Pronouns.
The words used to perform the office of pronouns, in Chinese, are varied to suit the comparative rank of the speaker and hearer.
When a person speaks to an equal, or when a man of rank speaks to an inferior, the proper personal pronoun Nguai2 is used, but this is inadmissible in addressing a superior. Nëng5-ka, I or we, is commonly used when speaking to equals; it is, however, a circumlocution, but is in common use for the first person. Nu5, [literally, a servant,] your servant, or I your servant, is used by persons addressing their superiors, and generally by persons desiring to honour those whom they address. Puong2-sing, this body, equivalent to myself, is used to denote the speaker; it has no plural. There are various other circumlocutions, used as polite forms of indicating the speaker. Nü2, thou, or you, is the common form of the pronoun in the second person. I [pronounced as in machine] is used for he, she, it, they, or them. Pronouns, like other words in the Chinese language, may be either singular or plural, as best suits the connexion. Nëng5, man, is often appended to pronouns, as the sign of the plural; as Nguai2-nëng5, or, Nu5-nëng5, we, or us; Nü2-nëng5, you; I-nëng5, they.
Ki5, the sign of the genitive case, may be placed after any of the pronouns, in the same manner that it is used after nouns. For the possessive case of pronouns, other forms are often used; thus, leng7 chong, your father; leng7 tong5, your mother; leng7 hing, your elder brother; leng7 tie7, your younger brother; leng7 chiang, your wife; leng7 ch’ing, your relations; leng7 long5, your son; leng7 ch’ieng king, your daughter. Leng7, in all these examples, signifies good, or excellent, and is used for your as a very respectful and dignified address. The words for father, mother, &c., with which it is joined, are also titles of respect and honour, and not literal translations of our terms; yet one who fails to use them will often appear uneducated.
In the same manner they say, ka ho7, my father; ka mu2, my mother; ka hing, my elder brother. Ka, in these expressions, signifies one’s own family, or, perhaps, the family. When other relations are spoken of, another term is used; as, chieng7 nòi7, my wife; (literally, the unpretending, secluded one.) This accords with the Chinese custom of speaking humble terms of one’s self, or what is one’s own, and of praising that belonging to another.
Sia3 tè7, my younger brother; sia3 ch’ing, my relations; pe3 iu2, my friend; pe3 ngieh8 sü, my teacher; pe3 muong5 tu5, my pupils; pe3 huò2, my agent; pe3 siong7, my master; sieu2 i5, my boy; sieu2 nü2, sieu2 k’ai3, my
