{"id":675,"date":"2020-03-09T02:47:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T02:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/?page_id=675"},"modified":"2022-08-19T04:17:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T04:17:57","slug":"pronunciation-of-hong-kong-english","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/pronunciation-of-hong-kong-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronunciation of Hong Kong English"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Part 1. Consonants<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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According to Table 1, phonemes in English that are not found in Cantonese include the following 14 consonants: \/b\/, \/d\/, \/g\/, \/v\/, \/s\/, \/z\/, \/\u0283\/, \/\u0292\/, \/r\/, \/w\/, \/\u02a7\/, \/\u02a4\/, \/\u00f0\/, and \/\u03b8\/, but as \/b\/, \/d\/, \/g\/, \/s\/, \/\u02a7\/, \/\u02a4\/and \/w\/ have similar counterparts in Cantonese, they do not cause too much trouble for Cantonese speakers.<\/p>\n

Table\u00a01.\u00a0Chart of English and Cantonese\u00a0consonant phonemes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The following seven English consonants DO NOT exist in Cantonese and DO NOT have similar counterparts in Cantonese, therefore, present some problems for Cantonese ESL learners.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Table 2. English consonants that do not exist in Cantonese<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The English \/t\u0283\/ & \/d\u0292\/ are similar to the Cantonese sounds [ts] & [dz]. The English \/t\u0283\/ & \/d\u0292\/ are palato-alveolar, the former is voiceless and the latter is voiced. But the Cantonese [ts] & [dz] are alveolar (i.e. the place of articulation is more fronted), and both are voiceless. Cantonese ESL learners tend to replace \/t\u0283\/ & \/d\u0292\/ by [ts] & [dz] respectively, for example:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u00a0 \u707d \"disaster\"<\/b>\u00a0[dz<\/u><\/strong>\u0254\u026a] vs\u00a0 j<\/u>oy\u00a0\/d<\/strong>\u0292<\/strong>\u0254\u026a\/<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • \u00a0 \u4fc3 \"facilitate\"<\/strong>\u00a0[ts<\/u><\/strong>uk] vs ch<\/u>oke <\/strong>\/t\u0283<\/strong>\u0259\u028ak\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \/\u014b\/ exists in both English and Cantonese. In Cantonese the sound can occur at both the initial or final position of a word, but in English the sound can only occur at the final position of a syllable.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • English \u2013 \/\u014b\/ at the final position e.g. sing<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/s\u026a\u014b\/;\u00a0hang<\/u>ing<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/h\u00e6\u014b\u026a\u014b\/<\/li>\n
    • Cantonese \u2013 \/\u014b\/ at the initial position e.g.\u00a0<\/strong>\u6211<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[\u014bo];\u00a0\u725b<\/strong> [\u014bau]<\/li>\n
    • Cantonese - \/\u014b\/ at the final position e.g. \u884c<\/strong>\u00a0[ha\u014b]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      However, many Cantonese speakers tend to mispronounce the final Cantonese \/\u014b\/ as \/n\/ \u2192 compare \u81ea\u7531\u884c<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[ha\u014b]\u00a0&\u81ea\u7531\u75d5<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[han<\/u><\/strong>],\u00a0\u670b<\/u><\/strong>\u53cb<\/strong>\u00a0[<\/strong>pa\u014b] &\u00a0\u8ca7<\/u><\/strong>\u53cb<\/strong>[<\/strong>pan<\/u><\/strong>].<\/p>\n

      \/n\/ also exists in both English and Cantonese. However, many Cantonese speakers tend to replace \/n\/ with \/l\/ e.g. there is often an unclear distinction between:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • \u7537<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u5357<\/strong>\u00a0[n<\/u><\/strong>aam]\u00a0 vs \u85cd<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u5a6a<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[l<\/u><\/strong>aam]<\/li>\n
      • \u4f60<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u5c3c<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[n<\/u><\/strong>ei] vs \u674e<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u68a8<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>[l<\/u><\/strong>ei]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        This unclear distinction between \/n\/ & \/l\/ can also be found when Cantonese ESL learners speak English, for example: I\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t low<\/strong> (I don\u2019t \u6488) \/l<\/u><\/strong>\u0259\u028a<\/u><\/strong>\/ vs\u00a0 kn<\/u>ow\u00a0<\/strong>\/n<\/u><\/strong>\u0259\u028a<\/u><\/strong>\/.<\/p>\n

