Postgraduate Thesis: A comparison of the Cantonese pronunciations recorded in Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian and Zhonghua xin zidian

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TitleA comparison of the Cantonese pronunciations recorded in Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian and Zhonghua xin zidian
AuthorsChan, Ngai-ling.
陳毅玲.
Issue Date2011
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
AbstractCantonese, the standard and socially the most prestigious of the Yue dialects, is certainly an important dialect for investigation. Apart from being a regional dialect of the Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau, it is also widely used throughout the Chinese communities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. In the past seventy years, a number of dictionaries on Cantonese have been compiled. Among them, the Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian 朗文初階中文詞典 and the Zhonghua xin zidian中華新字典 are both widely used and are therefore influential standards on the dialect. Yet, despite their importance, specialist and systematic studies on the Cantonese pronunciations given in them are few and far between. The present dissertation is the first attempt to study the subject. It is found that many Chinese characters are given surprisingly different pronunciations in the two dictionaries. However, the two dictionaries do not state very clearly how they determine the Cantonese pronunciation given in them. This results in great confusion for dictionary users. The present thesis attempts to analyze differences between the two dictionaries with reference to (1) the number of pronunciations given to each character, (2) the order of listing the pronunciations, (3) tone change and (4) the listing of commonly used pronunciations.
DegreeMaster of Arts
SubjectCantonese dialects - Pronunciation.
Dept/ProgramChinese Language and Literature
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b4702002
DC Field
Value
dc.contributor.authorChan, Ngai-ling.
dc.contributor.author陳毅玲.
dc.date.hkucongregation2011
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractCantonese, the standard and socially the most prestigious of the Yue dialects, is certainly an important dialect for investigation. Apart from being a regional dialect of the Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau, it is also widely used throughout the Chinese communities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. In the past seventy years, a number of dictionaries on Cantonese have been compiled. Among them, the Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian 朗文初階中文詞典 and the Zhonghua xin zidian中華新字典 are both widely used and are therefore influential standards on the dialect. Yet, despite their importance, specialist and systematic studies on the Cantonese pronunciations given in them are few and far between. The present dissertation is the first attempt to study the subject. It is found that many Chinese characters are given surprisingly different pronunciations in the two dictionaries. However, the two dictionaries do not state very clearly how they determine the Cantonese pronunciation given in them. This results in great confusion for dictionary users. The present thesis attempts to analyze differences between the two dictionaries with reference to (1) the number of pronunciations given to each character, (2) the order of listing the pronunciations, (3) tone change and (4) the listing of commonly used pronunciations.
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version
dc.description.thesisdisciplineChinese Language and Literature
dc.description.thesislevelmaster's
dc.description.thesisnameMaster of Arts
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b4702002
dc.identifier.hkulb4702002
dc.languagechi
dc.publisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
dc.relation.ispartofHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)
dc.rightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.
dc.rightsCreative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
dc.source.urihttp://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47020027
dc.subject.lcshCantonese dialects - Pronunciation.
dc.titleA comparison of the Cantonese pronunciations recorded in Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian and Zhonghua xin zidian
dc.typePG_Thesis