onçóm
See also: oncom
Macanese
Alternative forms
- unçôm, unçom, ungsóm, unsóm, unsó, onsom, (common) onçôm, onçom
Etymology
Portuguese um (“a, one”) + só (“alone”) (Macanese unga + sô), hence the older forms unsó and unçom, first formed in Malaysian Portuguese and Kristang. Final nasalization possibly influenced by the nasality of the un- (and later on-) component.[1] For the /u/ → /o/ shift, compare fonçám (versus expected *funçám). For the word-final nasalization, compare sium.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /oŋˈsɔŋ/, /uŋˈsɔŋ/
Adjective
onçóm
- alone, unaccompanied (by oneself)
- Synonyms: sô, sômente
- êle onçóm vêm ― he came alone
- já ficâ onçóm ― he was left alone
Pronoun
onçóm
- reflexive pronoun: oneself[2]
- têm na onçóm sa casa ― he is in his own home
- sâm êle onçóm falâ ― he said it himself
Usage notes
- May take the place of Portuguese se, for example entreter-se (“to keep oneself entertained”) becomes entretê onçóm in Macanese.
- As seen in the first collocation, onçóm-sa (“one's own”) is a possible possessive pronoun, however it is not as common as su which is functionally equivalent.
- Often written as onçôm.
See also
| person | pronoun | possessive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | first | iou, io, mi*, ieu* | iou-sa, iou-sua#, minha, io-sa, io-sua# |
| second | vôs | vôs-sa, vôsso, su, vôs-sua# | |
| third | êle, êla* | êle-sa, su, êle-sua# | |
| plural | first | nôs, nosôtro* | nôs-sa, nôsso, nôs-sua# |
| second | vosôtro | vosôtro-sa, su, vosôtro-sua# | |
| third | ilôtro, elôtro*, olôtro*, ulôtro* | ilôtro-sa, su, ilôtro-sua# | |
| reflexive (all persons) |
onçóm | su, onçóm-sa*, onçóm-sua# | |
# Dated. * Rare.
References
- ^ Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “onçom”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 498
- ^ https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm#oncom