        Voicing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

        In English, the consonants \/b d g\/ are voiced. These sounds also exist in Cantonese but they are not voiced. In English, the main distinctions between \/p\/ & \/b\/ are voicing<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0aspiration<\/em>, but in Cantonese, [p] & [b] mainly differ in\u00a0aspiration<\/em>, both sounds are voiceless. This difference leads to a tendency in many Cantonese ESL learners to have weak voicing for voiced English consonants, for example:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • d<\/u>uck<\/strong>\u00a0\/d\u028ck\/ becomes\u00a0\u5f97 <\/strong>[dak]<\/li>\n
        • b<\/u><\/strong>ut<\/strong>\u00a0\/b\u028ct\/ becomes\u00a0\u62d4 <\/strong>[bat]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Final consonants<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

          There are 6 final consonants in Cantonese \u2013\u7d66 [p]; \u5225 [t]; \u9678 [k]; \u5fc3 [m]; \u9673 [n]; \u5f35 [\u014b].<\/p>\n

          It is important to note that in Cantonese, final plosives [p]; [t]; [d] are\u00a0NOT RELEASED<\/strong>. For example, to say the word \u7d66 [kap], the lips are closed at the end, ready to produce the final plosive [p], but the lips are not opened again and there is no release of air, as in the case of English plosives. Similarly, to say the words \u5225 [bit] and \u9678 [luk], there is no release of air when [t] and [k] are produced.<\/p>\n

          Many Cantonese ESL learners tend to carry this habit to their pronunciation of English words, and the final consonants are often deleted. However, this loss of final consonants in English can cause misunderstandings. For example, the following words will have the same sounds if the final consonants are deleted.<\/p>\n

            \n
          • Deletion of the final \/p\/ in\u00a0help<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/help<\/u><\/strong>\/ will change the word to \/hel\/\u00a0hell<\/strong><\/li>\n
          • Deletion of the final \/l\/ in\u00a0tool<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/tu:l<\/u><\/strong>\/ will change the word to \/tu:\/\u00a0too\/two<\/strong><\/li>\n
          • If the final consonants of the following words are deleted, they will become indistinguishable \u2013 dog<\/u><\/strong> \/d\u0252\u0261\/;\u00a0dot<\/strong> \/d\u0252t<\/u><\/strong>\/;\u00a0doc<\/strong> \/d\u0252k<\/u><\/strong>\/ \u2192 \/d\u0252\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Another common problem is just the opposite \u2013 instead of dropping the final consonants, some speakers may over-emphasise the final consonant, resulting in addition of unnecessary sounds (epenthesis<\/em>), for example:<\/p>\n

              \n
            • \u00a0orange\u00a0<\/strong>\/\u02c8\u0252r\u026and\u0292\/ becomes \/\u02c8\u0252r\u026and\u0292ju\/<\/li>\n
            • girl\u00a0<\/strong>\/g\u025c\u02d0l\/\u00a0<\/strong>becomes \/g\u025c\u02d0l\u0259\u028a\/<\/li>\n
            • miss\u00a0<\/strong>\/m\u026as\/\u00a0<\/strong>becomes \/m\u026a\u02c8si:\/<\/li>\n
            • fax\u00a0<\/strong>\/f\u00e6ks\/\u00a0<\/strong>becomes \/f\u00e6k\u02c8si:\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Consonant clusters (Blend)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

              Consonant clusters are very common in English. They can be at the initial<\/em>,\u00a0medial<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0final<\/em> positions of a word, and they can consist of a cluster of two or more consonants:<\/p>\n

              e.g. pl<\/u>ay\u00a0<\/strong>\/pl<\/u><\/strong>e\u026a\/;\u00a0str<\/u>ing\u00a0<\/strong>\/str<\/u><\/strong>\u026a<\/u><\/strong>\u014b<\/u><\/strong>\/;\u00a0handb<\/u>ag\u00a0<\/strong>\/h\u00e6ndb<\/u><\/strong>\u00e6g\/;\u00a0last<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/l\u0251\u02d0st<\/u><\/strong>\/;\u00a0text<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/tekst<\/u><\/strong>\/.\u00a0 The word\u00a0texts<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\/teksts<\/u><\/strong>\/ has a final blend of four consonants!<\/p>\n

