some words where the semi-vowel y takes their place in Cantonese.
As a general rule initial s appears in the same words in Höng Shán that it does in Cantonese; but it is more common as an initial in Höng Shán, as the initials sh are never found in Höng Shán, the h being dropped and simple s remaining. T initial is the same as in Cantonese, and ts also as a general rule, the exception being ts before ü when it becomes ch. A similar change takes place in some words with the spelling tsöü and ts'öü.
Initial w is generally the same but wú
drops the w, or becomes fú, or hú, or kú.
Wúí becomes huöü, or úöü, or waí, while
wún drops the w or becomes hún, hün, kún,
or k'ún, and finally wút becomes út. Y as
an initial is dropped before í, or ng is put in
its place, or occasionally h, or k'. In
Shek-k'éí, there is a slight tendency, in two or
three cases to retain the y. A syllable
unknown in Cantonese, viz. yôi, occurs in the
Höng Shán dialect. Another peculiarity of
the Höng Shán dialect, viz.,—the use of ng
or h in many cases where in Cantonese the
semi-vowel y only appears as an initial, is
noticed by Dr. Williams in the Introduction
to 'the Tonic Dictionary,' p. XX, as follows:—All
words having no initial
consonant are very liable to have a nasal ng or
h prefixed to them, or to have the vowel
altered. The people in Hiang-shán, Macao
and Sin-ngáu, change many words in this
way, so that if one does not see the character,
he will look for it under h or ng.
The
writer of the Introduction to the
'Chinese Chrestomathy' (p. X.) also notices this in
the following words:—A few words, which
at Canton are spoken without any initial
vowel are in Macao heard beginning with
ng; as ngí (two) for í; ngín or ngün (words)
for ín; ngít (hot) for ít; ín (worthy) is pronounced hín.
As regards the final consonants:—The final consonants are the same as in Cantonese with the exception of z (used only in Cantonese in the words sz, tsz, and ts'z) which is invariably changed into the long vowel í.
Vowels.
It will usually be found that the length and shortness of the vowels are the same in Höng Shán as in Cantonese when the vowels themselves are the same in these two dialects. The vowels and diphthongs a, á, aí áí, aú and áú are retained in the Höng Shán words, where they occur in the same words in Cantonese, as a general rule. Exception k'yéú for k'aú.
The short e is also the same. Exception, pí (or pe) for pe.
In the change of the diphthong éí into the long í occurs one of the most characteristic of the Höng Shán sounds, nor is it confined to Höng Shán alone. And again another of the equally or even more characteristic sounds of this dialect is heard in the short a which supersedes the short í when it is followed by k or ng. Exceptions 名 and 命 meëng and 聲, 城, and 成 which are either sang or seng. Long í is the same in both Cantonese and Höng Shán.
O and ò are the same in both Cantonese
and Höng Shán with the exception of short
ò before m, p, when it then becomes a short
a, ö is the same in Höng Shán as in
Cantonese. It is difficult to know how to
represent the class of sound which is the
counter-part of the Cantonese oi. For want
of any better means of setting it forth in an
English spelling, it is here represented by
ôí. As has already been said by the writer,
This attempting to represent Chinese sounds
by the letters of an alphabet, is but a halting
expedient,
since the letters as we are
accustomed to use them in our own language,
are never in every case capable of
producing the identical Chinese sound.
[1]
Having got un peu près to the Chinese
pronunciation, or sometimes even very near
to it, we must perforce—since we have no
similar or identical sound in our language
- ↑ 'Cantonese Made Easy,' 2nd Edition, Introduction, p. VIII.
