Cantonese/Conversational Cantonese One/Lesson One

Reading Material

• Cantonese Wikibook: Pronunciation
• Lab: Listen to the initials and finals recorded on the Cantones_sounds.zip file from chinese-lessons.com.

Notes on Pronunciation

The Tones

Labeled with normal pitch levels used (1=Lowest - 5=Highest)

1. High Level or High Falling (ā or à) - Pitch: 5-5 or 5-3
2. Mid Rising (á) - Pitch: 3-5
3. Mid Level (a) - Pitch: 3-3
4. Low Falling (àh) - Pitch: 2-1
5. Low Rising (áh) - Pitch: 2-3
6. Low Level (āh) - Pitch: 2-2

• The syllables that end with p, t, and k usually are considered only to have "checked" level tones. Because these syllables are so short, a rise or fall in the pitch usually cannot be detected. Sometimes the pitch does not matter, as in the word for "dish", dip6 versus dip2. Both are correct.

Initial Consonants

	Unaspirated Stop	Aspirated Stop	Nasal	Fricative	Unaspirated Affricate	Aspirated Affricate	Approximant	Lateral Approximant	Notes
Bilabial	b as spa	p as pat	m as mom
Labiodental				f as foot
Alveolar	d as stick	t as top	n as not	s as sleep	j as Mozart	ch as cats		l as lap
Palatal							y as yard
Velar	g as sky	k as kite	ng as singer
Labio-velar	gw as square	kw as quark					w as want
Glottal				h as hot

Final Semivowels

		Column i	Column u	Column m	Column n	Column ng	Column p	Column t	Column k
				m as hmm		ng as sing
Row aa	a as spa	aai as sigh	aau as bow	aam as palm	aan as pawn	aang	aap as opt	aat as ought	aak as talk
Row a		ai as kite	au as scout	am as some	an as sun	ang as lung	ap as cup	at as cut	ak as suck
Row e	e as Jose (es)	ei as say		em as temple		eng as penguin			ek as peck
Row i			iu as seal	im as seem	in as seen	ing as sing	ip as seep	it as seat	ik as sick
Row o	o as paw	oi as boy	ou as toe		on as scorn	ong as song		ot as hot	ok as stock
Row u	u as coo	ui as gooey			un as soon	ung as sung		ut as soot	uk as look
Row eu	eu as her	eui as deuil (fr)			eun as schön (de)	eung		eut	euk
Row yu	yu as tu (fr)				yun as une (fr)			yut as güte (de)

• The final consonants p, t, and k are unreleased. This means that they are virtually silent and you hear no "puff of air" at the end of the syllable.
• The vowel quality in ing, it, and ik is not the same as in in,im, or i. It's the same difference between the English words "sing" and "seen" (or in grammar school terms a "short" vowel versus a "long" vowel).
• The finals m and ng can only be used as standalone nasal syllables.
• Vowels preceeding nasal final consonants are not nasalized, yet vowels following nasal consonants are.

Row AA Notes

• The aa sounds are a low back vowel which is slightly longer in length and different in quality from the a sounds. Be sure to note the difference in these sounds since confusing the two will change the meaning of words.

Row O Notes

• The o sound does not exist in American English, but it is in British English. It is the back rounded vowel that you hear when British people say "more" or "scorn". If you listen carefully to a British speaker, you'll notice they do not pronounce the "r" in these words. It is the quality of the "o" vowel that makes them unique to American speakers' ears.

Row Eu Notes

• The eui sound does not exist in English either but like the yu it's just a case of rounding the lips. Start by saying the e sound in "bet" and--without changing anything else!--round your lips. Note that this sound is a fusion of eu and yu, but "euyu" would look awkward.
• The final eung has a faint r sound riding on the vowel, so the number two would be pronounced somewhat like "leurng".

Row Yu Notes

• The yu sound does not exist in English but it is not hard to produce. Start by saying a long i as in "see" and--without changing anything else!--round your lips. It's a common sound in French so "think French" if you have to.

Mandarin Equivalents

Mandarin Tones

1. Mandarin tone 1 is like Cantonese tone 1
2. Mandarin tone 2 is like Cantonese tone 2

Mandarin Initials

	1 Unaspirated	2 Aspirated	3	4	5
1	b	p	m	f
2	d	t	n		l
3	z = j	c = ch		s
4
5
6	g	k		h

• Note: Row 4 Retroflexes - zh, ch, sh, r, and Row 5 Palatals - j, qī, xī have no Cantonese equivalent. Also Cantonese initials - ng, y, w, gw, and kw have no Mandarin equivalents.

Mandarin Finals

Row a		a=aa		ai=aai	ei	ao=o	ou	an=eun	en=an		eng=ang	ong	er=eu
Row i (y)	i(yi)=i								in		ing
Row u (w)	u(wu)=u
Row ü (yu)	ü(yu)=yu								ün=yun

• Cantonese finals m and ng have no Mandarin equivalent.

Row aa Notes

• Cantonese finals aau, aam, aan, aang, aap, aat, and aak have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row a Notes

• Mandarin finals -i, e, and ang have no Cantonese equivalents.
• Cantonese finals ai, au, am, ap, at, and ak have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row e Notes

• Cantonese finals e, em, eng, and ek have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row i Notes

• Mandarin finals ia, ie, iao, iu, ian, iang, and iong have no Cantonese equivalents.
• Cantonese finals iu, im, ip, it, and ik have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row o Notes

• Cantonese finals oi, on, ot, and ok have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row u Notes

• Cantonese finals ui, un, ung, ut, and uk have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row eu Notes

• Cantonese finals eung, euk, eui, and eut have no Mandarin equivalents.

Row ü Notes

• Mandarin finals üe and üan have no Cantonese equivalents.
• Cantonese final yut has no Mandarin equivalent.