              However, in Cantonese there are no consonant clusters. Some people may take the initial sounds of \u570b; \u679c [gw] and \u8475; \u8a87 [kw] as initial consonant clusters. But most people will regard them as consonant digraphs rather than consonant clusters.<\/p>\n

              Because of this lack of consonant clusters in Cantonese, many Cantonese ESL learners find pronunciation of English consonant clusters to be a great challenge. They tend to simplify the consonant clusters by dropping a consonant sound in the cluster, for example:<\/p>\n

                \n
              • I have a\u00a0Jim<\/strong>\u00a0\/\u00a0gym<\/strong>. \/d\u0292\u026am\/ vs dr<\/u>eam\u00a0<\/strong>\/dr<\/u><\/strong>i:m\/<\/li>\n
              • One, two, fee<\/strong>\u2026 go! \/f<\/u><\/strong>i:\/ vs thr<\/u>ee\u00a0<\/strong>\/\u03b8r<\/u><\/strong>i:\/<\/li>\n
              • I like to\u00a0pay<\/strong> football. \/p<\/u><\/strong>e\u026a\/ vs pl<\/u>ay\u00a0<\/strong>\/pl<\/u><\/strong>e\u026a\/<\/li>\n
              • This is my girl\u00a0fan<\/strong>. \/f\u00e6<\/u><\/strong>n\/ vs fr<\/u>iend\u00a0<\/strong>\/fr<\/u><\/strong>end\/<\/li>\n
              • Women are so\u00a0\u67e5\u7172<\/strong>.\u00a0[ts<\/u><\/strong>a bou] vs tr<\/u>ouble\u00a0<\/strong>\/tr<\/u>\u028c<\/u>bl\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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                Part 2. Vowels and Diphthongs<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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                Since there are no distinctive length contrasts in Cantonese words, e.g. \u5225 [bit]; \u6d3b [wut]; \u843d [lok], many Cantonese learners fail to distinguish between the following long and short vowel pairs in English:<\/p>\n

                  \n
                • \/\u026a\/ and \/i\u02d0\/ e.g. Please si<\/u>t<\/strong>\u00a0in this\u00a0sea<\/u>t<\/strong>. \/s\u026a<\/strong>t\/ vs \/si:<\/u><\/strong>t\/<\/li>\n
                • \/\u028a\/ and \/u\u02d0\/ e.g. They pu<\/u>ll\u00a0<\/strong>me to the swimming\u00a0poo<\/u>l<\/strong>. \/p\u028a<\/strong>l\/ vs \/pu:<\/u><\/strong>l\/<\/li>\n
                • \/\u0252\/ and \/\u0254\u02d0\/ e.g. He sho<\/u>t<\/strong>\u00a0from a\u00a0shor<\/u>t<\/strong> distance. \/\u0283\u0252<\/u><\/strong>t\/ vs \/\u0283\u0254<\/u><\/strong>\u02d0<\/u><\/strong>t\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  There are also some cases of confusion of when the vowel digraph \"oo\" is \/\u028a\/, and when it is \/u:\/, e.g. good \/g\u028ad\/ vs food \/fu:d\/, foot \/f\u028at\/ vs boot \/bu:t\/.<\/p>\n

                  Many Cantonese learners find it difficult to distinguish between \/\u00e6\/ and \/e\/. \u00a0Many tend to substitute \/e\/ for \/\u00e6\/, e.g.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  • \u00a0ma<\/u>n<\/strong> \/m\u00e6n\/ vs me<\/u>n<\/strong>\u00a0\/me<\/u><\/strong>n\/<\/li>\n
                  • \u00a0fa<\/u>n<\/strong> \/f\u00e6n\/ vs frie<\/u>nd<\/strong>\u00a0\/fre<\/u><\/strong>nd\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Some Cantonese learners may confuse \/\u025c\u02d0\/ with \/\u0254\u02d0\/.\u00a0 The following are two authentic examples that had caused misunderstanding:<\/p>\n

                    A student wanted to apply for a day of leave, he told his lecturer:<\/em><\/p>\n

                      \n
                    • I need to go to Wanchai to\u00a0\/<\/strong>w\u0254\u02d0k\/ (walk for work<\/strong>).<\/li>\n
                    • After a meeting, a clerk told her boss:<\/em><\/li>\n
                    • A\u00a0\/<\/strong>w\u0254\u02d0km\u0259n\/ (walkman for workman\u00a0<\/strong>) is waiting for you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                      Probably due to the influence of the Chinese words \u8033\/\u91ab [ji], many Cantonese learners tend to insert \/j\/ before words that start with the vowels \/\u026a\/ and \/i:\/, e.g.<\/p>\n

