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Coll V Textbook Lesson 1
Coll V Textbook Lesson 1
Cantonese
Colloquialisms V
CCLCC4613E / Advanced Cantonese online course
July 2022
Yale-China Chinese Language Centre, CUHK
Cantonese is a tonal language, in which tones play a very important role in identifying the
meaning of words. There are about 20 romanization systems used in Cantonese course books.
This book uses the “Yale system”.
1 Initials – ‘sīngmóuh’
According to their phonetic features, the 19 initials are divided into 5 groups as shown in
Table 1.1. Learners should notice the following points in pronouncing or identifying
“initials”:
1. The ‘j’ and ‘ch’ are pronounced with lips spread, instead of rounded or protruded lips. The
‘ch’ and ‘j’ initials in Cantonese, such as: ‘chàh’ (tea) and ‘jyuh’ (live) are not the same as
those in ‘church’ and ‘judge’ in English.
2. Some sociolinguistic research shows that Cantonese speakers may pronounce the ‘n’ like
‘l’, e.g. ‘néuihyán’ (woman) ‘léuihyán’.
3. The ‘g’ resembles ‘c’ in ‘scan’ (unaspirated ‘k’) and ‘k’ in ‘kitchen’ (aspirated ‘k’).
5. The ‘ng’ initial resembles the sound of ‘-ng’ as in ‘singer’. Cantonese youths may drop the
‘ng’ in ‘ngóh’ (I), and say it like ‘óh’.
6. The ‘y’ is different from the vowel ‘yu’ as in ‘yih yuht’ (February).
7. Sociolinguistic research also shows some natives may pronounce the ‘gw’ without rounded
lips, which may make ‘gwok’ (country) become ‘gok’.
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Yale-China Chinese Language Centre, CUHK
English Chinese
Group Initials Romanization Tone
Meaning Characters
1 Aspirated stops
p pa M.L. afraid 怕
t taai M.L. too much 太
k kāat H.L. card 咭/卡
ch chā H.L. fork 叉
kw kwàhn L.F. skirt 裙
2 Unaspirated Stops
b bā H.L. father 爸
d dá H.R. hit 打
g gá H.R. false 假
j ja M.L. bombard 炸
gw gwai M.L. expensive 貴
3 Nasals
m mā H.L. mother 媽
ng ngóh L.R. I, me 我
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2 Finals – ‘wáhnmóuh’
Table 2.1 shows the 51 Cantonese finals (with examples) used in the Yale system. Included are
the vowels with long or short length and the diphthongs consisting of vowels in different
combinations:
1. Cantonese has single vowel sounds (e.g. ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, ‘eu’, ‘yu’) and diphthongs
(e.g. ‘ai’, ‘ou’, ‘aau’ …). When single vowel sounds have no following consonant, they
are supposedly pronounced as “long vowels” (e.g. ‘ma’, ‘me’, ‘mi’, ‘mo’, ‘mu’).
2. There is a distinction between diphthongs having short vowel ‘a’ (spelt as ‘a’) and those
having long vowel ‘a’ (spelt as ‘aa’). The examples of the long and short ‘a’ are shown
in Table 2.2.
3. The finals ‘eu’, ‘eung’, ‘euk’, ‘eui’, ‘eun’ and ‘eut’ are rounded central vowels. For
example, ‘hēu’ (boot), ‘sēut’ (shirt), ‘seun’ (letter), ‘heui’ (to go), ‘lèuhng’ (cool) and
‘yeuhk’ (medicine).
4. The endings ‘-p’, ‘-t’ and ‘-k’ endings are unreleased stops.
5. The ‘i’ in Cantonese is different from the one in English, as the tongue position is higher,
e.g. ‘tīn’ (sky). (Compare it with the English word ‘teen’)
6. The ‘o’ is similar to ‘o’ as in ‘got’ in English, pronounced with rounded lips, e.g. ‘ngoi’
(love).
7. The ‘u’ is also similar to the vowel as in ‘wood’ in English, pronounced with rounded lips.
e.g. ‘luhk’ (green).
8. In a diphthong, the vowel glide is articulated strongly when it goes with a short main vowel,
whereas the vowel glide becomes weak when going with a long main vowel.
There are fifty-one finals (or “syllable endings”) in real life Cantonese vocabulary as shown
in Table 2.3.
