S. L. Wong (romanisation)

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Wong Shik-Ling (also known as S. L. Wong) published a romanisation scheme accompanying a set of phonetic symbols for Cantonese based on International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in the book A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton.

Phonology

Cantonese, like a number of other varieties of Chinese is monosyllabic. Each syllable 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 Cantonese.

Vowels

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

International phonetic alphabet	[a]	[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)#Vowels.

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	eu	u	ue
-i	aai	ai					oi		ui
-u	aau	au			iu
-ue								eue^[1]

^ The combination of eu and ue is euue. The double u is reduced to a single u 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
-m	aam	am			im
-n	aan	an			in		on	eun	un	uen
-ng	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 unaspirated plosive consonants -p, -t or -k to form 17 plosive phoneme finals:

	aa	a	ei	e	i	ou	o	eu	u	ue
-p	aap	ap			ip
-t	aat	at			it		ot	eut	ut	uet
-k	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 two 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 pronounced 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 nine tones in 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
upper		ˊx (2)	ˉx (3)	ˉx (8)	middle
lower		ˏx (5)	ˍx (6)	ˍx (9)	lower
lower	ˌx (4)				lower

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

References

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

External links

Cukda Cantonese IME