An indispensable Cantonese expression is 你食咗飯未呀？ sik6 zo2 faan6 mei6 aa3? “Have you eaten yet?” It’s a common greeting, with a very similar equivalent in Taishanese. (See the lesson 12 dialogue.)
The corresponding phrase in Taishanese is almost exactly the same, 你食嗲飯未呀 你吃嗲飯未呀？ Ni hiak-e fàn mì a? Some of the tones are (predictably) different. You should also notice that the Cantonese word 咗 zo6 is replaced with the Taishanese word 嗲 e. In my opinion, it sounds very schwa-like (but that’s just my opinion). What’s the meaning of 咗/嗲?—I’m still trying to figure that one out.
Another way to write this particle is with the character 誒, which Deng Jun uses in the Kaiping Dictionary. I’ve never really thought about writing this word before, or if it has the same meaning in Taishanese as the word 咗 in Cantonese.
So, I’m just curious for my occasional blog readers—how do you write this word in Chinese? How would you transcribe it in English? Does it have the same meaning as 咗 in Cantonese?
