Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/103

 lú꜄ ꜁má inserted in its stead. The very emphatic and noticeable 𡃓 po꜄ of the Cantonese is unknown in Höng Shán, but in lieu of it appears the compound final 個𡀔 ko꜄ lú꜄. The finals 喇 ꜀lá and 嚹 lá꜄ are not used, but 呀 á꜄ instead of 哩., [sic] 呀 á꜄ again taking its place, but 唎 le꜄ is used. This seems to be the only le used.

A new compound final is 囉㗒 lo꜄ ꜀ôí which does duty for another curious combination at the end of a sentence is 吱呢 ꜀chí ꜀ní e.g.，都係抬過來吱呢 ꜀tú ꜀laí꜄ [sic] ꜁t'oí ko꜄ ꜁lôí ꜀chí ꜀né. It was also only carried over, or all the same it was carried over. Another new interrogative particle is in use in the Höng Shán dialect which is unknown in Canton. It is 𭉚 ꜀áí, taking the place of the Cantonese 𫫃 e꜅, as, may I go with you? or I'll go with you, shall I? 我同你去𭉚 ꜂ngo ꜁t'ung ꜂ní hü꜄ ꜀áí?

The finals wá and wo, used in Cantonese in different tones and so expressive, signifying that the statement made is on hearsay, containing, if not the exact words, at least the gist of a statement made by some one else&mdash;these finals are not found in the Höng Shán dialect at all; but are replaced by a combination consisting of the words 𡄔囉 ꜀sheng ꜁lo, as 佢話唔識你 𡄔囉 ꜂kü wá꜄ ꜁m shak꜆ ꜂ní ꜀sheng ꜁lo. He says he does not know you, that is what he says.

The sharp sound of 呢 ꜁ni is changed to the duller 呢 ꜀ne in the Höng Shán dialect.

𠾵 ꜀chá is not often used as a final, but 啫嚰 che꜄ ꜁mo is employed instead 𠾵 ꜂chá and 咋 chá꜄ are never used.

A compound interrogative final is employed which is not found in Canton: it is 呀㗎 á꜄ ká꜄, as, will you come back? 翻來呀𡃉 ꜀fán ꜁lôi á꜄ ká꜄? These two finals are found in use separately in Canton; but not in combination.

A final not known in Canton, and which is used in combination with 嗎 má꜄, is ꜀tsú, with the meaning of only, taking the place of the Cantonese final 呮 ꜀che, as:&mdash;He was only scolding you，佢不過閙 吓你嗎 ꜂k'ü pat꜆ ko꜄ náú꜄ há꜅ ꜂ní ꜀teú má꜄?

The Kaí Chung variant.

The speech of 界涌 Káí꜄ ꜀Chung, a small village of 300 or 400 houses, a few hours journey from Macao, demands some attention in a paper purporting to deal, even though it be in a cursory manner, with the Höng Shán dialect.

The inhabitants of Káí꜄ ꜀Chung are descended from the Tán Ká, or boat people&mdash;that peculiar tribe of Cantonese, believed to be descendants of some of the aborigines of this portion of China.

The ancestors of the Káí꜄ ꜀Chungites, however, left their frail boats (a similar process on a very small scale appears to have gone on round us even in Hongkong) and settled themselves on terra firma. This change of residence is said to have taken place about two hundred years ago.

Naturally these humble scions of a despised race are ashamed to own their origin; and, though the majority of them are of this descent, yet amongst them are to be found others who were originally landsmen.

The speech then of this people forms & sub-dialect, or perhaps rather a curious variety, of the Höng Shán; for, with the single exception of the tones, it conforms exactly to the Höng Shán in pronunciation, idiom, and everything else, the only difference consisting in the peculiarity of some of the tones. Those who know anything about the tones in Chinese are aware that they alone are capable of differentiating one speech from another very widely.

The Káí꜄ ꜀Chung 上平 shöng p'ing, upper even tone, is much lower than in Can-