This contribution to cross-cultural pragmatics sets out to identify the meaning of the celebrated Singaporean particle lah — the hallmark of Singapore English. In pursuing this goal, the authors investigate the use of lah and seek to identify its meaning by trying to find a paraphrase in ordinary language which would be substitutable for lah in any context, thus entering the speakers’ minds. At the same time, they offer a general model for the investigation of discourse markers and show how the methodology based on the “NSM” semantic theory allows the analyst to link pragmatics, via semantics, with the study of cognition.