Wong Shik Ling (also known as S. L. Wong) published a romanisation scheme accompanying a set of phonetic symbols for Standard Cantonese based on International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in the book A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton.
[edit] PhonologyCantonese like other Chinese languages is monosyllabic. Each syllabus is divided into initial (consonant), final (vowel and following consonant) and tone. [edit] FinalsChinese phonology traditionally stresses on finals because it is related to rhymes in the composition of poems, proses and articles. There are 53 finals in Standard Cantonese. [edit] VowelsThe 10 basic vowel phoneme symbols [a], [ɐ], [ei], [ɛ], [i], [ou], [ɔ], [œ], [u] and [y] in the scheme mean following:
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Vowel. [edit] Falling diphthong finalsAll vowel phonemes except a formed vowel 9 finals themselves. Some vowel phonemes can followed by vowel phonemes -i, -u or -ue to form 8 falling diphthong finals:
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Falling diphthong finals. [edit] Nasal phoneme finalsThe nasal consonants [m], [n] and [ŋ] in finals can be written as:
Some vowel phonemes can followed by nasal consonants -m, -n or -ng to form 17 nasal phoneme finals:
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal phoneme finals. [edit] Plosive phoneme finalsThe plosive final can be written [p], [t] and [k] as:
Some vowel phonemes can followed by inaspirated plosive consonants -p, -t or -k to form 17 plosive phoneme finals:
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Plosive phoneme finals. [edit] Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finalsFor the nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals [m] and [ŋ] in voiced form [m̩] and [ŋ̩] are also 2 finals in Cantonese.
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals. [edit] InitialsInitials are made up of consonants. Most of characters are preceding finals with initials while some characters are pronounced without initials. There are 19 initials in total.
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Initials. [edit] TonesThere are basically 9 tones in Standard Cantonese. Tones play an important role to distinguish meanings in Cantonese. Tones also forms melodies in poem and prose composition. There are two ways to mark tones in the scheme. One is by number and another by marks. It is hard to type the tones by typewriters. It therefore simply uses the one in the phonetic symbols for reference.
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Tones. [edit] See also[edit] References
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