Page:Manual of the Foochow dialect.pdf/33

19 Sometimes the words 其𠆧 ki nëng (its man or the man of) are added to such forms, as 做生意其𠆧 chó seng e ki nëng, to-do-trade-its-man, or the-man-of-doing-trade, i.e., a trader. In this and like instances we have a verb of being or action, a noun of art, profession, material, or other object, and a noun denoting the actor, preceded by the sign of the genitive, all combined as the equivalent of a single English word.

The Chinese noun has no inflection. Its properties are determined by its position in the sentence or by the use of additional words.

Person. The persons of proper nouns, especially the first and second persons, are sometimes distinguished, as in English, by prefixing the pronouns 我, 汝, 伊, ngwai, nü, i (I, thou, he) to the proper names. This usage, however, is not common in the spoken language, where the following rules may be observed.

(1) For the first person the pronoun alone, or a humble, self-depreciating term, with or without the pronoun prefixed, is commonly used.

(2) The second person is likewise indicated by the pronoun alone, or by some term of respect or title of rank belonging to the individual, with or without the pronoun prefixed.

(3) The third person is indicated in ordinary discourse in the usual way. After pointing out the individual by name, it is common to speak of him in subsequent discourse by the pronoun 伊 i, he, or, 啫𠆧 chiā nëng, that person, or by his name or peculiar title, as 王 wong, the king, 老爹 ló tiā, His Honor, the officer, 先生 sing sang, the teacher.

Gender. The most prominent terms to designate the sexes are 男 nang, male, and 女 nü, female. These are restricted in usage to the human species.

The more common colloquial terms are 唐晡 tong pwo, a male, and 諸娘 chü niong, a female, or 唐晡𠆧 tong pwo nëng, a man, and 諸娘𠆧 chü niong nëng, a woman. The term 唐晡仔 tong pwo kiāng, is used for boy, and 仔 kiāng alone