where? here, there, everywhere...

Gilpin · Post by **Gilpin** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:27 am

Itaq wrote:
where - toh chit ui (i.e. which place)
here - cit ui, cit so cai, cit te (i.e. this place)
there - hit ui, hit so cai, hit te (i.e. that place)
(Perhaps my ears were deceiving me at the time, but I've also heard a relative of mine who said cit tiah and hit tiah for here and there. Don't exactly know the dialect source. Anyone else heard of these before? If so, could you shed some light on the source?
everywhere - si kue/ke/ker (as in bnai si kue cao)

I’ve heard announcers on the cuanciu radio 刺桐之声 saying "cit tiah"(here) "hit tiah"(there) "bat tiah” (another place, somewhere else)

By the way, does anyone know what 刺桐 means or refers to? Is it a name of a place?

Also, on the same radio station, I've come across 2 variations, "hi bong" and "hi bang" for hope. "hi bang" is more common, but wonder which cuanciu locality uses "hi bong"?

ong · Post by **ong** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:34 am

It was due to 1500 years ago a king asked the people in quanzhou city to plant 刺桐 tree. http://qzhnet.dnscn.cn/qzh19.htm
bong/bang is just 文白读。It should be ng bang for minnan version
it is liah not tiah

Gilpin · Post by **Gilpin** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:49 am

Thanks for the link which explained ci tong is an alternative appellation for quanzhou.

BTW, Any clue if there's a Chinese character for "liah" as you indicated.

ong · Post by **ong** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:53 am

sorry ,I check the book it can be tiah or liah. some said hanzi is 迹 but another prof gave hanzi that I can't type out in any chinese font

Gilpin · Post by **Gilpin** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:05 pm

Good to know that it was "tiah" that I heard. What dictionary or resource did you use which listed "liah" and "tiah?" Couldn't find either of them in my books. Just a guess, but maybe "tiah" is an extension or variant of the cuanciu "tah," as in:

cit tah = cit tiah
hit tah = hit tiah
bat tah = bat tiah

However, I've never heard "tiah" used in the following examples, for which I've only heard "tah" used. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

tak tah - every place, everywhere
m cai tah - don't know where

ong · Post by **ong** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:50 am

The reason I think is tiah only used for 时候 compare to liah which means place.see 漳州市志。

SimL · Post by **SimL** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:11 pm

In Penang, I would have used:

here = "ci(t) peng" (literally "this side")
there = "hi(t) peng" (literally "that side")

In fact, "ci(t) peng" is even often shortened to "ceng1", as in: "i tua ceng juah ku liau?" = "how long has he been living here?".

Sim.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:17 am

Sim, I might also use cit-tau, hit-tau.

SimL · Post by **SimL** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:21 am

Andrew,

Very interesting. I am familiar with "cit-tau" and "hit-tau", but not from Penang; more from my Peninsular "mainland" relatives.

Sim.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 11:10 am

Hmm, it might be from my Engchun grandfather.