Vocabulary
The vocabulary of Teochew shares a lot of similarities with Cantonese owing to their continuous contact with each other. Like Cantonese, Teochew has a great deal of monosyllabic words, which to a certain extent reflects the age of the Teochew language since monosyllabic words were prevalent in Ancient Chinese. However, ever since the standardisation of Modern Standard Chinese, Teochew has absorbed a lot of Putonghua vocabulary, which is predominantly polysyllabic. In addition, Teochew varieties in Malaysia and Singapore have also borrowed extensively from Malay.
Read more about this topic: Teochew Dialect
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“I have a vocabulary all my own. I “pass the time” when it is wet and disagreeable. When it is fine I do not wish to pass it; I ruminate it and hold on to it. We should hasten over the bad, and settle upon the good.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The vocabulary of pleasure depends on the imagery of pain.”
—Marina Warner (b. 1946)
“A new talker will often call her caregiver “mommy,” which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn’t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them “mommy” is understandable.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)