ศาลาชุมนุม

[hhrh]

Hey

Just wondering, what do the words บ้าง นี้ and เนี้ย do when they're used at the end of a sentence?

For example, my friend said the other day on BlackBerry Messenger

'ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง' - I know it means who knows this person, but I don't understand why บ้าง is used.

I've seen it used before in more complex sentences and it boggles me. Same with นี้ and เนี้ย. I know have roughly the same meaning, เนี้ย is more colloquial, but why?

Thanks

[David and Bui]

Iwasaki and Ingkaphirom call these types of words "pragmatic particles" and they say, inter alia,

"Pragmatic particles are more numerous in number and more elusive in meaning and function than speech-level and question particles. The exact number of pragmatic particles is difficult to ascertain because of diverse phonological variants and overlapping forms, meanings and functions. Wen more than one pragmatic particle appear together in one sentence, there is a general order off sequence."

So, it is not just you who have problems understanding the nuances of this type of Thai usage.

Included in the list of "pragmatic particles" are:

นะ - indicating common ground
ซิ - indicating authoritative confirmation
เลย - indicating emphasis
เชียว - indicating emphasis or surprise
เสีย (ซะ) - indicating mild encouragement
ละ - indicating "elaboration request"
หรอก - indicating counterargument
นี่ - indicating discovery
ไง - directing attention
นี่ - directing attention
มั่ง - indicating a guess

(See pages 187 - 188, "A Reference Grammar of Thai", 2005)

Also, I urge you to search these forums for Don Sena's ("Donsena") excellent discussions regarding "codaphrase".

[hhrh]

So what does บ้าง นี้/เนี้ย do then? :O

Thanks for your reply

[David and Bui]

Try these sentences and analysis:

http://www.thai-language.com/id/209895
http://www.thai-language.com/id/209920
http://www.thai-language.com/id/209925
http://www.thai-language.com/id/214766
http://www.thai-language.com/id/217235
http://www.thai-language.com/id/218622
http://www.thai-language.com/id/224773
http://www.thai-language.com/id/224777
http://www.thai-language.com/id/227497
http://www.thai-language.com/id/223773
http://www.thai-language.com/id/18780 (see the definitions, usages, and sample sentences)
http://www.thai-language.com/id/131128 (see definition 2 and the sample sentences)

"นี้" Did you men นี่ instead?

Let us know whether these are helpful; there are lots of other examples under this entry.

[pensive]

I have a theory about บ้าง. Take your example: ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง. If we delete บ้าง we get ใครรู้จักคนนี้. Is this a question? I don't think so. See, in Thai the question particles can also stand for nouns and adverbs. I would suggest that ใครรู้จักคนนี้ means: "Somebody knows this person." In order to make it a question, you need another question word, like บ้าง.

[MissB]

Hello
in this case you also say ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้างเนี้ย its still the same meaning like to emphasize the sentence like Ex. มาทำไมเนี้ย(in case of you ask someone like you don't expect him/her to comes) , เบื่อนะเนี้ย (express that your so really bored)

i might not a good explain >< but i'm trying to explain in the easy way from my experience hope you understand

[gob_ob_ob]

Hi, it's a month past but can I answer to this?

ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง = ใครบ้าง รู้จักคนนี้
And this sentence is shortened by colloquialism, the full sentence is "มีใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้างไหม"

"บ้าง" modifies the word "ใคร"

And it actually means "มีคน [ที่เป็นใครก็ได้หรือจำนวนกี่คนก็ได้] รู้จักคนนี้ไหม"

I think it is as same as the word "any" as in "anyone".
So ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง would be translated directly as "Does anyone know this person?" or "Is there anyone who knows this person?"

[claude06thailand]

Hi, it's a month past but can I answer to this?

ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง = ใครบ้าง รู้จักคนนี้
And this sentence is shortened by colloquialism, the full sentence is "มีใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้างไหม"

"บ้าง" modifies the word "ใคร"

And it actually means "มีคน [ที่เป็นใครก็ได้หรือจำนวนกี่คนก็ได้] รู้จักคนนี้ไหม"

I think it is as same as the word "any" as in "anyone".
So ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้าง would be translated directly as "Does anyone know this person?" or "Is there anyone who knows this person?"

I think it is never too late to give a good answer.
Thank you very much !

[hhrh]

Hello
in this case you also say ใครรู้จักคนนี้บ้างเนี้ย its still the same meaning like to emphasize the sentence like Ex. มาทำไมเนี้ย(in case of you ask someone like you don't expect him/her to comes) , เบื่อนะเนี้ย (express that your so really bored)

i might not a good explain >< but i'm trying to explain in the easy way from my experience hope you understand

Thank you!