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a Long a sā 沙 sand
au gau 夠 enough
am sām 心 heart
an sān 新 new
ap sāp 濕 wet/humid
at māt 乜 what
ak dāk 得 okay
e Long e jē 遮 umbrella
ek tek 踢 kick
i Long i jí 紙 paper
iu bīu 錶 watch
im tìhm 甜 sweet
in tīn 天 sky
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ip dihp 碟 dish
it jit 節 festival
ik sihk 食 eat
oi ngoi 愛 love
on hon 看 look
ot hot 渴 thirsty
ok gwok 國 country
u Long u fú 苦 bitter
un muhn 悶 boring
ut fut 闊 wide
uk jūk 粥 congee
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Table 2.2 The long and short diphthongs in Cantonese (aai/ai, aam/am, aan/an, aau/au)
L S L S L S L S L S L S L
a e eu i o u yu
aai ai ei eui oi ui
aau au iu ou
aam am im
aap ap ip
aak ak ek euk ik ok uk
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3 Tones – ‘sīngdiuh’
This book employs the six-tone system, which has been accepted by many scholars. To make
the tones visible, Table 3.1 can show the pitch contour of the voice. Please note that the low
falling tone is lower than the low level tone. (The high and low rising tones may have
alternative representations in different systems employed by other books).
Table 3.2 shows the differences in meaning when a word is pronounced in different tones.
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4 Spelling conventions
1. The tone mark of the ‘rising’, ‘falling’ or ‘high level’ tone is placed on the top of the first
vowel.
2. The not-pronounced ‘h’ is placed behind the vowels of a final to indicate low pitch tones.
3. The mid-level tone has no tone mark.
香 港
↓ High Level tone mark ↓ High Rising tone mark
h ēung g óng
intial final
intial final
中 早
↓ High Level tone mark ↓ High Rising tone mark
j ūng j óu
intial final intial final
大 晨
↓ (without tone mark for level tones) ↓ Falling tone mark
d aaih s àhn
intial final intial final
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發音器官圖
6. Uvula 小舌 síusi(h)t
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Lesson One
Máaih hohkhaauh jaaihyun
買學校債券
hohkhaauh.
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wah hóuchói.
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a!” 呀!」
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baih la! Wai, m̀hóu góngmàaih dī sēuiyéh la. Haih 弊嘑! 喂,唔好講埋啲衰嘢
啦。」
slangs
1. mānéui 孖女 N: twin (girls)
6. dohk dihm kéuih 度掂佢 PH: find one’s way out; find a
solution
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15. maahnmáan tùhng 慢慢同你計 PH: wait until the time is ripe to
néih gai settle account; bide time for
revenge
18. chāan wán chāan sihk 餐搵餐食餐 IE: spend all one earns instantly
chāan chāan chīng 餐清
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20. yáuh mēyéh dūnggwā 有咩嘢冬瓜 IE: in case there is any unforeseen
dauhfuh 豆腐 accident
23. góngmàaih dī sēuiyéh 講埋啲衰嘢 PH: prattle; too chatty; talk for a
long time about bad things or
things are that not important
24. sīk tìuh mòuh mē!? 識條毛咩!? PH: know the shit about something
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Additional vocabulary
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20. Gám jauh baih la! 噉就弊嘑! PH: That’s too bad.
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Sentence Structure
1.
hóu gwái好鬼 + V/Adj
very; extremely
2.
Yíh以…jyumìhng著名
a. Chyùhnwāan (Tsuen Wan) ge Sāmjéng (Sham Tseng) yíh sīu ngó jyumìhng
荃灣嘅深井以燒鵝著名。
b. Hēunggóng dihnyíng yíh gūngfú pín, duhngjok pín (action movie) tùhng
gíngféi pín (gangster film; cops-and-robbers movie) jyumìhng.香港電影
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以功夫片、動作片同警匪片著名。
運動用品公司以賣波鞋著名。
3.
Haih nē係呢…
a. A-Chán, gam ngāam a! Hóu noih móuh gin la. Haih nē, dímgáai jeuigahn
hóu síu gindóu néih làih nīdouh yámchàh gé? 阿陳,咁啱呀! 好耐冇見
嘑。係呢,點解最近好少見到你嚟呢度飲茶嘅?
b. Dōjeh néih chéng ngóh sihkfaahn wo. Haih nē, néih dásyun géisìh
chēutfaat heui Yīnggwok a? 多謝你請我食飯喎。係呢,你打算幾時出
發去英國呀?
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a. Sharing
1. Dímyéung hóyíh jāngjeun (enhance; promote) léuhng gūngpó ge
gámchìhng (affection; love) a? 點樣可以增進兩公婆嘅感情呀?
nē? 國際學校有乜嘢好同埋唔好呢?
較,喺香港讀國際學校算唔算好貴呀?
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