The nasal consonants [m], [n] and [ŋ] in finals can be written as:
| International phonetic alphabet |
[m] |
[n] |
[ŋ] |
| S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol) |
[m] |
[n] |
[ŋ] |
| S. L. Wong (romanisation) |
m |
n |
ng |
Some vowel phonemes can followed by nasal consonants -m, -n or -ng to form 17 nasal phoneme finals:
|
aa |
a |
ei |
e |
i |
ou |
o |
eu |
u |
ue |
| -m |
aam |
am |
|
|
im |
|
|
|
|
|
| -n |
aan |
an |
|
|
in |
|
on |
eun |
un |
uen |
| -ng |
aang |
ang |
|
eng |
ing |
|
ong |
eung |
ung |
|
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal phoneme finals.
Plosive phoneme finals [編輯]
The plosive final can be written [p], [t] and [k] as:
| International phonetic alphabet |
[p] |
[t] |
[k] |
| S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol) |
[p] |
[t] |
[k] |
| S. L. Wong (romanisation) |
p |
t |
k |
Some vowel phonemes can followed by inaspirated plosive consonants -p, -t or -k to form 17 plosive phoneme finals:
|
aa |
a |
ei |
e |
i |
ou |
o |
eu |
u |
ue |
| -p |
aap |
ap |
|
|
ip |
|
|
|
|
|
| -t |
aat |
at |
|
|
it |
|
ot |
eut |
ut |
uet |
| -k |
aak |
ak |
|
ek |
ik |
|
ok |
euk |
uk |
|
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Plosive phoneme finals.
Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals [編輯]
For the nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals
[m] and [ŋ] in voiced form [m̩] and [ŋ̩] are also 2 finals in Cantonese.
| International phonetic alphabet |
[m̩] |
[ŋ̩] |
| S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol) |
[m̩] |
[ŋ̩] |
| S. L. Wong (romanisation) |
m |
ng |
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Nasal consonantoids fully voiced finals.
Initials [編輯]
Initials are made up of consonants. Most of characters are preceding finals with initials while some characters are pronounced without initials. There are 19 initials in total.
| International phonetic alphabet |
[m] |
[n] |
[ŋ̩] |
[p] |
[t] |
[k] |
[kʷ] |
[pʰ] |
[tʰ] |
[kʰ] |
[kʷʰ] |
[ts] |
[tsʰ] |
[f] |
[s] |
[h] |
[j] |
[w] |
[l] |
| S. L. Wong (phonetic symbol) |
[m] |
[n] |
[ŋ̩] |
[b] |
[d] |
[g] |
[gw] |
[p] |
[t] |
[k] |
[kw] |
[dz] |
[ts] |
[f] |
[s] |
[h] |
[j] |
[w] |
[l] |
| S. L. Wong (romanisation) |
m |
n |
ng |
b |
d |
g |
gw |
p |
t |
k |
kw |
dz |
ts |
f |
s |
h |
y |
w |
l |
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Initials.
Tones [編輯]
There are basically 9 tones in Standard Cantonese. Tones play an important role to distinguish meanings in Cantonese. Tones also forms melodies in poem and prose composition.
There are two ways to mark tones in the scheme. One is by number and another by marks.
It is hard to type the tones by typewriters. It therefore simply uses the one in the phonetic symbols for reference.
|
level |
rising |
going |
entering |
| upper |
ˈx (1) |
|
|
ˈx (7) |
upper |
|
ˊx (2) |
ˉx (3) |
ˉx (8) |
middle |
| lower |
|
ˏx (5) |
ˍx (6 |
ˍx (9) |
lower |
| ˌx (4) |
|
|
|
For detail explanation of the phonetic system, see S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)#Tones.