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. 
  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 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

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