How to say "promise" in Penang and others...

[Ah-bin]

One verb missing from the all the reference works on Penang Hokkien is "promise"

I suppose it could be tap-ing 答應 like in Mandarin, but I'm not so sure.

I could say "I promised not to go" as "Wa kong wa tiaN-tioh be khi" - literally "I said I'll definitely not go" - but it's not as strong as "promise" I think.

And how about telling people to hurry up?

In Taiwan it was always kin-e! Kin-e! But Penang HK uses khoai rather than kin, so does it mean that people don't use "kin-e" either?

[Mark Yong]

Hi, Ah-bin,

From my experience in Penang, they normally just say in 應 for 'promise' - as in "wa in lu..." "我應汝..." ("I promise you...").

As for "hurry up", the common terms are kh'a-kh'uai 較快 and kh'a-mæ 較猛. An enhancement to the latter that my ex-boss used is kh'a-ch'iu pang mæ tam-pok 骹手放猛淡溥.

[niuc]

Hi Ah-bin & Mark

From my experience in Penang, they normally just say in 應 for 'promise' - as in "wa in lu..." "我應汝..." ("I promise you...").

I suspect that 'in' in this context is not 應 but 允. Mark, what tone is 'in' meaning "promise" here?

答應 is pronounced as 'tap8-in3' in my variant, 應 in this combination is 'in3' (not 'ing3'). However, it tends to mean "to permit / consent" rather than "to promise" in my Hokkien. 伊答應九點會來 'i tap in kau tiam e lai' = he agrees to come at 9 (we can say "he promises to come at 9" yet in the sense that he agrees to the promise, not that he actively initiates the promise).

In my variant (not Penang), "to promise" is 應允 'ing3-un2' (應 is 'ing3' here). 伊應允九點會來 'i ing un kau tiam e lai' = he promises to come at 9. 應允 can be shortened to 允 'un2' but usually needs object (e.g. 伊允我九點會來). I think 允 'un2' is pronounced as 'in2' in Ciangciu-based variants.

To hasten, we say 'kha4-kin2 (e0)'.

[Mark Yong]

niuc wrote:
I suspect that 'in' in this context is not 應 but 允. Mark, what tone is 'in' meaning "promise" here?

As usual, I am hopeless with remembering the tone numbering system for Minnan , but I believe 允 here should be tone #2 (high, same tone as 馬 and 緊).

[Ah-bin]

As usual, I am hopeless with remembering the tone numbering system for Minnan

You're not the only one. There are two different systems as well, so I just write tone marks when i can instead.

Thanks for these,
Another one I haven't been able to find is "exciting" or "excited"

[SimL]

...
As for "hurry up", the common terms are kh'a-kh'uai 較快 and kh'a-mæ 較猛...

Agreed. Both I would use in Penang Hokkien to mean "faster, quicker". For the 'fixed phrase' "Hurry up!", I would be more inclined to use the latter ("kha mE"), and use "kha khuai" for all other, more neutral/general usages of faster, like "i kiaN kha khuai ka gua" (= "he walks faster than me").

I don't think "kha-kin" and all other compounds with "kin" are commonly used in Penang Hokkien, with the exception of "iau-kin" (= "important"). (Somehow, I seem to remember saying this on the Forum before... )

[Mark Yong]

Ah-bin wrote:
Another one I haven't been able to find is "exciting" or "excited"

In Penang Hokkien, that would be ch'ī-kĕk 刺激 and kīn-chiōng 緊張, respectively.

SimL wrote:
I don't think "kha-kin" and all other compounds with "kin" are commonly used in Penang Hokkien, with the exception of "iau-kin" (= "important").

I have heard kîn 緊 used for 'fast' in Penang before, but as you correctly pointed out, it is rare compared to kh'ŭai 快 and mæ 猛.

[xng]

Ah-bin wrote:
Another one I haven't been able to find is "exciting" or "excited"

In Penang Hokkien, that would be ch'ī-kĕk 刺激 and kīn-chiōng 緊張, respectively.

SimL wrote:
I don't think "kha-kin" and all other compounds with "kin" are commonly used in Penang Hokkien, with the exception of "iau-kin" (= "important").

I have heard kîn 緊 used for 'fast' in Penang before, but as you correctly pointed out, it is rare compared to kh'ŭai 快 and mæ 猛.

緊張 is pronounced as Kin Tionn (very slight nasal sound) and not Kin chiong.

Zhangzhou hokkien use 'Me' (benzi isn't 猛), Quanzhou hokkien use Kin 緊.

[xng]

I suppose it could be tap-ing 答應 like in Mandarin, but I'm not so sure.

Southern Msian hokkien use 答應, and this is also used in Taiwanese shows. It is usually pronounced as 'Tah Ing' glottal stop rather than 'Tap Ing'

[Ah-bin]

Thanks everyone, these are all going into my little notebook.