Am I saying it correctly? "we" "they"

[jilang]

Hi all!

After looking at the topic below about the Penang Hokkien Podcast, I saw a comment by Mark Yong saying that minnan people would not understand "gua lang". Could someone explain this?
So is it right or wrong to say "gua lang" for "we" and to say "i lang" for "they" and "le lang" for "you(plural"?

[niuc]

To be precise, "gua/ly/i lang" formation is found in Teochew Minnan but not Hokkien Minnan. My Teochew friends use them, but they sound awkward in Hokkien [at least to me].

In Hokkien we use "+n" formula to form plural of pronouns; so gua2 -> guan2/gun2, ly2/li2/lu2 -> lin2, i1 -> in1. Sometimes in order to emphasize, we can use lang5 after gun/lin/in but not after gua/ly/i.

Another interesting thing about pronouns in Hokkien is that we often use plural as possesive e.g. my house is gun5-tau1 [lit. our (exclusive we) place]; his son is in1-kia*2 [lit. their son] etc.

[ong]

It is 龙岩 and 漳平 （tone are not the same)who use gua lang because toechew use nang.

[jilang]

It is 龙岩 and 漳平 （tone are not the same)who use gua lang because toechew use nang.

Sorry, could you explain that again because I don't understand what you're trying to say.

To be precise, "gua/ly/i lang" formation is found in Teochew Minnan but not Hokkien Minnan. My Teochew friends use them, but they sound awkward in Hokkien [at least to me].

In Hokkien we use "+n" formula to form plural of pronouns; so gua2 -> guan2/gun2, ly2/li2/lu2 -> lin2, i1 -> in1. Sometimes in order to emphasize, we can use lang5 after gun/lin/in but not after gua/ly/i.

Another interesting thing about pronouns in Hokkien is that we often use plural as possesive e.g. my house is gun5-tau1 [lit. our (exclusive we) place]; his son is in1-kia*2 [lit. their son] etc.

That's interesting because I always use gua lang and I'm definitely not Teo Chew and am Hokkien.

[niuc]

Hong, thanks for the correction.

Jilang, may I know where your 籍貫 (ancestral hometown) is? Or which dialect of Hokkien do you use? According to Hong, Hokkiens in 龙岩 and 漳平 use "gua lang" in place of gun2/guan2. Teochews say "gua nang" [because lang5 is "nang" in Teochew].

Ling5-na5 龙岩 (Longyan) area is near to Teochew 潮州 area, may be that's why the similarities..... but that's not the case for ly2 (you, singular) since Teochew "ly" is similar to ly2 of Cuanciu 泉州 variants & my variant of Tang5-ua*1 同安, compared to li2 in Ciangciu 漳州 variants [although Ciangciu is nearer to Teochew].

[ong]

At this moment teochew people in China only use i nang,the rest become a joint word uang,luang,etc. That is why Prof.Chiu mentioned in Singapore minnan dict gua lang is Singapore teochew style. Many minnan people in South malaysia say nang instead of lang.There is also the problem of the tone for lang mispronunced as 55 like toechew instead of 24.
Recently there is a writer in malaysia who wrote gua lang is ciangciu dialect.This is not true because none of the ciangciu dialect book in China mention this.
Could it be gua lang was due to minnan people in here moved to South East Asia 500 years ago where gua lang is still not joint as gun in China?I don't think so.

[ong]

a book by Prof.BE ,see the pronoun part
http://www.365.com.my/download.php?file ... 1433ce6d06

[jilang]

Jilang, may I know where your 籍貫 (ancestral hometown) is? Or which dialect of Hokkien do you use? According to Hong, Hokkiens in 龙岩 and 漳平 use "gua lang" in place of gun2/guan2. Teochews say "gua nang" [because lang5 is "nang" in Teochew].

Sorry, I'll have to ask relatives.

Thanks for your help, ong/hong.

By the way, I know ly2 is 汝, i is 伊and I'm guessing gua2 is 我 so what is the character for lang5? And what is the POJ for 伊?

[Andrew]

伊 is i1

lang5 is [人農]

[pakkala]

At this moment teochew people in China only use i nang,the rest become a joint word uang,luang,etc. That is why Prof.Chiu mentioned in Singapore minnan dict gua lang is Singapore teochew style. Many minnan people in South malaysia say nang instead of lang.