Cantonese Sound System Unit 1 Basic Cantonese Sound System Unit 1 Basic Cantonese Sound System.............................................................2 1.1 A syllable Unit 2 Tone Drills ........................................................................................... 16 Unit 3 Introduction to Cantonese.................................................................... 19 Initial + Final + Tone = Syllable Unit 4 The Cantonese Sound System.............................................................. 23 Unit 5 Tones.................................................................................................... 26 Unit 6 Initials.................................................................................................. 35 Each syllable of Cantonese is composed of three elements: Unit 7 Finals ................................................................................................... 43 Initial : the beginning sound element of a syllable Unit 8 Exercises.............................................................................................. 55 Final : the ending sound element of a syllable Unit 9 Suggested Answers .............................................................................. 60 Tone : the relative pitch, or variation of pitch, of a syllable. The end of the book ................................................................................................ 64 Tone mark Séung (“ 想”means “want”) Initial(S) Final(eung) Tone marks Séu hng (“ 上”means “up”) Initial(S) Final(eung) http://www.clc.com.hk Page 1 Cantonese Sound System Page 2 1.2 Tones 1.2.3 The tones table Tone Tone Name Mnemonic Tone E.g. Meanings 1.2.1 Tone marks words No. mark The six tones in Cantonese are grouped into one of three main 1 HL High Level he sî poem 詩 contours: fallfalling,ing, rising and level , which are distinguished by using 2 HR High Rising then sísísí history 史 tone marks on top of the first vowel in the final . 3 ML Middle Level you sisisi to try 試 The low level tone mark “h”“h”“h” is put after the vowel or the diphthong 4 LF Low Falling Tra cycycy h sìhsìhsìh time 時 but before the ending consonant (if there is any). i.e. LR, LL and LF 5 LR Low Rising see h síhsíhsíh market 市 tones. 事 6 LL Low Level in h sihsihsih matter 1.2.2 The Cantonese tones with mnemonic words Cantonese has 6 distinctive tones: Tone 1 HL sîsîsî ~ pitch level of “hehehe ” Tone 2 HR sísísí ~ pitch level of “then” Tone 3 ML sisisi ~ pitch level of “youyouyou ” in “see youyouyou ” Tone 4 LF sìhsìhsìh ~ pitch level of “cycycy ” in “Tra cycycy ” Tone 5 LR síhsíhsíh ~ pitch level of “seeseesee ” in “I seeseesee ” * Tone 6 LL sihsihsih ~ pitch level of “ininin ” * Some Hong Kong people pronounce “I see” in this way”. The respective 6 tones with the English examples: he then you “cy” see in sîsîsî sísísí sisisi sìhsìhsìh síhsíhsíh sihsihsih http://www.clc.com.hk Page 3 Cantonese Sound System Page 4 1.2.4 Actual recorded tone patterns The following diagram shows the actual recorded pitch pattern of the 1.2.5 Schematic tones diagram six tones. The following is a tones diagram illustrating the co-relation of the six tones in Cantonese: (it’s schematic only, not in scale) 5(so) 1. HL 4(fa) 2.HR 3(me) 3.ML 5.LR 2(re) 6.LL 4.LF 1(do) HL HR ML LF LR LL In this diagram, “5” stands for the highest pitch level while “1” Tone No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 stands for the lowest pitch level. Tone names HL HR ML LF LR LL The arrows show the pitch level or the variation of the pitch of the Tones marks no tone mark hhh hhh hhh tones. Cantonese e.g. sîsîsî sísísí sisisi sìhsìhsìh síhsíhsíh sihsihsih Tone No. Tone Name From Pitch To Pitch English words with the same tones he then see “you” tra “cy” I “see” in Tone 1 High level 5 5 Tone 2 High rising 2 5 Character: 詩 史 試 時 市 事 Tone 3 Middle level 3 3 Meaning: poem history try time market matter Tone 4 Low falling 2 1 Tone 5 Low rising 2 3 Tone 6 Low level 2 1 http://www.clc.com.hk Page 5 Cantonese Sound System Page 6 1.2.6 Comparing the tones 1.2.7 Examples of the 6 tones 1) As you can see, the order of these 6 tones – tone 1 to tone 6 are not in the order from the highest pitch to the lowest pitch. And therefore it is quite difficult for learners to compare the relative pitch levels of 1. sî 2. sí 3. si these 6 tones. Tone 1 (HL) Tone 2 (HR) Tone 3 (ML) High Level High Rising Middle Level 2) Here is just a comparison which rearranges the tones order to make it easier for learners to compare the differences between the tones. Tone mark: Tone mark: Tone mark: a line on top a line going up Nothing Group Tone Tone Mnemonic Tone E.g. Example: Example: Example: No. name words marks 一 yâtyâtyât one 手 sssásáááuuuu hand 細 saisaisai small Level 1 HL he sî 筆 bbbâbâââtttt