Nouns in Penang Hokkien using Taiji Romanisation

1.0 Nouns are words that name people, things, animals, conditions and states, among others. Penang Hokkien are regular, meaning unlike English, they are not affected by inflection - they do not change their spelling to show number. A noun in Penang Hokkien can be interpreted as singular or plural depending on context.

Nouns appear in the dictionary in the citation form. This is also called the basic form and standing form. Unlike Peh-oe-ji and Tai-lo, words written in Taiji Romanisation reflect the tone on their location within the sentence.

In most cases, nouns appear in their basic or citation form (the form you see in the dictionary). They only sandhi to the modified form when they serve as a modifier or descriptor to another noun, to form a compound noun.

Morphemes

1.1 Morphemes are the smallest grammatical unit of a language. In Penang Hokkien, it is usually a syllable that carries a meaning. For example, ang2 (red), ong2 (king), kha1 (leg), and so on. Some morphemes that are loanwords may comprise more than one syllable, for example, du3rian2 (durian), ba1tu2 (stone).

A word in Penang Hokkien can comprise a single morpheme, for example ong2 (king), or more than one morpheme put strung together, for example ong3bo3 (crown). A word comprising more than one morpheme is a compound noun.

Compound Nouns in Penang Hokkien

1.2 Compound nouns are quite common in Penang Hokkien. By default, when a compound noun is form, all morphemes except the last one undergo tone sandhi. ang2 [aŋ]
red

Ang3mor2 [aŋ-mɔ]
European/Westerner

ang3mor3tan1 [aŋ-mɔ-tan]
rambutan

ang3mor3tan3 cang2 [aŋ-mɔ-tan-tsaŋ]
rambutan tree

ang3mor3tan3 cang3 kha1 [aŋ-mɔ-tan-tsaŋ-k^ha]
foot of the rambutan tree

ang3mor3 du3rian2 [aŋ-mɔ-du-liɛn]
soursop

ang3mor3 du3rian3 cang2 [aŋ-mɔ-du-liɛn-tsaŋ]
soursop tree

ang3mor3 du3rian3 cang3 kha1 [aŋ-mɔ-du-liɛn-tsaŋ-k^ha]
foot of the soursop tree

Adjectival Nouns in Penang Hokkien

1.3 Adjectival nouns are nouns that act as adjectives or modifier to another noun. They are also called noun adjuncts or attribute nouns. If there is no change in meaning whether you keep the words separated or joined, it does not matter whether you write all the morphemes together, as a single compound noun, or keep them separated, as modifier and noun. mi3si3 pang2 and mi3si3pang2 [mi-si-paŋ]
nurse room

Nyo3nya3 kueh4 [ŋɔ-ŋa-koe]
Nyonya pastry In the above example, it is acceptable to write mi3si3pang2 (compound noun) and mi3si3 pang2 (noun with modifier), as the meaning is the same in both instance. Ang3mor2 [aŋ-mɔ]
Westerner

ang3 mor2 [aŋ-mɔ]
red hair

In instances where two different meaning emerges, whether you string the morphemes as compound nouns or keep them separated as noun with modifier depends entirely on your intended meaning. The alternative to writing ang3 mor2 (red hair) is to write ang2-eh3 mor2, which carries the same meaning.

To join or not to join

1.4 The lines between compound nouns and adjectival nouns are often blurry. There is no hard-and-fast rule on whether a compound noun should be joined together or kept as separate words. The general rule is that you either join or keep separate depending on the meaning you are going for. khor1kua1 [k^hɔ-kua]
bittergourd

khor1 kua1 [k^hɔ-kua]
bitter-tasting gourd

juak3chooi1kuan3 [dzuak-tsui-kuan]
vacuum flask

juak3 chooi1kuan3 [dzuak-tsui-kuan]
hot flask

Hyphenation

1.5 By default, as mentioned, all morphemes in a compound noun as well as in noun with modifier undergo tone sandhi except the final morpheme. ko3pi3 or3 peng1
ko3pi3or3peng1
Iced black coffee In the above example, both ko3pi3 or3 peng1 and ko3po3or3peng1 are accepted forms of writing Penang Hokkien. In both cases, all morphemes undergo tone sandhi except the final one, peng1. However, in a few cases, an additional morpheme may be added to the noun which does not cause the preceding morpheme to undergo tone sandhi. To show that that morpheme remains in citation form, place a hyphen between the two morphemes that are in citation form. ko3pi3 or3 peng1-cnia4
thin iced black coffee

ko3pi3 or3 peng1-kau3
thick iced black coffee
cham1-peng1
iced coffee-tea combo In the first two examples, the cnia4 and kau3 are hyphenated to peng1 because it does not cause peng1 to sandhi. In the third example, peng1 is hyphenated because it does not cause cham1 to sandhi. Add the hyphen only to string together nouns that form a single entity. For other instances where the hyphen is used, listen to the video on the Rules of Hyphenation in Penang Hokkien below:

Penang Hokkien Grammar

Learn Penang Hokkien with Memrise

Now you can use the most user-friendly tool on the web to learn Penang Hokkien. It helps you to listen, understand and memorise. Go to Memrise, and learn Penang Hokkien at your own pace.

Return to Penang Hokkien Resources

Songs about Penang

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.