Grammar


Alphabet: A-Z

Medan Hokkien originally used the English alphabet A-Z without diacritics. Chinese characters are currently being tested to write Medan Hokkien sentences.

Tones

Hokkien is said to have between five to eight different tones, depending on the dialect. Hokkien dialects in Mainland China and Taiwan tend to possess seven tones, whereas Hokkien dialects in Southeast Asia tend to have six. However, four Mandarin tones are considered enough to distinguish Medan Hokkien words. 
  1. First tone: flat tone; written as number 1
  2. Second tone: rising tone; written as number 2
  3. Third tone: low tone; written as number 3
  4. Fourth tone: high tone; written as number 4
Tone Sandhi: a general term linguists use to describe tone changes that occur in response to how adjacent words or syllables are pronounced.
Tone Sandhi often occurs in tonal languages. It appears also in Hokkien since Hokkien is a tonal language.

3 types of E, 2 types of O

[ə] as in "bird" [bəːd] written as "e"
[e] as in "may" [meː] written as "ay"
[ɛ] as in "fat" [fɛt] written as "ae"
[o] as in "go" [ɡoː] written as "o"
[ɔ] as in "not" [nɔt] written as "or"

Nasalization

Speech sound in which the airstream passes through the nose. A duplicate letter denotes the nasal sound that the letters represent. Nasalization is important because it also changes the meaning.
  • to send - kia [kia3]
  • glass - kia [kiia3] (with nasal sound)

Nouns

Used to identify people, places, or things. 
  • mother - mak [mak3]
  • car - chia [chia1]
  • table - tukteng [tuk1tayng4]
  • cookie - pia [piia4]

Pronouns

Used to refer to someone or something previously mentioned, rather than using a noun repeatedly.
  • we - walang [wa4lang2]
  • they - ilang [i1lang2]
  • my - wa e [wa4 ay1]
  • your - lu e [lu4 ay1]

Verbs

Expresses an action. It is used along with a noun or pronoun to describe what the noun or pronoun is doing.
  • eat - ciak [ciak1]
  • sing - chio [chiior3]
  • think - sio [siior3]
  • walk - kia [kiia2]

Adjectives

Describes the qualities of nouns. An adjective usually comes next to a noun. 
  • beautiful - sui [sui4]
  • tall - kuan [kuan2]
  • far - hui [huui3]
  • happy - huahi [huua3hi4]

Adverbs

Used to modify verbs or adjectives. Adverbs usually answer questions such as "How", "Where", or "When".
  • quickly - khuai [khuai3]
  • at school - uan okteng [uan1 ork3teng2]
  • on Monday - pai-it [pai4it3]
  • never - embat [em3bat1]

Prepositions

Used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, or location. 
  • inside - laibin [lai3bin3]
  • at - uan [uan1]
  • over - koi [koi3]
  • of - e [ay1]

Conjunctions

Used to connect words or phrases.
  • and - kak [kak3]
  • but - tapi [ta1pi4]
  • because - uiliau [ui3liau4]
  • so that - jadi [ja3di4]

Interjections

Expresses different levels of emotion, spontaneous feeling, or reaction.
  • Oh! - O! [O4!]
  • Wow! = Wa! [Wa4!]
  • My goodness! - Wa e thi! [Wa4 ay1 thi1!]

Tenses

There is no conjugation, verbs stay the same for every pronoun and adverb of time.
  • I ate - wa ciak [wa4 ciak1]
  • I eat - wa ciak [wa4 ciak1]
  • I shall eat - wa ciak [wa4 ciak1]
  • Eat! - ciak! [ciak1!]


References

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