Dalam in M'sian Hokkien

[Ah-bin]

I have been listening regularly to Bhante Dhammavudho again, and I heard him say something like

"Dalam há-lê gō• ê lâng, I tē-ít suka ê sī…"

"Of those five people, his favourite was..."

Is this "dalam" commonly used in Malaysian Hokkien?

Can it be used in the sense of time? Such as "Dalam saⁿ lé-pài" = "within three weeks"?

I wonder if, like "sampai" it is only older people who use it? I suppose other types of Hokkien might use "há-lê gō• ê lâng lāi-bīn" instead, or even something borrowed from literary Chinese like 之內.

[AndrewAndrew]

Ah Bin

The first usage is incorrect in Malay - it should be 'di antara', amongst.

The second is correct in Malay.

I have never heard either in Hokkien.

[aokh1979]

I have never heard it used in Penang Hokkien. ^^

[SimL]

Hi,

I've been off the net for about a week!

No, I too have never heard of this usage, in Penang or any other sort of Hokkien. I asked my parents and they were unaware of it either.