S. L. Wong (romanisation)

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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.

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 phoneme symbols [a], [ɐ], [ei], [ɛ], [i], [ou], [ɔ], [œ], [u] and [y] in the scheme mean following:

International phonetic alphabet	[ɑ]	[ɐ]	[eː]	[ɛ]	[i]	[oː]	[ɔ]	[œ]	[u]	[y]
S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol)	[a]	[ɐ]	[ei]	[ɛ]	[i]	[ou]	[ɔ]	[œ]	[u]	[y]
S. L. Wong (romanisation)	aa	a	ei	e	i	ou	o	eu	u	ue

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Vowel.

Falling diphthong finals

All 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:

	aa	a	ei	e	i	ou	o	eu	u	ue
aa		ei	e	i	ou	o	oe	u	ue
aai	ai					oi		ui
aau	au			iu

1. ↑  The combination of eu and ue is euue. The double u is reduced to signal and the combination becomes eue.

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Falling diphthong finals.

Nasal phoneme finals

The nasal consonants [m], [n] and [ŋ] in finals can be written as:

International phonetic alphabet	[m]	[n]	[ŋ]
S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol)	[m]	[n]	[ŋ]
S. L. Wong (romanisation)	m	n	ng

Some vowel phonemes can followed by nasal consonants -m, -n or -ng to form 17 nasal phoneme finals:

	aa	a	ei	e	i	ou	o	eu	u	ue
aam	am			im
aan	an			in		on	eun	un	uen
aang	ang		eng	ing		ong	eung	ung

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal phoneme finals.

Plosive phoneme finals

The plosive final can be written [p], [t] and [k] as:

International phonetic alphabet	[p]	[t]	[k]
S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol)	[p]	[t]	[k]
S. L. Wong (romanisation)	p	t	k

Some vowel phonemes can followed by inaspirated plosive consonants -p, -t or -k to form 17 nasal phoneme finals:

	aa	a	ei	e	i	ou	o	eu	u	ue
aap	ap			ip
aat	at			it		ot	eut	ut	uet
aak	ak		ek	ik		ok	euk	uk

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Plosive phoneme finals.

Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals

For the nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals

[m] and [ŋ] in voiced form [m̩] and [ŋ̩] are also 2 finals in Cantonese.

International phonetic alphabet	[m̩]	[ŋ̩]
S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol)	[m̩]	[ŋ̩]
S. L. Wong (romanisation)	m	ng

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals.

Initials

Initials are made up of consonants. Most of characters are preceding finals with initials while some characters are pronouced without initials. There are 19 initials in total.

International phonetic alphabet	[m]	[n]	[ŋ̩]	[p]	[t]	[k]	[kʷ]	[pʰ]	[tʰ]	[kʰ]	[kʷʰ]	[ts]	[tsʰ]	[f]	[s]	[h]	[j]	[w]	[l]
S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol)	[m]	[n]	[ŋ̩]	[b]	[d]	[g]	[gw]	[p]	[t]	[k]	[kw]	[dz]	[ts]	[f]	[s]	[h]	[j]	[w]	[l]
S. L. Wong (romanisation)	m	n	ng	b	d	g	gw	p	t	k	kw	dz	ts	f	s	h	y	w	l

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Initials.

Tones

There 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.

	level	rising	going	entering
upper	ˈx (1)			ˈx (7)	upper
		ˊx (2)	ˉx (3)	ˉx (8)	middle
lower		ˏx (5)	ˍx (6	ˍx (9)	lower
	ˌx (4)

For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Tones.

See also

• S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)
• S. L. Wong (Cantonese)

Reference

1. Wong, S. L. (1941) A CHINESE SYLLABARY PRONOUNCED ACCORDING TO THE DIALECT OF CANTON. Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Book Co.,(H.K.) Ltd.

 

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