sections: at the word level using componential analysis theory and at the sentence level based on speech acts. According to componential analysis, the final particles are analyzed, using 4 features: sex, politeness, social status and relationship.... The result reveals that out of 29 final particles only two are used to indicate the sex of the speaker. Most final particles are considered as polite words and can be used by people of all statuses. They are commonly used among people who know each other well

to requests in Thai and English. It is found that social status and social distance are the important factors while the ranking of imposition is not. For requests in English, the main factors related to the request strategies are the social distance