Page:A Manual of the Amoy Colloquial (1898).pdf/15

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iii

The following are the changes that take place in combination:—

The first becomes the third.

The second becomes the first.

The third becomes the second.

The fourth becomes the eighth.

The fifth becomes the third.

The seventh becomes the third.

The eighth becomes the fourth.

Great difficulty has been experienced throughout the entire preparation of the book in getting Chinese characters which would give the exact meaning of the various words and phrases used in it. Many words being purely colloquial have no characters of their own. To meet the difficulty, characters having the same sound as the colloquial, though differing in meaning have been borrowed, and when this has not been found practicable, words of a kindred meaning, though of different pronunciation, have been adopted. Even these resources have not been found available in all cases, and consequently many words have been left unrepresented by any Chinese characters.

JOHN MACGOWAN.

Amoy, Sep 26th, 1898.

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