What are you doing？你做呀哪 ꜂ní tso꜄ á꜄ ꜁níá? Have you got anything more to say? 你重有吥哪講 ꜂ní tsúng꜄ ꜂yau pat꜆ ꜁níá ꜂kóng? Something is 𡄟哪 ꜁há ꜁níá.
擠 ꜀chaí to put down anything, to place, is not found in the Höng Shán man's vocabulary, for he confines himself to the equally good Cantonese words 安 ꜀on and 放 fong꜄. To slap is 扲 ꜁k'am and not 摑 kwák⸰, as in Cantonese. Instead of saying 𠰌埋嘴唇 mút꜆ ꜁máí ꜂tsöü ꜁shun as in Cantonese for pout, 嘟埋個 嘴 ꜀tú ꜁máí ko꜄ ꜂tsöü is used. 摩 ꜀mo, to grasp, takes the place of 撚 ꜂nan⟨,⟩ both good Cantonese words. The Cantonese 訥 nut꜇ for stammering, stuttering, &c. is replaced by 跀 kat꜇. 揾 ꜂wan, to look, is not heard from a Höng Shán man; he confines himself to the word 尋 ꜁ts꜀am. Of a woman who is pregnant, it is said 有男 孫 ꜃yáú ꜁nám ꜀sün, she has a male grandchild. To differ slightly is called 爭咡 ⿰口蟻 ꜀tsáng ꜀ngí ꜁ngai. The negative particle ꜃mai, do not, instead of being pronounced ꜃mai, is sounded môí꜄. 唨 ꜂cho is never used as a sign of past time; but 𡁞 ꜀háú is in constant use for that purpose. It is, probably, the same word as the Cantonese 嘵 ꜀híu, e.g. taken away in Höng Shán is 擰𡁞去 ꜀nang ꜀háú höü꜄. 在 tsôi꜄ takes the place of 喺 ꜂haí for to be at, &c. The latter is not used unless learned from the Cantonese. 看 hon꜄ is the common word for to see, 見 kín꜄ is seldom used; but the two together 看見 hon꜄ kín꜄ are used.
The contractions, or at all events some of them, common in Cantonese colloquial, appear to be eschewed by the Höng Shán speaker as 乜 ꜀mi in 乜野 ꜀mi ꜃ye? What? &c. and 𠱷 ꜁meng, for 唔曾 ꜁m ꜁ts꜀ang, not yet.
The conjunction and particle 嚊 pe꜅ is not used as a final nor as a disjunctive conjunction, but the conjunction 亦或 ak꜆ wák꜇ (Cantonese yik꜆ wák꜇) occurs. 吖 ꜀á is employed instead of it, á being then used as an interrogative, as:—
- 係噉吖亦或㸃呢 haí꜄ ꜂kam ꜀á, yik꜆ ak꜆ wák꜇ ꜂tim ꜀ne?
- Is this so or how is it?
- 係噉吖㸃呢 haí꜄ ꜂kam ꜀á ꜂tím ꜀ne?
- Is it so or how.
This construction is, of course, also good Cantonese. It reminds one of the 乜 á commonly used in the Swatow colloquial for for or; but in this latter case it is a true disjunctive conjunction and not the falling back upon an interrogative form as in the Höng Shán and Cantonese above. The prepositional 喺 ꜂haí is never used in Höng Shán, but 在 tsôí꜄ takes its place.
We get some new interjections and interjectional phrases in the Höng Shán, such as:—𭉩 ꜀p'oí instead of 𫪻 ꜀ch'í, tush! bosh! tut! 𠵈聲 môí꜄ ꜀sheng for the Cantonese 咪聲 ꜂maí ꜀sheng. This is due more perhaps to a difference in pronunciation. 唨哪咁吖 ꜀chü ꜁ne ꜂kam á? for 乜噉吖 mat꜆ ꜆kôm á꜄! What! The Höng Shánite expresses by his feelings saying ⿰口柯噯 ꜁o ꜂oí where the Cantonese would say 唉乜 ꜀aí yá꜄ which is never used. Instead of ꜁o ôí꜆ 啞⿰口矮 ꜁á ꜂áí. Of course these two phrases have many equivalents in English, expressive of surprise, &c. A still stronger phrase, expressing more surprise, is 嗚噅⿰口裔 ꜀ú ꜀waí ꜀yôí.
Some differences will also be noticed in the finals that are used in Höng Shán. To begin with, 嘅 ke꜄ is never used; 個 ko꜄ completely takes its place under every circumstance. The emphatic 唨 ꜂cho is not used, 咋 tsá꜄ ꜀tsá, also known in Cantonese, doing duty for it. 麽 mo in all its different tones must be struck out of the list of finals in the Höng Shán dialect and 𡀔嘛
