廈英大辭典 (1873, 1923)
1990-12-31
南天
Carstairs Douglas,Barclay
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THE vernacular or spoken language of Amoy, which this Dictionary attempts to make more accessible, than formerly, has been also termed by some ""The Amoy Dialect"" or ""The Amoy Colloquial,"" and it partially coincides with the so-called ""Hok-kien Dialect,"" illustrated by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst in his quarto Dictionary under that title. But such words as ""Dialect"" or ""Colloquial"" give an erroneous conception of its nature.
It is not a mere colloquial dialect or patois; it is spoken by the highest ranks just as by the common people, by the most learned just as by the ignorant; learned men indeed add a few polite or pedantic phrases, but these are mere excrescences (and even they are pronounced according to the Amoy sounds), while the main body and staple of the spoken language of the most, refined and learned classes is the same as that of coolies, labourers, and boatmen.
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