Grammar
Alphabet: A-Z
Medan Hokkien uses the English alphabet A-Z without diacritics.
Four tones
Four tones resembling the Mandarin tones are used to distinguish Medan Hokkien words.
- First tone: flat tone; written as number 1
- Second tone: rising tone; written as number 2
- Third tone: low tone; written as number 3
- Fourth tone: high tone; written as number 4
Tone sandhi often occurs in tonal languages. It also appears in Medan Hokkien. Tone sandhi is a general term linguists use to describe tone changes that occur in response to how adjacent words or syllables are pronounced.
Three kinds of E and two kinds 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 = kia3
- glass = kiia3 (with nasal sound)
Nouns: identify people, places, or things
- mother = mak3
- car = chia1
- table = tuk1tayng4
- cookie = piia4
Pronouns: refer to someone or something previously mentioned, rather than using a noun repeatedly
- we = wa4lang2
- they = i1lang2
- my = wa4 ay1
- your = lu4 ay1
Verbs: express an action
It is used along with a noun or pronoun to describe what the noun or pronoun is doing.
- eat = ciak1
- sing = chiior3
- think = siior3
- walk = kiia2
Adjectives: describe the qualities of nouns
An adjective usually comes next to a noun.
- beautiful = sui4
- tall = kuan2
- far = huui3
- happy = huua3hi4
Adverbs: modify verbs or adjectives
Adverbs usually answer questions such as "How", "Where" or "When".
- quickly = khuai3
- at school = uan1 ork3teng2
- on Monday = pai4it3
- never = em3bat1
Prepositions: used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, or location
- inside = lai3bin3
- at = uan1
- over = koi3
- of = ay1
Conjunctions: used to connect words or phrases
- and = kak3
- but = ta3pi4
- because = ui3liau4
- so that = ja3di4
Interjections: express different levels of emotion, spontaneous feeling, or reaction
- Oh! = O4!
- Wow! = Wa4!
- My goodness! = Wa4 ay1 thi1!
Tenses
There is no conjugation; verbs stay the same for every pronoun and adverb of time.
- I ate = wa4 ciak1
- I eat = wa4 ciak1
- I shall eat = wa4 ciak1
- Eat! = ciak1!
References
Photo by raja meliala on Unsplash
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