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Tag Archives: pronunciation
Routledge and ION
Yesterday, I attended a focus group discussion organized by an editorial director from Routledge. There is nothing unusual about the meeting itself which is worth mentioning here. But towards the end of it, a small amusing (well, at least amusing … Continue reading
One of my dream jobs
BBC has just issued the following recruitment advertisement: Colleagues, We are pleased to announce a vacancy for a Pronunciation Linguist in the BBC Pronunciation Unit. The vacancy is for a full-time fixed term one-year contract to cover maternity leave. The … Continue reading
How do you say the word 人?
A man called the RTHK phone-in talk show yesterday morning. He got through, and the first thing he did was to correct the pronunciation of Leung Ka Wing, a co-host of the programme: “The word 人should be pronounced like 仁; … Continue reading
中英見面冊:粵語的粵拼和IPA
明報專訊】Paul.22 April at 2:12pm 上次我說過香港現時習用的粵語拼音法不太準確,但有時候猜測其原意又頗有趣,例如我見過一張私家車車尾的貼紙寫覑chui chang meh,推敲一輪後原來是頗粗俗的「吹脹咩」;以前中文報章將「搖頭丸」寫作「fing頭丸」,facebook上有舊學生寫「今晚去邊度hea」,要從上文下理才明白hea的意思;招聘廣告雜誌《招職》以jiu jik標示,但與「招職」一詞聲母相同的「張」字卻以cheung來表示。 可見,我們始終需要一套可靠和易用的粵語拼音方法。就我所知,現時有耶魯羅馬字母方案(Yale Romanization),香港出版的字典部分採用國際音標,而內地出版的廣州話字典又有另一套「廣東話拼音方案」,這跟大家都依從漢語拼音(Pinyin)讀普通話的情不同。你覺得學校應否教授粵語拼音?如果答案是肯定的話,應該教授哪套拼音法呢? Ben.22 April at 2:39pm reply 如果學校只容許教授一套拼音法,我認為香港語言學學會的「粵語拼音方案」(簡稱「粵拼」)較為易學易用。這套粵語音標系統可在《粵語審音配詞字庫》裏找到(humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can)。 首先,粵拼裏一個符號標注一個音,譬如「張」、「祥」的聲母分別以z-、c-來表示,避免港式拼音般以一個符號ch-代表兩個不同的讀音。南昌站的「昌」、上環站的「上」,兩個字的韻母都一樣,粵拼給予的韻母是-oeng,但港式的拼音卻把它們當成兩個音,以-eong標注「昌」,以-eung標注「上」。 粵拼的一致性也體現於如何標示粵語的聲調,傳統一直視粵語有9個聲調,但粵拼只給6個,理由是第七、八、九聲的調值分別來自第一、三、六聲的調值,沒有產生新的調值,只是以短促的收音辦法把字音讀出,所以粵拼就有6個聲調。粵拼只有十數年的歷史,香港特區政府的中文界面就是採用粵拼(可參考﹕www.ogcio.gov.hk/ccli/unicode/structure/jyutping.html)。 另外,《商務新詞典》(2008年版)及微軟Windows Vista版本也選用粵拼為它們的拼音系統。傳媒方面,例如《明報》教育版及無铫電視的文教節目使用粵拼的頻次也愈來愈多了。 其實,粵語也可由國際音標來標示,我注意到粵語採用的國際音標符號,和英語的國際音標符號不盡相同,尤其在韻母方面,例如粵語「乞」和英文hut的讀音很接近,但前者的注音是(圖列1),後者是(圖列2);「花」和far的讀音很接近,但前者是(圖列3),後者是(圖列4),為何有這些分別? Paul.22 April at 3:17pm 首先,/(圖列5)/和/(圖列6)/只是接近而並非相同,而且符號運用的不同關乎何謂國際音標和它實際的用法。 國際音標(International Phonetic Alphabet)是國際語音學會(International Phonetic Association)頒布的拼音方案,它參考了很多語言的發音體系,然後歸納成一套利用最少符號去代表人類語言中,出現最多的輔音(consonant)和元音(vowel),即基本音素(phoneme)。 有了此方案,個別語言可從中找出最接近其本身包含的音素的符號,這過程有時需要對所選取的符號略為修正,例如英文有長短韻母之分,於是在選取的國際音標符號之後加上/(圖列7)/,例如 /(圖列8)/(eat)、 / (圖列9) /(pool)、/(圖列10)/(caught),以資識別。 所以嚴格來說,我們在字典找到的英語國際音標符號,只是整套國際音標的一部分,而且經過輕微修正;所謂粵語的國際音標亦然。所以使用個別語言的國際音標時,要先看看它的例字。 Ben.22 April at … Continue reading
How (not) to say “ciabatta” at a McCafe
This afternoon, I went to a McCafe to get a cup of cappuccino. I had noticed that they were selling small cappuccino’s at a reduced price. When I arrived at the counter, I saw this sign saying that if you … Continue reading
Rex Harrison, Jude Law, and the Queen
Don’t scratch your head if you find that what I say in this entry seems to contradict what I said in the last. When I was in Secondary Two, a film came out, which became an instant blockbuster among students … Continue reading
The native speaker, and the standard accent
Dora (false name) opened the door of the small room in this small bed and breakfast that the agency had booked for her. It had been a long day getting the girls (and a couple of boys) settled with their … Continue reading