Abstract
While in English there is only one main way of thanking someone using the phrase ‘thank-you’ or one of its variants (e.g. ‘thanks’, ‘ta’), in Hong Kong Cantonese there are two phrases, m4-goi1 and do1-ze6, both of which could be translated to English as ‘thank you’. While in some instances it is clear which one of the two Hong Kong Cantonese phrases one should use, in other situations both could be used. This suggests that the two Hong Kong Cantonese phrases have different meanings and that learners of Hong Kong Cantonese could be confused. However, the meanings of and differences in meaning between the two phrases have hitherto not been articulated with any degree of clarity, making it rather difficult for learners of Hong Kong Cantonese to understand precisely how they are used in native Hong Kong Cantonese culture. The objective of this paper is thus to articulate the meaning of each of these two phrases using a maximally clear and minimally ethnocentric metalanguage. It is hoped that this study could help learners of Hong Kong Cantonese understand one aspect of Hong Kong Cantonese culture.
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Notes
- 1.
Spelling is not standardized among authors. One source (Lee 2013), for example, spells them differently as mh-goi and do-jeh. Gibbons (2008, p. 160) prefers the phonological representation mkoi. In this paper, it is m-goi and do-ze, except in quotations. It is also noted that while each phrase comprises two words, it behaves like a lexical unit. Lee, on the basis of “uninterruptability and internal stability”, analyses each of one them as “a single phonological word with two syllables” (Lee 2013, p. 58).
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‘Running Out of Time’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216165/
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‘The Banquet’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101999/
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‘The Mission’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220644/
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‘Tactical Unit: Partners’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403854/
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‘Chungking Express’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109424/
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‘Echoes of the Rainbow’: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602572/
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We are grateful to Brian Poole for reading an earlier version of this paper and giving us useful feedback.
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Wong, J., Liu, C. (2019). Two Ways of Saying ‘Thank You’ in Hong Kong Cantonese: m-goi vs. do-ze . In: Capone, A., Carapezza, M., Lo Piparo, F. (eds) Further Advances in Pragmatics and Philosophy: Part 2 Theories and Applications. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00973-1_24
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