as 陳林氏 Ting Ling se or 陳門林氏 Ting mwong ling se designates a woman whose husband's surname is Ting, and father's Ling. The terms mwong and se in this and like examples simply mean "family". In English the name may be rendered Mrs. Ting-Ling.
Common nouns or names, as in other languages, comprise a numerous class of words. Their position in the sentence and other accidents are noticed below under properties of nouns.
Collective nouns are common nouns which denote a number of persons or things considered collectively or in one body, as 軍 kung, an army, 羣 kung, a flock, 家 ka, a family, 會 hwoi an assembly.
Compound nouns consist of two or more words, united to describe a single object. They occur very frequently in this dialect, and compensate for the paucity of simple nouns or names. They are formed in three ways-by prefixing or affixing nouns to the principal word, or by prefixing such verbs as 拍 p‘ah, to beat, 做 chó to do, to make, to be.
(1) With noun-prefixes.
- 司傅 sa ho a master, skilled workman, instructor.
- 土司傅 t‘u sa ho, a mason.
- 海邊 hai piéng, the sea-side.
- 嘴舌 ch‘oi siék the tongue.
(2) With noun-suffixes.
- 刀仔 tó kiăng, a small knife.
- 𠆧仔 nëng kiăng, a small human image or toy.
In these instances the word kiăng is a diminutive, indicating a child or small specimen of the object named.
(3) With verb-prefixes.
- 做廚 chó tio, to-be-cook—a cook.
- 做先生 chó sing sang, to-be-a-physician–a physician.
- 做生理 chó seng li, to-do-trade–a trader, a merchant.
- 拍鐵 p‘ah t‘iék, to-beat-iron–a blacksmith.
- 坐齋 sói chá, to-sit-in-school–a schoolmaster.
