Sidney Lau romanisation

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Sidney Lau romanisation is a system of romanisation for Cantonese that was developed in the 1970s by Sidney Lau for teaching Cantonese to Hong Kong Government expatriates. It is based on the Hong Kong Government's Standard Romanisation which was the result of the work of James D. Ball and Ernst J. Eitel about a century earlier.

Contents

Innovation

Lau's romanisation indicates tonality with superscript numbers, so no diacritics are required. [1] His system was a plain attempt at simplification which proved popular with western learners of Cantonese as a second language and was initially the system of romanisation adopted by the University of Hong Kong. [2] However, the university now employs the Jyutping system for its Cantonese courses. [3]

Initials

b
/p/
p
/pʰ/
m
/m/
f
/f/
d
/t/
t
/tʰ/
n
/n/
l
/l/
g
/k/
k
/kʰ/
ng
/ŋ/
h
/h/
gw
/kʷ/
kw
/kʷʰ/
w
/w/
j
/ts/
ch
/tsʰ/
s
/s/
y
/j/

Finals

In his system, Lau treats /ɵ/ and /o/ as allophones of one phoneme represented with "u", while they are often respectively regarded as allophones of /œ:/ and /u:/ in other systems. [4]

Coda
/i//u//m//n//ŋ//p̚//t̚//k̚/
Vowel/aː/a
/aː/
aai
/aːi̯/
aau
/aːu̯/
aam
/aːm/
aan
/aːn/
aang
/aːŋ/
aap
/aːp̚/
aat
/aːt̚/
aak
/aːk̚/
/ɐ/ ai
/ɐi̯/
西
au
/ɐu̯/
am
/ɐm/
an
/ɐn/
ang
/ɐŋ/
ap
/ɐp̚/
at
/ɐt̚/
ak
/ɐk̚/
/ɛː/
/e/
e
/ɛː/
ei
/ei̯/
   eng
/ɛːŋ/
  ek
/ɛːk̚/
/iː/i
/iː/
 iu
/iːu̯/
im
/iːm/
in
/iːn/
ing
/eŋ/
ip
/iːp̚/
it
/iːt̚/
ik
/ek̚/
/ɔː/oh
/ɔː/
oi
/ɔːy̯/
o
/ou̯/
 on
/ɔːn/
ong
/ɔːŋ/
 ot
/ɔːt̚/
ok
/ɔːk̚/
/uː/oo
/uː/
ooi
/uːy̯/
  oon
/uːn/
  oot
/uːt̚/
 
/ɵ/
/ʊ/
 ui
/ɵy̯/
  un
/ɵn/
ung
/ʊŋ/
 ut
/ɵt̚/
uk
/ʊk̚/
/œː/euh
/œː/
    eung
/œːŋ/
  euk
/œːk̚/
/yː/ue
/yː/
   uen
/yːn/
  uet
/yːt̚/
 
   m
/m̩/
 ng
/ŋ̩/
   

Tones

Tone symbolTone descriptionExample
RomanizationWordMeaning
1° or N°high flatsipoem
ga1 je家姐elder sister
1high fallingtim1final particle expressing

the idea of addition or regret.

2 or N*mid risingsi2history
dik1 si6*的士taxi
3mid flatsi3try
4low fallingsi4time
5low risingsi5city
6low flatsi6is

1° indicates the high flat tone. If ° appears after any other tones, it signifies a changed tone and that the word is to be pronounced as 1°, but 1° is not the original/normal tone of the word. Similar to °, if * appears after any tones apart from tone 2, it indicates that the word is to be pronounced as tone 2, but tone 2 is not the original/normal tone of the word. [5]

See also

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References

  1. "Pronunciation Guide – Initials". Sidney Lau. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  2. Kataoka, Shin; Lee, Cream (2008). "A System without a System: Cantonese Romanization Used in Hong Kong Place and Personal Names". Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics. 11. Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  3. "Certificate in Chinese Language courses for foreign students". School of Chinese. University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  4. "Pronunciation Guide – Finals". Sidney Lau. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  5. "Pronunciation Guide – Tones". Sidney Lau. Retrieved 3 April 2017.