86 ON THE AMOY COLL'OaXJIAL DIALECT. 



— . In the former case it is 



these two modulations ^, 



Go. Go ? 



an order, in the latter a question. In the Amoy dialect the monosyl- 

 lable "go" with the former tone means "to starve," with the latter 

 modulation it means "goose." The former represents the seventh 

 Amoy tone; the latter, the fifth. Take the monosyllable "Kau" 

 (pronounced like our English word "Cow") ; with the seventh tone, 

 it means, " thick ;" with the fifth tone, " monkey." But these are not 

 all the tones and modulations that are used. The word "Kau" may 



be uttered in a high monotone, thus — ^ — ; this means "a ditch," 



Kau. 



It may have the following modulation — I — P- — ; it then means "a dog. 



It may be thus modulated — 9 and then it means "enough." 



If uttered with the same modulation, but in a quick, abrupt manner 



-^ — it meams "to decompose." These are severally styled the 



first, second, third, and fourth tones ; they are also called upper tones. 

 The fifth and seventh tones have been already described. In the 

 Amoy dialect the sixth tone is the same as the second. The eighth 

 tone is a high monotone, very quickly and abruptly pronounced, thus 



The fourth and eighth tones are called by the Chinese, the 



=1?: 



Kau. 



upper and lower "entering" tones. Where the words end in *'m," 

 the "entering" tones have the "m" changed into "p;" thus "lam" 

 becomes "lap." If the word end in "n," the "entering" tone changes 

 "n" to *'t;" thus "Ian" becomes "lat." If the word ends in "ng,', 

 the "entering" tone'ehanges "ng" into'"k;" thus "lang" becomes 

 "lak," "leng" becomes "lek," ".long" becomes «lok," "liong" 

 becomes "liok." 



Let us now examine these several modulations in their relationa to 

 each other. We take the word " Ban." 



