[Culture] The Language of Li-Guo

[Moenah 1069]

Li-Wen 李文

 

 

Spoiler

OOC: Seeing as how we got more Li-Ren personas coming in, I thought it would be fun to add on the Li-Wen we already have with some more Hokkien since that is the language it mimics. For certain words or phrases, Li-Wen will either use the Hokkien, Mandarin, or mix and use them interchangeably. IRP, if your persona is not Li-Ren, they will have to be taught these words and or pick the basic ones up from conversation- which we do have classes for now. Please don't metagame your non Li-Ren personas knowing the words they haven't been taught, please and thank you!

 

Also, I did take a few things from the original Li-Ren culture forum post, so shoutout to @Kemobrown, and @Temporal for coming up with most of this!

 

Li-Wen is vastly different from any existing languages on Almaris, borrowing greatly from the Hou-zi in its use of characters and pronunciation, often very difficult for those unfamiliar to pick up.  Words are often made of a combination of up to three syllables in phonetics, with five different inflections. Li-Wen is tonal; tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning, which makes it more challenging to learn. One mispronunciation of an inflection can result in calling your mother a horse. It is heavily context-laden and lacks preposition, requiring knowledge of background information before full understanding of a conversation.

Basics

With any language, one has to start with the everyday basics the users use for daily life. These are words you'll hear constantly in Yong Ping, and phrases each Li-Ren is guaranteed to know.

 

 

Common	Li-Wen (Hokkien [sometimes Mandarin] )	Usage Example
Hello	Lí hó (We just use the Hokkien instead of using, ‘Nǐ hǎo’- this would apply to ‘How are you?’ too.)
How are you? How’re you doing?  What’s up?	Lı́ hó bô?
Not too bad.	bē-bái / buē-bái (You can use these interchangeably, these are just pronunciations.)	“Lı́ hó bô?” “Ahh, buē-bái.”
Fine, good	hó	“Lı́ hó bô?” “Hó, to xia.”
Thank you	To xia    (In Li-Wen, much like Mandarin or Hokkien in real life, instead of the x making a ‘ks’ sound, it is more like a ‘sh’. So, think of this, for example, pronounced as ‘too shyah’)
You’re welcome	mián ke-kı̀ (The ‘ke’ would sound similar to, like, a keh)
Please	Bai tok
Excuse me. I’m sorry!	Paí se
Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing. It’s okay.	Bô-iàu-kín / bô-tāi-tsì (The ‘iàu’ sounds similar to a ‘yow’, remember that, it appears in other words)	“Oh! Paí se!” “Bô-iàu-kín, lah.”
What’s the matter?	Xián-mìh-tāi-tsì?	“Xián-mìh-tāi-tsì, fu tsin?”
Yes	Xi.
No	M-xi.
Do you speak Li?	Gong Liyu?
Help!	Kìu-miā! (Sounds like ‘kyo-myah!’)	Actually, this phrase will come in handy if we’re being attacked or raided, ringing the bell or summ- Something only the Li-Ren would understand.
Look out! Be careful!	Suè-lī!	This one too ;-)
I don’t understand.	Góa tian bô...

 

Titles, Pronouns, & Family
 

Common	Li-Wen (Hokkien [sometimes Mandarin] )	Usage Example
I, me	Góa / Wǒ (Wǒ is Mandarin, but I think we can use either or.)	Góa tian bô… Wǒ tian bô… (This sentence is in hokkien, but for Li-Wen I think we can use either Goa or Wo whenever.)
You	Lı́
they/them (also goes for she, he pronouns)	ta
Minister	Koh-hā	Koh-hā Tianrui Koh-hā Li
Father	Fu tsin (formal), ba-ba (informal, more for children)
Mother	Mu tsin (formal), má-má (informal)
Husband	thâu-ke
Wife	ke-āu
Older Sister	Jie-jie
Older Brother	Go-go
Younger Sister	Mei-mei
Younger Brother	Di-di
Cousin(s)	Piau-go (older male) Piau-jie (older female) Piau-mei (younger female) Piau-di (younger male)	Cousins don’t necessarily get an honorific, you’d mostly just refer to them by their name and use the word when referring to them in 3rd person.
Auntie	A-yi
Uncle	Shu-shu
Daughter	Nu’er
Son	Er’zi
Grandma	Nai-nai
Grandpa	Ye-ye
Elder		If the elder you’re addressing is closer in age to a grandparent, you would add lǎo in front of the words for grandma and grandpa.
Child	Haizi
Baby	Bao-bao, bao-bei

