| Popis: |
The demonstrative 咁 carries two different fonctions in Cantonese. It marks the manner of an action as in example (1), and serves as an indicator of degree as in example (2). The two uses correspond to those of 這樣 and 這麼 in Mandarin. (1) 佢好勤力咁學習。 He studies diligently. (2) 佢咁勤力學習。 He studies with such diligence. The two functions may be graphically differentiated, with the former written as 噉 and the latter as 咁. In pronunciation, the two markers share the same segmental make-up, but differ in tone. 噉 is [kɐm35:] and 咁 is [kɐm33:]. In early Cantonese, use of both forms abounds, but the graphic distinction is not always maintained. In Cantonese Made Easy (1883), for example, the manner demonstrative is written as either 咁 or 噉. (3) 你係咁講咩？ (p.18) (4) 人哋係噉講。 (p.37) Phonologically, the forms share essentially the same final “om” in these early Romanized texts. While both tones are found, the differences in usage have yet to be defined. The following two examples, both from Chrestomathy (1841), have the same 咁 expression, but it is marked with different tones. (5) 夠爭一碼咁上下。 (p. 247) (yinqu 陰去 tone) (6) 都係八份一咁上下。 (p. 345) (yinshang 陰上 tone) This paper conducts a detailed analysis of the use of 咁 by examining a variety of colloquial Cantonese texts of the 19th and 20th centuries. It reconstructs the course of change that the demonstrative underwent in pronunciation, grammatical use, and character representation. The paper also offers some preliminary thoughts on the derivational relationship among the demonstrative 咁, the classifier 個 and the deictic 嗰. |
