Personal pronouns
Contents
- Character usage
- Inclusive vs. exclusive “we” – nang2 • 俺 and uang2 • 阮
- Possessive pronouns
- Reflexive pronouns
Both the singular and plural personal pronouns in Teochew are largely monosyllabic, unlike Mandarin and Cantonese, where the plural personal pronouns are formed by adding a suffix to the singular pronouns, e.g. Mandarin nǐ 你 “you” (singular) → nǐmen 你們 “you” (plural) or Cantonese ngóh 我 “I” → ngóhdeih 我哋 “we”.
The Teochew plural pronouns all end in -ng, which may represent a long-ago fusion of the singular pronouns with a plural suffix, which was likely to have been nang5 儂, based on the pattern of i1nang7 伊儂 “they”.
| Definition | IPA | Peng’im | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ua⁵³ | ua2 | 我 |
| we (inclusive) | naŋ⁵³ | nang2 | 俺 |
| we (exclusive) | uaŋ⁵³ / uŋ⁵³ / ŋ⁵³ | uang2 / ung2 / ng2 | 阮 |
| you (singular) | lɯ⁵³ / lu⁵³ | le2 / lu2 | 汝 |
| you (plural) | niŋ⁵³ | ning2 | 恁 |
| you (plural) | lɯ³⁵naŋ¹¹ | leu2(6)nang7 | 汝儂 |
| he/she/it | i³³ | i1 | 伊 |
| they | i³³naŋ¹¹ | i1nang7 | 伊儂 |
Character usage
le2 is written as 汝 in most modern Teochew publications, but was often written 爾/尔 (also pronounced re2) in historical texts, such as Teochew songbooks. Both 汝 and 爾 were used as the second person singular pronoun in literary Chinese. When texts written in Mandarin are recited in Teochew pronunciation (gloss reading), the Mandarin character 你 is glossed as le2.
In some historical texts, ua2 我 is also represented as 吾 (otherwise pronounced u5), and nang2 俺 may also be written as 赧 (lang2) or 咱 (za1).
In comparison, most Teochew texts use the same characters used for ung2 阮, ning2 恁, and i1 伊.
Inclusive vs. exclusive “we” – nang2 • 俺 and uang2 • 阮
Teochew makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive “we”, similar to languages like Mandarin (zánmen 咱們 / wǒmen 我們) and Malay (kita / kami), but unlike English which has only one word “we” for both.
Inclusive “we” includes the person being spoken to.
naŋ⁵³ seŋ³³kia³³po³³ koŋ³³miŋ⁵⁵ tso⁵³bu¹¹ hiaŋ⁵³ hɯŋ¹¹hok⁵ tsiŋ⁵³pou¹¹
Nang2 Sêng1gia1bo1 gong1ming5 zo3(2)bhu5(7) hiang3(2) heng6(7)hog8 zing3(2)bou7.
俺 新加坡 公民 做垺 向 幸福 進步。
We-incl. Singapore citizens together toward happiness progress.
“Mari kita rakyat Singapura sama-sama menuju bahagia!”
Exclusive “we” does not include the person being spoken to.
uaŋ⁵³ tʰak⁵kiu⁵⁵ tĩã¹¹tieʔ⁵ ĩã¹¹kue⁵⁵ niŋ⁵³
Uang2 tag4(8)giu5 dian6(7)diêh8 ian5(7)guê3(5) ning2!
阮 踢球 定着 贏過 恁！
We-excl. play-ball certainly triumph-over you-pl.!
We’ll trash you at football!
The variation in different pronunciations of the exclusive “we” pronoun – uang2 / ung2 / ng2 – show how pronunciations can evolve by erosion.
Possessive pronouns
The possessive pronouns are formed by adding the genitive marker gai5 個 to the pronouns. See “Classifiers and gai5 個”.
i³³ si¹¹ uaŋ⁵³ kai¹¹ pʰeŋ¹¹iou⁵³
I1 si6(7) uang2-gai5(7) pêng5(7)iu2.
伊 是 阮個 朋友。
He is our friend.
uan1 and nia1 for kinship terms
The special possessive pronouns uan1 “my” and nia1 “your” (both singular and plural) are used only for kinship terms.
nia³³ hĩã³³ kiŋ³³zik⁵ kʰɯ⁵³ ti¹¹ko²¹³
Nia1 hian1 ging1rig8 ke3(2) di7go3?
～ 兄 經日 去 哋塊？
Your older-brother today go where?
Where has your older brother gone today?
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are words that point back to a personal pronoun, e.g. “myself” or “yourself”. The personal pronoun being pointed to is known as the antecedent.
In Teochew, the reflexive pronoun is ga1gi7. Modern Teochew publications often write this as 家己, or with phonetic loan characters such as 膠己 or 交己 (also found in historical texts), or with the semantic gloss 自己 (自 is otherwise pronounced ze6 in other contexts).
i³³ tsie⁵³sẽ³³ tso²¹³ si¹¹ kʰoiʔ² ka³³ki¹¹ li¹¹iaʔ²
I1 ziê3(2)sên1 zo3 si6(7) koih4 ga1gi7 li6(7)iah4.
伊 照生 做 是 乞 家己 利益。
He this-manner do is give self benefit.
He benefits himself by doing it in this manner.
ga1gi7 can be combined with gai5 to form a reflexive possessive pronoun, which can be translated to English as “my/your/his/our/their own”.
i³³ tsẽ¹¹tsẽ³⁵ lo³³tso⁵³ ka³³ki¹¹ kai¹¹ sɯ¹¹
I1 zên6(7)zên6 lo1zo3(2) ga1gi7-gai5(7) se7.
伊 靜靜 囉做 家己 個 事。
He quietly PROG-do self-GEN things.
He is quietly working on his own tasks.
The antecedent personal pronoun can be added to ga1gi7 either for emphasis, or to clarify who is being referred to.
ua⁵³ mai⁵³ hueŋ¹¹lo⁵³ i³³ ka³³ki¹¹ kai¹¹ sɯ¹¹
Ua2 mai3(2) huêng5(7)lo2 i1-ga1gi7-gai5(7) se7.
我 莫 煩惱 伊家己 個 事。
I don’t-want worry himself-GEN matter.
I won’t concern myself with his own issues.
Ga1gi7 can also function as an adverb, meaning “by oneself”. In the example below, the first ga1gi7 is a reflexive pronoun while the second one is an adverb.
ka³³ki¹¹ kai¹¹ kʰaŋ³³kʰue¹¹ ai⁵³ ka³³ki¹¹ tso²¹³
Ga1gi7 gai5(7) kang1kuê7 ai3(2) ga1gi7 zo3.
家己 個 工課 愛 家己 做。
Self-REL tasks ought self do.
One’s own tasks should be done by oneself.