pen 等 dddádááángngngng wait 貴 gwai expensive 3 ML you sisisi 蚊 mmmâmââânnnn dollar 死 ssséséééiiii die 瘦 sausausau thin 6 LL in h sihsihsih 三 sssâsâââamamamam three 紙 jjjíjííí paper 四 seiseisei four 4 LF “cy” h sìhsìhsìh 車 chchchêch êêê car 錢 chchchích ííínnnn money 褲 fufufu trousers Rising 2 HR then 多 many 好 good 去 go sísísí dddôdôôô hhhóhóóóuuuu heui 5 LR see h síhsíhsíh 4. sìh 5. síh 6. sih 3) This is a reference only for comparing the pitch values. Ordinarily learners should follow the sequence of previous tones table (tone 1-6), because it is the sequence adopted by traditional Cantonese and most Tone 4 (LF) Tone 5 (LR) Tone 6 (LL) systems. Low Falling Low Rising Low Level Tone mark: Tone mark: Tone mark: a line going a line going Nothing but down with “h” h up with “h” h “h” only h Example: Example: Example: 人 yyyàyàààhnhnhnhn people 我 ngngngóng óóóhhhh I 飯 faahn rice 裙 kwkwkwàkw àààhnhnhnhn dress 你 nnnénéééihihihih you 慢 maahn slow 肥 fffèfèèèihihihih fat 佢 kkkékéééuihuihuihuih he 食 sihk eat 平 pppèpèèèhnghnghnghng cheap 有 yyyáyáááuhuhuhuh have 麵 mihn noodles 年 nnnìnìììhnhnhnhn year 冇 mmmómóóóuhuhuhuh don’t have 六 luhk six 停 tttìtìììhnghnghnghng stop 買 mmmámáááaihaihaihaih buy 月 yuht month http://www.clc.com.hk Page 7 Cantonese Sound System Page 8 1.2.8 Mnemonic words for the 6 tones 1.3 Initials In the following sentences, the 1 st syllable is tone 1 high level, the 2 nd syllable is tone 2 high rising and so on. 1.3.1 The initials table 1) Cantonese has 191919 initials as follows: 1) 394052 Manner of Plosives/ sssâsâââamam ggááááuu sei llììììhnghng çççghçgh yih Articulation Affricates 3 9 4 0 5 2 2) boss went to, friend’s place Place of Articulation bbbôbôôô----ssssíííí heui, ppàhngàhngàhng----yáuhyáuh douh Unaspirated Unaspirated Stops Aspirated Stops boss go to, friend’s place Fricatives / Nasals Lateral Semi- Vowels Bilabial 3) 1:30, come to my place (two lips) b ppp mmm www yyyâyâââtt dt díd ííímm bun, llààààihih ngngóóóóhh douh Alveolar 1:30 , come to my place (Tip of tongue and the alveolar ridge) ddd ttt n, ln, l 4) taxi is fast, won’t be slow Palatal-Alveolar (blade of tongue articulates with hard j ch s dddîdîîîkkkk----ssssíííí faaifaai,,,, ¬¬¬h¬h wh wúw úúúihih maahn palate). jj chch ss taxi fast, not will slow Velar (back of tongue and soft palate) ggg kkk ngngng Labial-velar (adding the sound of “g” or “k” with “w”) gwgwgw kwkwkw 1.2.9 General problems with the tones Many learners don’t follow what the tone that a syllable should be. Glottal It’s because in English, speakers change the pitch levels according to (narrowing vocal cords) hhh the rhythm of the sentence. Labiodental (lower lip and the upper teeth) fff eg. I am happy . →The pitch of “ pypypy ” is low Palatal yyy Happy Birthday →The pitch of “ pypypy ” is high However in Cantonese, the tone, means the pitch level is a decisive element of a syllable. So try the best to stick with the tones. The sequence of the initials said in the sound files is: Same sounds with different tones may mean something very b, p, d, t, j, ch, g, k, gw, kw, different. s, h, f, m, n, l, ng, w, y eg. buy: máaih , sell: mmmaaihmaaih http://www.clc.com.hk Page 9 Cantonese Sound System Page 10 1.3.2 The examples 1.4 Finals As the initial can not be pronounced by itself, in the tape, the vocal 1.4.1 The finals table element “a”“a”“a” is added to the initial to form a complete syllable. For easy comparison, all the following syllables are pronounced at Cantonese has 515151 finals as follows: high level. aaaaaa a eee iii ooo uuu eueueu yuyuyu Articulation symbol English eg. example meaning 巴 士 Non- bbb bababa boy ( ) bus iii aaiaaiaai aiaiai eieiei oioioi uiuiui euieuieui 打 aspirated ddd dadada dark a dozen 家 stops ggg gagaga guard family uuu aauaauaau auauau iuiuiu ououou 瓜 gwgwgw gwa guava melon 渣 jjj jajaja jar residue mmm aamaamaam amamam imimim 趴 Aspirated ppp papapa park lie on one’s stomach nnn aanaanaan ananan ininin ononon ununun euneuneun yunyunyun stops ttt tatata tart 他 he kkk kakaka car 卡 card ngngng aang angangang engengeng inginging ononongon ggg ungungung eung kwkwkw kwa quick 誇 boast chchch chachacha charge 差 inferior ppp aapaapaap apapap ipipip Fricatives fff fafafa fast 花 flower hhh hahaha ha(interj.) 蝦 prawn ttt aataataat atatat ititit ototot ututut euteuteut yyyutyututut sss sasasa sand 沙 sand Nasals / mmm mamama mummy 媽 mummy kkk aakaakaak akakak ekekek ikikik okokok ukukuk eukeukeuk liquids nnn nanana name 拿 LF pick lll lalala leg 啦 PM ngngng nga sing 牙 LF tooth The sequence of the finals said in the sound files is: Semi- went 蛙 frog www wawawa aa, aai, aau, aam, aan, aang, aap, aat, aak, 也 vowels yyy yayaya yes LR also ai, au, am, an, ang, ang, ap, at, ak e, ei, eng … and so on There is no single “a” sound, which is with “ ” besides it, in Cantonese.