 

Time

 

Common	Li-Wen (Hokkien [sometimes Mandarin] )	Usage Example
Wait a moment. Just a second.	Sió-tán lah.
What time is it now?	Chit-má kúi tiám? (kúi = pronounced ‘kway’)
Morning	Zǎosàng (For morning - night, I used Mandarin)	Zǎosàng hó! (Good morning)
Afternoon	Xiàwǔ	Xiàwǔ hó! (Good afternoon)
Evening	Wǎnshàng	Wǎnshàng hó! (Good evening)
Night	Wǎn’an (This is also just good night)
Later	Kah wànn	“Will you join us at the teahouse?” “Kah wànn.”
Earlier	kah chá	“When did you finish this?” “Kah chá, when you weren’t home.”

 

Numbers

 

Common	Li-Wen (Hokkien [sometimes Mandarin] )	Usage Example
Zero	Khong
One	Jit
Two	Nng, Li (when it’s beside another 2)
Three	Sa
Four	Si
Five	Go
Six	Lak
Seven	Chhit
Eight	Bue
Nine	Gau
Ten	Saap	When it comes to doing numbers in the teens, one would put the corresponding number right after 10. (i.e. 15 = saap-go, 18 = saap-bue)
Hundred	Ba	For the hundreds and thousands, it’s the same way, however, you can put numbers before and after ba.   103 = jit-ba-sa 234 = nng-ba (200) + sa-saap-si (34) [in this order]
Thousand	Chien	1,045 = jit-chien (1,000) si-saap-go (45) 2,500 = nn̄g-chien (2,000) go-ba (500)

 

Swears, Insults, & Extra Phrases

As for these words right here, I don't think these would be exchanged in teachings with anyone other than the Li-Ren. I'd think these as slang- so we would never teach these in our class, it's just said by or to other Li-Ren.

 

Common	Li-Wen (Hokkien [sometimes Mandarin] )	Usage Example
I love you.	Góa aí lí.
How are you?  What’s up? (Informal)	Ho seh bo?	This is a very informal way to say how are you, to say to a close friend or siblings. When speaking to parents, elders or strangers, definitely use “Lı́ hó bô?”   “Lah, long time no see!  Ho seh bo?”
Crazy, insane, dumb	siáu-siáu (siáu = ss-yow)	When this word is used, it’s usually referring to a noun.
F**k	kàn	It’s a universal word, mostly said in dismay, disgrace, disapproval- or any kind of upsetting situation. But, when used in insulting someone, it gets extremely offensive.   F**k your mom! = “Kàn lín niâ!” (One of the more notorious phrases, very very insulting) Get f*cked! = “Hiong kàn!”
What the hell	siá-siâu	Like the f-word, this can also be used in upsetting situations, it’s just less insulting.   What the hell are you talking about? = Lí sī teh kóng siá-siâu han?
Cry	khàu	The phrase “Khàu-ba khàu-ma…” usually refers to noisy, incessant complaining, literally translates to “cry father cry mother”.
To (not) care	(i) chhap-siâu	I don’t care about that! = “Mái kā i chhap-siâu lah!”

 

Naming Practices

What differentiates Li-Ren names from Oyashiman (Japanese) is that Li naming practices consist of a surname of a single syllable which comes before the given name of the person. The given name will then be either one or two syllables long, but never anymore than two. Each name a person is given will have two different characters coming together to create one meaning, and depending on the tone of the character, two names spelt the same can mean different things.

 

 

 

 

Male	Female	Unisex
Jin-xiang = flying, soaring	Dai-yu = Black jade	Xiao-xi = Little river
Jun-yong = hero, eternal	Wen-qian = Refined and modest	Xiao-ming = Little light
Xue-hai = The sea	Xiuyue = Gentle moon	Jiao-xi = Playful
Shi-huang = Emperor, leader	Tsi-lian = Lotus child	Xiao-bai = Little, white
Shao-hao = young, heaven	Wei-yi = to tie/link, ceremony/rite	Yan-dong = stretching to the east

 

 

[Covey 466]

This is actually really helpful. Now I can metagame ! :D