S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)
Encyclopedia : S : SL : SLW : S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)
| Chinese language romanization |
|
Chinese language
General Chinese
For Standard Mandarin
|
|
Cantonese
For Standard Cantonese
|
|
Wu
For Shanghainese
|
|
Min Nan For Min Nan dialects in Fujian and Taiwan Pe view] • [ talk] • [ edit] |
Wong Shik Ling (also known as S. L. Wong) published a scheme of phonetic symbols for Standard Cantonese based on International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) in the book A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton. The scheme has been widely used in Chinese dictionary published in Hong Kong. The scheme is a broad phonemic transcription system based on IPA.
Before devising the system, Wong studied many phonetic transcription and romanisation system for Cantonese. He found that many of them are not accurate enough for use. He researched in Standard Cantonese and published his results in the book.
Phonology
Cantonese like other Chinese languages is monosyllabic. Each syllabus is divided into initial (consonant), final (vowel and following consonant) and tone.Finals
Chinese 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.Vowels
The 10 basic vowel phonemes are: /a/, /ɐ/, /ei/, /ɛ/, /i/, /ou/, /ɔ/, /œ/, /u/ and /y/ as shown in the following table:| Front | N.-front | Central | N.-back | Back | ||
| Close | 
| |||||