Page:Primary Lessons In Swatow Grammar.djvu/109

Rh grain. The Chinese would say, He went, or rather, He go town seek friend; He go Canton see mandarin; He go Shanghai sell sugar; He go sea catch fish; He go field bring grain.

XI. There is a habit in common conversation of omitting conjunctions in cases where in English their use would be indispensable. This is notably true of certain copulatives, as kũa, pẽng, íⁿ-ki̍p, kah, signifying and. We would say, He bought sugar, tea, and spices; He went into the shop and got a saw; Father and mother; Teacher and pupil. The Chinese drop the “and” and say, He bought sugar, tea, spices; He went into the shop, got a saw; Father mother; Teacher pupil.

XII. It is the peculiarity of certain interjections to be used after, instead of before, their associated words. The Chinese say, John, Oh! and not, Oh, John.

XIII. Connectives, or words which join together clauses or sentences, are numerous; but they are so frequently dropped, or hurried over in speech, that the attention of a learner is often severely taxed to keep track of them. Some few, however, refuse to be dispensed with. Such are chiũ, then thereupon; where upon, and liáu, finished; also; moreover; furthermore. The reason, perhaps, why “liáu” is so common, is the habit of summarizing some part of a previous sentence as a prelude to the next one; thus, úa khí húe-lôu, khí-hó--liáu, úa chiũ pû-pn̄g, I will build a fire, it being built, I will then cook rice. But this may be shortened, úa khí-húe-lôu......liáu, chiũ pû-pn̄g, I will build a fire.....finished, I will then cook rice, or as we would say, and also cook rice.

Of course, the minor parts of speech,—conjunctions, prepositions, &c,—act an important part here. Besides these, are various ejaculatory expressions which show that a break has been reached, and that a new sentence is about to begin, such as, taⁿ, now: now then, hó, well, hó--liáu, very well; all right; so far so good, chièⁿ-seⁿ liáu, that being the way of it; and so then, hó—-sĩ, very well—and so. And then, furthermore, there are sundry emphatic and terminal words, such as lī-ī-ī, a-a-a, and intonations which are indescribable, and can be learned only from a man with a glib tongue. Other expressions, again, are correct enough in themselves, bu used in such a way as to make them no better than cant phrases. Still they help mark off sentences. Thus one man will be constantly interlarding his speech with, hó bõi, good or not? Another will be repeating in his narrative with equal volubility, tie̍h a-m̄-tie̍h, right or not right? These ejaculations on the part of the narrator are polite bids for the listener’s approval, but to which a response is not seriously expected.