This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com L CHINESE AND ENGLISH VOCABULARY, TIE-CHIU DIALECT. BY JOSIAH GODDARD. ✓ SECOITD EDITION. shanghai: american presbyterian mission press. 1883. THE NEW YOBK PUBLIC LIBRARY 56278A I v?.TO-. LEK^X AND | .1LD-.N F jO.-DKTIOHS 1(1 - INTRODUCTION. rPHE following work, compiled originiilly to meet the wants of the writer, is offered to the public, simply with the desire that it may afford assistance in the studies of those who desire to make known the unsearchable riches of Christ to the numerous and interesting people who speak the dialect for which it is prepared. It is designed to embrace most of the words in common use, arranged according to their sounds and tones, with brief definitions, and thus form a convenient manual dictionary sufficient for the common purposes of the student. A large Dictionary must, of course, be at hand for reference in difficult and important cases. But a complete Dictionary in each of the Chinese dialects cannot be expected. The most that can be sought is a complete Dictionary in the Court dialect, and a convenient vocabulary in each of the several dialects which claim the attention of missionaries ; and the earlier such a Vocabulary can bo prepared the greater will be the saving of time and labor. It is believed that at least one third of the time and labor of acquiring a good knowledge of such a dialect as the Tie Chiu, with only a large Dictionary in the Court dialect, might be saved by the help of such a Vocabulary. 2. The Orthography employed in this work is intended to corre- ' spond with that in most common use, except where the peculiarities of the dialect require a difference. It is briefly exhibited in the following table : — SOUNDS OP THE VOWELS, &C. a as in far. a the same sound shortened and approaching u in but. a nearly as in man; intermediate between a in hat and in far, e as in they ; before a consonant it is shortened. i „ „ machine ; somewhat shortened before a consonant. o „ ,, no; note. 6 „ „ lord; north. n „ „ rule ; put. u „ „ turn. iv INTRODUCTION. w as woo in wood; or as ick ; each letter being sounded short, ai in aisle. au „ ow in now. iu e w in new. oi „ ingoing. n small above the line represents the nasal sound. 11 „ ,, „ ,, ,, the indistinct sound of u in but. ' the apostrophe denotes the aspirate sounds. The third sound of a occurs in all those cases and those only in which it is preceded by i and followed by ng as Hang. The sound of e in they and in men is usually regarded as the sama in nature, differing only in length ; it is not therefore marked in this work but is ascertained by its position. The 4 shortened before a consonant is intermediate between its longest sound in machine and its shortest in pin, seldom becoming as short as in the latter. The sound of o in not which has commonly been represented by the unmarked o never occurs in this dialect; the unmarked o is there fore used for the sound in note. The termination ou, which has been employed by some, is not used in this work, as the sound which it represents does not seem to differ from the sound of o in no ; if it has any u sound it is only the neces sary turn of the voice in pronouncing the final o. The i in iu has a more distinct sound than the e in new, and the u has the same sound as in muse. The to retains both the consonant and vowel power. Its consonant power, however, is often very weak, sometimes scarely perceptible. Y is used in but few words, and even concerning these it may be doubtful whether » would not be equally proper. It may also be re- iinarked that many of the words under the initial i are sometimes spoken as if they commenced with y, especially in rapid pronuncia tion; as iong like yong. It is to be observed that no attempt is made to mark the length 'of the vowels, but only the nature of their sounds ; their length will vary in the same word according to the tone ; and therefore if the word is pronounced correctly according to its tone, the length of the INTRODUCTION. -rowel will of course be correct. Hence, except in the case of e and »» mentioned in the table as shortened before consonants, the length I of the vowels may be said to be governed by the tones. This may easily be seen by pronouncing such words as chain, che, kan, kiting, . in each of the different tones. The Tie Chiu dialect never exhibits the following (initials, viz ; a, d. d, f, r, v, x, and 2 ; c, is used only in ch, and q is supplanted by k. The following terminations are never found ; ti b, d, f, g except in nS, h, 31 r, s, x and x ; c, g, a and y are not used as finals, their sounds being otherwise represented. With these exceptions all the vowel sounds exhibited in the table, and all the . consonants with their usual English sounds are found both as initials and finals. 3. Eight varieties of tone are marked in this work. This chief peculiarity is that the high and low, in the even going and entering are precisely the reverse of what they are called by the Chinese, and also of what thay have usually been marked by writers on other dialects. Yet the least observation will show that what the Chinese call the low is, in this dialect, really the high, and what they call the high is really the low tone. This peculiarity is, however, less manifest in the reading than in the common sound of the words, which often differ only in tone ; the reading being moreconformable to the tone as designated by the Chinese, whether high or low. But as the following work is designed to exhibit the common rather than the reading sounds, the really high is distinguished by a straight mark over the tonal semicircle as in the following table : — TONES. s J Even high "f 2£ E pne. ( J „ low J; ^ Chnie Pne- ' I High tone _fc §g| Siang sina. j ' Going. high f ^ E ku I ' „ medium ^ Jgt Ku sina. V „ low Chnieku. I 5 Entering high f A B jip- I , „ low ± A Chine jip. The low even, or chnie pnc, is strictly an even tone, being pro nounced with a natural even voice and easy cadence at the close. vi INTRODUCTION. , The high even is usually found more difficult of utterance ; uie sound is high and somewhat prolonged, resembling a circumflex higher in the middle than at either end. The peculiarity of the higIi tone consists in a strong emphasis of the voice at the beginning of ja, word leaving the end to die away obscurely. Words in this tone are usually pronounced much shorter than in the even ; but when followed by another word which is coupled to it and to be pronounced in connection with it, the sound is prolonged, rising, but not increasing in strength, to the close. In such cases it somewhat resembles the high Going. The high going consists in a prolongation of sound continually rising to the end. The medium going comprises a class of words which Tie Chiu men commonly road in an even tone, somewhat lower than the low even. The low going tone consists in a pro longation of the sound, very low but increasing in strength or emphasis to the close. The entering tone consists in an abrupt ending, and the high and low differ in the same manner as the high and low even, all words ending in lc, p, or t are of this class, and these are the only consonants which form the termination ; when the vowels form the termination, they are pronounced as if a consonant was about to be added but is suddenly cut off. It is sometimes represented by adding a final /; ; but as the abruptness results from the nature of the tone, if the tonal mark is used the h is not necessary. The use of h also inter rupts the uniformity of the orthogrophy, as words of this tone belong in the same class with others which do not end with h, and from which their sound differs only in tone. This may be seen by pronouncing such syllables as chi, ti, fe, in each of the tones. Though the preceding remarks may help to explain the nature of the tones in this dialect, yet the learner will need the assistance of a teacher with the living voice to enable him attain a perfectly correct use of them ; and the earlier he learns to distinguish and pronounce them correctly the greater will be the saving of his future labor and the more accurate his use of the language. 4. We may here notice some varieties in the usage of persona who speak the Tie Chiu dialect. I INTRODUCTION. vii I Ch at the beginning of words is sometimes pronounced ts ; and 1 still more frequently intermediate- between ch and ts. r The t in such words as sin, tit, is by some pronounced like e as ' I sen, tet. t The termination ie is pronounced by many io, the o being some- I what short : as hie, bio ; ie io; chie chio.