                        \n
                      • ea<\/u>r<\/strong> \/\u026a\u0259<\/span><\/strong>\/ becomes \/j<\/u><\/strong>\u026a<\/u><\/strong>\u0259<\/u><\/strong>\/ (yea<\/u>r<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
                      • ea<\/u>st<\/strong>\u00a0\/i:<\/u><\/strong>st\/ becomes \/ji:<\/u><\/strong>st\/ (yea<\/u>st<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
                      • \u4e8cE<\/u><\/strong>\u73ed \/i:<\/u><\/strong>\/ becomes \/ji:<\/u><\/strong>\/ (\u4e8c\u91ab<\/u><\/strong>\u73ed)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        Cantonese learners tend to replace the diphthong \/\u0254\u026a\/ with a similar shorter vowel \/\u0252\/, e.g.<\/p>\n

                          \n
                        • joi<\/u>n<\/strong> \/d\u0292\u0254\u026a<\/strong><\/span>n\/ vs\u00a0Jo<\/u>hn\u00a0<\/strong>\/d\u0292\u0252<\/u>n\/<\/li>\n
                        • poi<\/u>nt<\/strong>\u00a0\/p\u0254\u026a<\/u><\/strong>nt\/ vs po<\/u>nd<\/strong> \/p\u0252<\/span>nd\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                          Cantonese learners often have problems with the diphthong \/e\u026a\/, especially when it is followed by a nasal \/m\/, \/n\/ or a lateral \/l\/, e.g.<\/p>\n

                            \n
                          • na<\/u>me\u00a0<\/strong>\/ne<\/u><\/strong>\u026a<\/u><\/strong>m\/ often becomes \/n\u00e6<\/strong><\/span>m\/ (na<\/u>m<\/strong>), or even \/l\u00e6<\/span><\/strong>m\/ (la<\/u>m \/\u00a0la<\/u>mb<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
                          • clai<\/u>m\u00a0<\/strong>\/kle<\/u><\/strong>\u026a<\/u><\/strong>m\/ often becomes \/kl\u00e6<\/strong>m\/ (cla<\/u>m<\/strong>), or even \/k\u00e6<\/span><\/strong>m\/ (ca<\/u>m<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
                          • fai<\/u>l\u00a0<\/strong>\/fe\u026a<\/u><\/strong>l\/ often becomes \/fe<\/u><\/strong>l\/ (fe<\/u>ll<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                            English diphthongs \/a\u028a\/, \/a\u026a\/, \/e\u026a\/ exist in Cantonese but tend to be pronounced with quicker and smaller lip and jaw movements.\u00a0 Influenced by their L1 (first language), many Cantonese learners tend to have problems with the following words:<\/p>\n

                              \n
                            • sou<\/u>nd\u00a0<\/strong>\/sa\u028a<\/strong><\/span>nd\/ often becomes\u00a0\u751f<\/strong>\u00a0[sa\u014b]<\/li>\n
                            • ti<\/u>metable<\/strong>\u00a0\/ta\u026a<\/strong><\/span>m\/ often becomes\u00a0\u8caa<\/strong>table<\/strong>\u00a0[tam]<\/li>\n
                            • e-mai<\/u>l<\/strong>\u00a0\/me\u026a<\/strong><\/span>l\/ often becomes\u00a0e-<\/strong>\u8c93<\/strong>\u00a0[mau]<\/li>\n
                            • a birthday ca<\/u>ke<\/strong>\u00a0\/ke\u026a<\/strong><\/span>k\/ turns to be\u00a0a birthday kick<\/strong>\u00a0\/k\u026ak\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                               <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

                              Hits: 22920<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                              Part 1. Consonants According to Table 1, phonemes in English that are not found in Cantonese include the following 14 consonants: \/b\/, \/d\/, \/g\/, \/v\/, \/s\/, \/z\/, \/\u0283\/, \/\u0292\/, \/r\/, \/w\/, \/\u02a7\/, \/\u02a4\/, \/\u00f0\/, and \/\u03b8\/, but as \/b\/, \/d\/,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2528,"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675\/revisions\/2528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpus.eduhk.hk\/english_pronunciation\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}