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Proper Cantonese Pronunciation
: Starting in the 1980s, proper Cantonese pronunciation has been much promoted in Hong Kong, with the scholar Richard Ho () as its iconic campaigner. The very idea of proper pronunciation of Cantonese Chinese is controversial, since the concept of labeling native speakers' usage and speech in terms of correctness is not generally supported by academic linguistics. Law et al. (2001) point out that the phrase ''laan5 jam1'' "lazy sounds," most commonly discussed in relation to phonetic changes in Hong Kong Cantonese, implies that the speaker is unwilling to put forth sufficient effort to articulate the standard pronunciation. Origins and influences The promotion of proper Cantonese Chinese pronunciation is partly a reaction to lazy sounds adopted by the younger generations. These lazy pronunciation variants, or sound changes include: *merge of initial ''n-'' and ''l-'', for example, pronouncing (''naam4'') as (''laam4'') *merge of initial ''ng-'' and dark-toned null/glottal o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jyutping
Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates for and promotes the use of this romanisation system. The name ''Jyutping'' (itself the Jyutping romanisation of its Chinese name, ) is a contraction consisting of the first Chinese characters of the terms ''Jyut6jyu5'' (, meaning " Yue language") and ''ping3jam1'' ( "phonetic alphabet", also pronounced as "pinyin" in Mandarin). Despite being intended as a romanisation system to indicate pronunciation, it has also been employed writing Cantonese as an alphabetic language, elevating it from its assistive status to a written language in effect. History The Jyutping system marks a departure from all previous Cantonese romanisation systems (approximately 12, including Robert Morrison's pioneering work of 1828, and the widely used Standa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fanqie
''Fanqie'' ( zh, t= 反切, p=fǎnqiè) is a method in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one with the same rest of the syllable (the final). The method was introduced in the 3rd century AD and used in dictionaries and commentaries on the classics until the early 20th century. History Early dictionaries such as the '' Erya'' (3rd century BC) indicated the pronunciation of a character by the ''dúruò'' (讀若, "read as") method, giving another character with the same pronunciation. The introduction of Buddhism to China around the 1st century brought Indian phonetic knowledge, which may have inspired the idea of ''fanqie''. According to the 6th-century scholar Yan Zhitui, ''fanqie'' were first used by Sun Yan (孫炎), of the state of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD), in his ''Erya Yinyi'' (爾雅音義, "S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wong Shik Ling
Wong Shik-Ling (also known as S. L. Wong) (1908–1959) was a prominent scholar in Cantonese research. He is famous for his authoritative book, '' A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton'' (), which is influential in Cantonese research. He graduated from Lingnan University, Guangzhou and then taught and researched Cantonese in the university. In 1941 he published his work, "''A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton''". In 1949, he went to the University of London and studied methods for linguistic research in the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1950, he returned to Hong Kong upon being hired as a lecturer in Cantonese at the University of Hong Kong for 1951. In the same year, he became the first dean in the newly founded Language School and went on to teach foreigners Cantonese for 9 years, until the end of his life. He wrote two textbooks on Cantonese for the university: ''Cantonese Conversation Grammar'' (1963) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According To The Dialect Of Canton
''A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton'' () is a book written by Wong Shik-Ling () within a few years before being published in Hong Kong, 1941. It is one of the most influential books on the research of Cantonese pronunciation. Many Chinese dictionaries later used Wong's Chinese character indices and system of phonetic symbols to denote the Cantonese pronunciation of Chinese characters. Because of its significance, the book has been reprinted many times after its first publishing. Content * Indices of Rime syllabus (finals) of the rime dictionary ''Guangyun'' () * Radical-stroke count indices * Categories of Chinese character according to distinct Cantonese pronunciation syllabus. It is first ordered by finals, second by initials, and third by tones alphabetically. * A research paper on Cantonese phonetics. * A suggestion scheme of romanisation of Cantonese * An English research paper on Cantonese phonetics, completed in Lingnan University, Cant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji''. Chinese characters in South Korea, which are known as ''hanja'', retain significant use in Korean academia to study its documents, history, literature and records. Vietnam once used the '' chữ Hán'' and developed chữ Nôm to write Vietnamese before turning to a romanized alphabet. Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world. By virtue of their widespread current use throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as their profound historic use throughout the Sinosphere, Chinese characters are among the most widely adopted writing systems in the world by number of users. The total number of Chinese characters ever to appear in a dictionary is in the tens of thousands, though most are graph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wen Wei Po
''Wen Wei Po'' is a pro-Beijing state-owned newspaper based in Hong Kong. The newspaper was established in Hong Kong on 9 September 1948, after its Shanghai edition was launched in 1938. Its head office is in the Hing Wai Centre () in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. It is owned by Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, which is controlled by the liaison office of the Chinese government in Hong Kong. ''Wen Wei Po'' is subsidised by and advocates for the Chinese government. ''Wen Wei Po'' accounts for less than 1 per cent of Hong Kong's readership and is mainly read by readers in mainland China and older Hong Kong readers. In a 2019 public opinion survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, ''Wen Wei Po'' was rated by respondents as the second least credible paid newspaper in Hong Kong. History ''Wen Wei Po'' was founded in Shanghai in January 1938. The Hong Kong edition was first published on 6 September 1948. In the 1980s, Xinhua News Agency, which served as the ''de facto' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cantonese Phonology
