Meaning of 'dik'

[Linwe]

In this case, the lyrics is in written Chinese (and pronounce in Cantonese), and so it use the word "dik" 的 instead of "gare" o既. Though anyway, both are of the same meaning.
Hope this help. ^_^

I also noticed that... that's why I had soo much trouble finding out themeaning of dik...however Kelly actually says 'dik' so it can't be purely for written chinese...can it?

so is 'ge3' more commonly used and more colloquial than 'dik'?

I found these lyrics on the net and they were translated without any tonal system so its soo hard for me to try and translate it myself considering each word could have soo many meanings!!

[Mark Yong]

In spoken Cantonese, we usually say "k'ui gare" 佢o既 rather than "k'ui dik" 佢的. e.g. "k'ui gare mei siu" 佢o既微笑 (same pronounciation for his smile or her smile). While in writing (Chinese), we usually write as 他的微笑 or 她的微笑 (different writing for his and her), and pronounce in Cantonese as "ta dik mei siu" (same pronunciation for his smile or her smile).

Hi, J,

Yep, understood! I am aware that 'dik' 的 is not used in Cantonese speech, and 'ge' o既 is used. The reason I do not normally use o既 to represent 'ge' is because of my contention that 'ge' either has some other actual Chinese character to represent it, or that it is a purely spoken word with no 本字. "既" by itself is pronounced "gei", and means "since this is the case...". I do try to be a bit strict when assigning 漢字 to words.

As an aside, I also tend to shy away from using 佢 for "k'ui" (he/she/it). The reason is because my belief is that this character was phonetically 'created' to suit the pronunciation, and is historically not the actual 本字. My theory is that "k'ui" evolved from 其, which was used in 文言 (Classical Chinese) for the 3rd person. Taking it a step further, I believe that "ngor dei" (we) should not be popularly written as 我地, but is really 我等 (where 等 takes on the original meaning of "plural", e.g. 等等). Another example is "ka ha" (now) - a fusion of 今下 (this one can be proven, as it is genetically linked to the Hakka "kin ha").

Regards,
Mark

[hong]

Mark,In Prof.Li's book I see he said it is.家下 because of 今kam change its consonant to ka due to ha at the back.
also 如今 become 如家 ka instead

[Mark Yong]

Another example is "bei" (to give). Nowaydays, it is written as 卑. However, in 李伯輝's book on Cantonese, he identifies the actual character as 畀 (references cited define it as 與也, 賜也).

For a detailed account of the original characters for many words used in the Cantonese dialect, in my opinion 李伯輝's book does serve as a good reference.

[hong]

畀is from 詩經.I think a book 684 pages from hongkong is better
www.chineseupress.com 廣州語本字

[hong]

http://cantonese.hku.hk/tradational/gzybzb5.html

[hong]

a bad link http://cantonese.hku.hk/traditional/gzybzb5.html

[hong]

http://hk.geocities.com/xcantonese

[hong]

www.cp1897.com.hk selling 陳伯輝 粵方言詞本字考釋 香港中華書局 1998

[Guest]

In spoken Cantonese, we usually say "k'ui gare" 佢o既 rather than "k'ui dik" 佢的. e.g. "k'ui gare mei siu" 佢o既微笑 (same pronounciation for his smile or her smile). While in writing (Chinese), we usually write as 他的微笑 or 她的微笑 (different writing for his and her), and pronounce in Cantonese as "ta dik mei siu" (same pronunciation for his smile or her smile).

Hi, J,

Yep, understood! I am aware that 'dik' 的 is not used in Cantonese speech, and 'ge' o既 is used. The reason I do not normally use o既 to represent 'ge' is because of my contention that 'ge' either has some other actual Chinese character to represent it, or that it is a purely spoken word with no 本字. "既" by itself is pronounced "gei", and means "since this is the case...". I do try to be a bit strict when assigning 漢字 to words.

As an aside, I also tend to shy away from using 佢 for "k'ui" (he/she/it). The reason is because my belief is that this character was phonetically 'created' to suit the pronunciation, and is historically not the actual 本字. My theory is that "k'ui" evolved from 其, which was used in 文言 (Classical Chinese) for the 3rd person. Taking it a step further, I believe that "ngor dei" (we) should not be popularly written as 我地, but is really 我等 (where 等 takes on the original meaning of "plural", e.g. 等等). Another example is "ka ha" (now) - a fusion of 今下 (this one can be proven, as it is genetically linked to the Hakka "kin ha").

Regards,
Mark

The character mentioned here was 嘅 (ge) - possessive particle - the formal Chinese version of 嘅. I had soo-oo much trouble finding a decent or at least working software, which I could use to enter Cantonese text phonetically (based on Cantonese pronunciation) and knows Cantonese special characters. The one I am using now is Red Dragonfly input (works on Windows XP, not on NT!). What input do you guys use?

I have another question. Could you tell me if you what version is actually used in Hong Kong press?

Is "他的" more common than "佢嘅"? If the first one is proper for the use in press, what's the use of the second one - movies, fiction, etc? Am I correct in assuming that language used in press (at least offical) is the same as in mainland China but using traditional characters rather than simplified?

For example if a foreigner wants to move to Hong Kong, should he be concentrating on formal Chinese language in order to be able to understand newspapers or he/she should learn Cantonese colloquialisms first?

Is written Cantonese in mainland China similar to that one in Hong Kong/Macao (with special characters)? Does it exist at all or they used simplified Mandarin in Guangdong?