ON THE AMOY COLLOQUIAL DIALECT. 91 



one who has observed the great variety of intonations among the En- 

 ghsh, Scotch, and Irish, will be ready to admit the possibility of the 

 Chinese finding enough for all their wants. 



Distinction of Homophonous Words. 



With 700 monosyllables varied by 7 tones, the Amoy dialect might 

 comprise 4,900 distinct monosyllabic words. But these tones are not 

 fully employed and consequently all these possible combinations do 

 not exist. Some monosyllables have only one word instead of seven ; 

 others have two, three or four only. In consequence of this defi- 

 ciency existing as to some syllables, others have far more than seven 

 words in connexion with them — 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 27, and in 

 one case, 30 words. In examining more minutely this last case (the 

 monosyllable " To "), we find under the first tone, 4 words ; under the 

 second, 5 ; under the third, 5 ; under the fourth, 1 ; under the fifth, 

 11 ; under the seventh, 3 ; and under the eighth, 1. Under the fifth 

 tone then there are 1 1 words precisely homophonous ; uttered exactly 

 alike ; the nicest ear can recognize no difference among them. How 

 can intelligible conversation be maintained amid such chances of 

 misapprehension ? 



There is usually very little danger that a verb will be mistaken for 

 a noun or adjective. If, however, there be several homophonoua 

 verbs or adjectives, there will be danger of confusion. In such cases 

 perspicuity is obtained by the combination of two synonymous or 

 nearly synonymous verbs or adjectives, if the context does not pre- 

 vent misapprehension. In the case of like-sounding nouns, there ii 

 another expedient which is worthy of explanation. 



The English phrase " He has twenty head of cattle," is perfectly 

 intelligible. And yet it might be difficult to define the precise mean- 

 ing, in that sentence, of the word " head." The sentences, " We saw- 

 ten head of ducks," " He caught ten head of fish." would be at once 

 condemned as unidiomatic. A person familiar with Chinese grammar 

 would describe the word " head" as the "numeral," " classative," or 

 " classifier " of the word cattle, and declare it to be not the classifier 

 of ducks or fish. If in English it were customary to say not only 

 "head of cattle," but also " tails of fish," " sticks of masts," " sheets 

 of sails," " bows of anchors," &c., the expedient, to which the Chinese 

 have been driven by necessity, would be very fully illustrated. The 

 nouns are seldom used without their appropriate classifiers. The 

 numeral adjectives are not employed without the intervention of the 



