A phonological study of Cantonese in late Qing dynasty : with focus on three Cantonese reference books = 晚清廣州話音系探析 : 以三部廣州話工具書為中心

Abstract

 Pronunciation is always changing. By exploring the phonetic system of the previous generation, we can understand both the language features of the generation and the trend of phonological development. The purpose of the study is to summarize the Cantonese phonetic system in the late Qing dynasty (1842-1911), by analyzing the orthographic system and phonetic system mentioned in the following reference books on the Cantonese language: (1) Samuel Wells Williams’ A Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect, (2) John Chalmers’ English and Cantonese Dictionary, (3) James Dyer Ball’s Cantonese Made Easy. The above three books are written by Western scholars in China, aiming to help foreigners learn Cantonese. Their research results have become important literature of Cantonese phonology, which are helpful in understanding phonetic features and characteristics of Cantonese in the late Qing dynasty. According to the analysis, results showed that the Cantonese phonetic system mentioned in the books differs from the modern Cantonese phonetic system, and that there was a change in phonetic system during the 50-year period (1856-1907) in the late Qing dynasty. The study concludes with three main characteristics of the Cantonese phonetic system in the late Qing dynasty, as reflected in the reference books: 1) There are 23 initial consonants (including zero consonants); 2) There are 56 final consonants; 3) There are 9 tones, excluding changed tones such as “the variant tone of the upper even”(「上平變音」) and “the Third Rising Tones”(「高升變調」).