84 ON THE AMOY COLLOaUIAL DIALECT. 



a knowledge of which it is impossible that they can converse with 

 their superiors or inferiors. This dialect, thus constantly employed 

 in conversation of an elevated character, has probably been improved 

 to the extent of its capabilities, but even thus it is but ill-fitted for its 

 work. Notwithstanding all the additions received from the written 

 language, it is still too meagre in its vocabulary; and its want of 

 inflections is fatal to accuracy of structure and clearness and precision 

 in style. 



The Amoy dialect has never received this special culture bestowed 

 upon that of Nankin, and is therefore every way inferior in fulness 

 and even in perspicuity. Fewer " book -phrases " have been intro- 

 duced into common use, and it is therefore much less fitted for elevated 

 conversation. 



Phonetic Elements of the Amoy Dialect. 



The consonant sounds of the Amoy dialect are, for the moat part, 

 readily represented by Roman letters with their English utterance. 

 They are B, Ch (as in " Church"), Chh (or Ch aspirated), G (as in 

 "Gog"), H, J, K, Kh (aspirated K), L, M, N, Ng, P, Ph (aspirated 

 P), S (as in "sister"), T and Th (aspirated T). The vowel-sounds 

 are A (as in "father"), E (like A in ''fate"), I (like E in " mete"), 

 O (as in "note"), 6 (like "awe" or au in "author"), U (like O in 

 "prove"). The compound vowel-sounds are ai (much like I in 

 ''fine"), au (like ou in "house"), ia (like ya in "yard"), io (like 

 yeo in "yeoman"), io (like yaw in " yawl") and iu (like "yew"). 

 K, M, N, Ng, P and T, are either initials or finals ; B, Ch, Chh, G, 

 H, J, Kh, L, Ph, S and Th, are always initials. 

 The twenty-nine monosyllables under the initial B : 



Ba Bat Bi Bin Boe Bua 



Bai Bau Bia Bio Bo Buan 



Bak Be Bian Bit Bok Bun 



Ban Bek Biat Biu Bong But 



Bang Beng Biau Bo Bu 



A, I, 6, are often nasalized, thus giving three new elementary sounds ; 

 Iu is also nasalized. 



Besides the aspirated vowels (indicated by an H prefixed), there are 

 four consonants aspirated (Ch, K, P and T). These must be distinct- 

 ly marked by an aspiration preceding the following vowels, thus : —A, 

 Ha ; Ta, Tha ] Pa, Pha ; Ka, Kha ; Cha, Chha. 



