ศาลาชุมนุม

[nakriian]

As a male, I use ครับ (majority of the time). I am aware of จ้ะ but I just don't use it because of personal preference. Even if I know the person very well, I still just don't use จ้ะ (I have no problem with other people who are close to each other using it or people using it to talk to someone younger than them, of a lower status, etc.).

So for me, its mostly ครับ (and sometimes นะ as a softener, etc.), but that is it. On rare occasion, คับ if I am speaking quickly and not paying attention.

Either way, I would like to get clarity on อ่ะ. What is the definition and when is it appropriate to use it (give real world examples). Even if I don't plan on using it, I still want to know the meaning. The same as I know many bad words, which I have no intention of using. I just like to understand the full spectrum.

Attempting to ask local Thais the meaning of อ่ะ is futile. Kind of like me asking a Thai, "Is the tone siang ek?". Thais (the majority, not all of them) are just not good at explaining certain things in English (nor should they be able to, they are Thai after all, not Englishman).

I want to add that I don't feel อ่ะ is a polite particle like ครับ or ค่ะ, so would this make อ่ะ the neutral particle? Is it just simply a sound added to the end of the sentence with no real meaning?

[DonSena]

As a male, I use ครับ (majority of the time). I am aware of จ้ะ but I just don't use it because of personal preference. Even if I know the person very well, I still just don't use จ้ะ (I have no problem with other people who are close to each other using it or people using it to talk to someone younger than them, of a lower status, etc.).

So for me, its mostly ครับ (and sometimes นะ as a softener, etc.), but that is it. On rare occasion, คับ if I am speaking quickly and not paying attention.

Either way, I would like to get clarity on อ่ะ. What is the definition and when is it appropriate to use it (give real world examples). Even if I don't plan on using it, I still want to know the meaning. The same as I know many bad words, which I have no intention of using. I just like to understand the full spectrum.

Attempting to ask local Thais the meaning of อ่ะ is futile. Kind of like me asking a Thai, "Is the tone siang ek?". Thais (the majority, not all of them) are just not good at explaining certain things in English (nor should they be able to, they are Thai after all, not Englishman).

I want to add that I don't feel อ่ะ is a polite particle like ครับ or ค่ะ, so would this make อ่ะ the neutral particle? Is it just simply a sound added to the end of the sentence with no real meaning?

อ่ะ is quite different from the sex-marker particles ครับ, ค่ะ and คะ .
อ่ะ occupies the first of a four-position sentence-ending phrase of sentence particles. Speaker is in the process of making a point. It is actually an alternative to another, somewhat older particle น่ะ .

ครับ, ค่ะ and คะ (and certain other particles) occur in the position three and serve to refer back to the speaker.

There is a fairly complete discussion on this particle phrase -- called the "codaphrase" -- in the paper attached below. For info on อ่ะ and the older alternative น่ะ, scroll down to sections 1B, 1B1 and 1C. 1B is on น่ะ and 1B1 is on อ่ะ

1C is yet another alternative with a somewhat different emphasis: นี่. This occurrence of นี่ looks and sounds the same as a very different นี่, occurring in the fourth position of the codaphrase, and also occurring as a demonstrative and postposition นี่.

See these sections in the paper below:

[Pirin]

.....

[nakriian]

Thanks for the replies, good information.

Special thanks to Don Sena for the write-up and here is the link on this site http://www.thai-language.com/ref/codaphrases

[DonSena]

Thanks for the replies, good information.

Special thanks to Don Sena for the write-up and here is the link on this site http://www.thai-language.com/ref/codaphrases

Very pleased that you like the write-up.

The version that was uploaded onto this site was written before I had compiled any info on the particle อ่ะ. So, that version doesn't take up อ่ะ.

For that reason, I tend to upload the original MS word version, augmented with the addition of a subsection (I B 1) on อ่ะ.