The standard pronunciation of Cantonese is that of Guangzhou, also known as Canton, the capital of Guangdong Province. Hong Kong Cantonese is related to the Guangzhou dialect, and the two diverge only slightly. Yue dialects in other parts of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, such as Taishanese, may be considered divergent to a greater degree. Syllables A syllable generally corresponds to a word or a character. Most syllables are etymologically associated with either standard Chinese characters or colloquial Cantonese characters. Modern linguists have discovered that about 1,760 syllables are used in Cantonese and cover the pronunciations of more than 10,000 Chinese characters. Therefore, there is an average of six homophonous characters per syllable. Phonetically, a Cantonese syllable has only two parts: the sound and the tone. Sounds A Cantonese syllable usually consists of an initial (onset) and a final ( rime/rhyme). There are about 630 syllables in the Cantonese syllabary. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tam Shek-wing
Tam Shek-wing (; born 1935), pen name Wong Ting Tze or Wang Tingzhi (), is a Buddhist scholar, painter, poet, writer and social critic, the founder of the Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies Association in North America, and a professor at Renmin University of China. Tam was born in Guangzhou and resides in Canada. Biography and Buddhist lineage Tam Shek-wing was born in Guangdong, China in 1935. At childhood, he followed senior family members to practice Oriental Esoteric Buddhism. He was immensely interested in Buddhist texts ever since at the age of twelve while entering into the Western Sect of the Taoist practice (). In the 60s, he started learning Tibetan Buddhism when he was converted in Taiwan under Chu Yung-kuang (), a disciple of Norlha Rinpoche () as well as Gangkar Rinpoche (), and was bestowed with the teachings of the Riwoche system. Later, Chu suggested Tam to contact one of his disciples in Hong Kong - Lau Yui Chi (). Subsequently, Tam joined the Hong Kong Vajrayana Es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linguistic Prescription
Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes informed by linguistic purism, such normative practices often suggest that some usages are incorrect, inconsistent, illogical, lack communicative effect, or are of low aesthetic value, even in cases where such usage is more common than the prescribed usage. They may also include judgments on socially proper and politically correct language use. Linguistic prescriptivism may aim to establish a standard language, teach what a particular society or sector of a society perceives as a correct or proper form, or advise on effective and stylistically felicitous communication. If usage preferences are conservative, prescription might appear resistant to language change; if radical, it may produce neologisms. Prescriptive approaches to language are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The Swedish linguist Bernard Karlgren believed that the dictionary recorded a speech standard of the capital Chang'an of the Sui and Tang dynasties. However, based on the more recently recovered preface of the ''Qieyun'', most scholars now believe that it records a compromise between northern and southern reading and poetic traditions from the late Northern and Southern dynasties period. This composite system contains important information for the reconstruction of the preceding system of Old Chinese phonology (early 1st millennium BC). The ''fanqie'' method used to indicate pronunciation in these dictionaries, though an improvement on earlier methods, proved awkward in practice. The mid-12th-century '' Yunjing'' and other rime tables i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rime Dictionary
A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book () is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates characters by tone and rhyme, instead of by radical. The most important rime dictionary tradition began with the '' Qieyun'' (601), which codified correct pronunciations for reading the classics and writing poetry by combining the reading traditions of north and south China. This work became very popular during the Tang dynasty, and went through a series of revisions and expansions, of which the most famous is the ''Guangyun'' (1007–1008). These dictionaries specify the pronunciations of characters using the '' fǎnqiè'' method, giving a pair of characters indicating the onset and remainder of the syllable respectively. The later rime tables gave a significantly more precise and systematic account of the sounds of these dictionaries by tabulating syllables by their onsets, rhyme groups, tones and other properties. The phonological system inferred from these books, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guangyun
The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the patronage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its full name was ''Dà Sòng chóngxiū guǎngyùn'' (, literally "Great Song revised and expanded rhymes"). Chen Pengnian (, 961–1017) and Qiu Yong () were the chief editors. The dictionary is a revision and expansion of the influential '' Qieyun'' rime dictionary of 601, and was itself later revised as the ''Jiyun''. '' Pingshui Yun'' system, the standard for poetry rhyming after the Song Dynasty, is also based on ''Guangyun''. Until the discovery of an almost complete early 8th century edition of the ''Qieyun'' in 1947, the ''Guangyun'' was the most accurate available account of the ''Qieyun'' phonology, and was heavily used in early work on the reconstruction of Middle Chinese. It is still used as a major source. The ''Guangyun'' has a similar hierarchical organization to the ''Qieyun'': * The dictionary is split into four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
