ More assertiveLess assertive ⟶ | |||||||||||
| Objection | what | Assertive emphasis | lah1–14 | Self-evident answer | lor2–3 | Resignation | lor1,ah6–7 | Uncertainty | leh1–2 | ||
| Self-evident reason | mah | Declarative emphasis | leh3–6,one1–3,hor1,know,nia,only | Discontent; shock; coarseness | sia | Agreement-seeking | hor2 | Confirmation-seeking | ah1–3,hah1–3 | ||
| Skepticism | meh | Confident speculation | ba2 | Tentative judgment | leh7–11,ba1 | ||||||
| Non-pragmatic | |||||||||||
| Aspectual | liao,already | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
FromMandarin料(liào,“ingredients”).
liao (uncountable)
Mainly used by Chinese Singaporeans and other speakers familiar withMandarin.
liao