"Busybody" in Hokkien

[Niuc]

Hi Casey

For those with 'p', 't', 'k' endings, are certainly tone 4. But for those with glottal stop, I do get confused sometimes, luckily the sandhi tones are different. Tone 2 -> 25, tone 4 -> 53 (tone . Usually I use sandhi tones to differentiate them.

E.g.: ‘si2’死 (die) and ‘si4’ 閃 (shine/flash, as in ‘si4 na3’ lightning) sound alike but have different sandhi. Also ‘ci2’ 止 (stop) and ‘ci4’ [接] (receive), 'tho2' 討 (cadge, beg) and 'tho4' 妥 (proper).

I just found that the 2nd tone in Taiwanese [http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/taiwanese/tones.htm , audio samples available] is very similar to our tone 8. I remember that tone 2 of Medan Hokkien is also like that.

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[Andrew Yong]

Niuc: Your 2nd tone is very bizarre. If you look at glossika, you will find only two or three Minnan subdialects that do not have a |53| or similar tone

andrew

[yisheng]

I know that my tone 2 is pronounced as | 24 |. Don't know whether it is mixed with certain chuanchew accents because from what I know, there is no chiangchiu second tone that goes "up" , most are what Andrew has said | 53 | or similar.

yisheng

[James Quek]

I read somewhere in this thread about the hokkien expression "kaypoh ji" and that the meaning of "ji" is quite obscure.

I am surprised cos it's quite obvious to me what "ji" refers to: the female genitalia. So kaypoh ji means female busybody.

We hokkiens are quite known for our "earthly" use of our own language.

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[kaiah]

"ke1 po5 cih8" should be "家婆舌"，"cih8" is the tongue.

[LungPi]

As an ex-pat Singaporean, ke3po2 is the Hokkien idiom for a busybody

(Hok.) ke3 - additionally.
(Hok.) po2 - to add, to stack, to contribute.

Hence, literally, 'to additionally contribute'.

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[Jo Chua]

Hello,

I hope I am not intruding. I am a peranakan from Malacca. The Peranakan language, is a mixture of Hokkien and Malay and Javanese (Bahasa Batawi) words.

We tend to have 'trendy words' now and why not in those good old days too? It has been said that in the days of Portuguese (1511-1641) 84 languages were spoken in Malacca. The cuisine of the peranakan is influenced by the Indians too.

Busybody in the Peranakan Hokkien is Kay-po and the Malaccan Hokkiens also use this word.

As for Piring - plate, chang kay - cup, Kuping - ear; kopiah - hat, lakpay - terrace; I have found that they are all Javanese words.

The child of those days would have acquired the mixed-up language/creole from the child-minder whether she is the mother of a different race or an 'amah' of a different race- at that time in Malacca from the Indonesian Islands. Subsequently, with the import of 'Mah-chairs', the cantonese unmarried maids from Hong Kong, the children started adding cantonese words.

Peranakan Malaccans tend to speak less Hokkien than their Penang Sister.

[hong]

I find that in online dict by prof Zheng there is koe po for chuanchiu/xiamen sound.

[Niuc]

Hi Jo

Nice to have you here. It's interesting to know more about Peranakan Malaccans from you. Hope that you will tell us more.

Btw, Bahasa Betawi is the language used in Jakarta (Dutch name: Batavia, localized as Betawi). It is a form of Malay with many words absorbed from Javanese, Dutch, Sundanese, Chinese, etc. Yet Bahasa Betawi is not Javanese (Bahasa Jawa).

I know those words you mentioned (piring, cangkir, kuping, kopiah) as they are also used in Indonesian but I am not aware of 'lakpay'.

Hong, I don't know about other Cuanciu type dialects but it's ke1-po5 in Tang-ua*.

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[Tjandy]

Wow! this is all very interesting. I will learn the phonetic and the romanization of Hokkien one of these days. But for now, let me just contribute with what I know with Hanyu Pinyin system.

First of all, being a Hokkien from Medan, I have to agree with Sim that I could only make out 4 tones from the animal method. To me Sai1 is similar to look8, ah4 is similar to chiu7, and hoo2 is similar to be6.

As for ci in ke po ci (busy body), I do believe that the ci is the semi-gods/ demons and not referring to the female genitalia because the sound is different as James suggested. The genitalia sound is a bit more subtle and will not have a strong nasal sound when we say it.

BTW, NIUC, are you Chinese Indonesian? If you are, which part of Indonesia are you from? Your command of this this Chinese language is amazing.