Friday, August 22, 2008

Duplicated words in Penang Hokkien

Certain adjectives in Penang Hokien have duplicated words after them for emphasis. I can think of three examples.

Example 1: pear siak siak (very white)
He lay pear siak siak ei geen na si siang? [Who is the very fair-skinned child?]

Example 2: ang kong kong (very red)
Ee ei pneah kong ang kong kong eh.
(His nose looks very red).

Example 3: leng ki ki(very cold)
My chneah leng ki ki eh mee kneah.
(Don't eat things that are very cold.)

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