Cantonese Pinyin (, also known as ) is a

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

system for

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

developed by the Rev. Yu Ping Chiu (余秉昭) in 1971, and subsequently modified by the Education Department (merged into the

Education and Manpower Bureau The Education Bureau (EDB) is responsible for formulating and implementing education policies in Hong Kong. The bureau is headed by the Secretary for Education and oversees agencies including University Grants Committee and Student Fina ...

since 2003) of Hong Kong and Prof. Zhan Bohui (詹伯慧) of the Chinese Dialects Research Centre of the Jinan University, Guangdong, PRC, and honorary professor of the School of Chinese, University of Hong Kong. It is the only romanization system accepted by

of Hong Kong and

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), previously known as the Hong Kong Examinations Authority (HKEA) before 2002, is a statutory body of the Hong Kong Government responsible for the administration of public examination ...

. The formal and short forms of the system's Chinese names mean respectively "the ''Cantonese Pronunciation list of Chinese Characters in Common Use'' romanization system" and "the romanization system of the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau".

Pinyin

The Cantonese Pinyin system directly corresponds to the S. L. Wong system, an

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...

-based phonemic transcription system used in ''

A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton ''A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton'' () is a book written by Wong Shik-Ling () within a few years before being published in Hong Kong, 1941. It is one of the most influential books on the research of Cantonese pro ...

'' by

Wong Shik Ling Wong Shik-Ling (also known as S. L. Wong) (1908–1959) was a prominent scholar in Cantonese research. He is famous for his authoritative book, '' A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton'' (), which is influential in Can ...

. Generally, if an IPA symbol is also an English letter, the same symbol is used directly in the Romanization (with the exception of the IPA symbol "a"); and if the IPA symbol is not an English letter, it is Romanized using English letters. Thus, →aa, →a, →e, →o, →oe, →ng. This results in a system which is both easy to learn and type but is still useful for academics. In the following table, the first row inside a cell shows the Cantonese Pinyin, the second row shows a representative "narrow transcription" in IPA, while the third row shows the corresponding IPA "broad transcription" using the S. L. Wong system.

Initials

Finals

* The finals ''m'' and ''ng'' can only be used as standalone nasal syllables.

Tones

The system recognises nine tones in six distinct

tone contour A tone contour, or contour tone, is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Nilo-Saharan languages, Khois ...

Comparison with Yale Romanization

Cantonese Pinyin and the Yale Romanization system represent Cantonese pronunciations with these same letters: * The

initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...

s: ''b'', ''p'', ''m'', ''f'', ''d'', ''t'', ''n'', ''l'', ''g'', ''k'', ''ng'', ''h'', ''s'', ''gw'', ''kw'', ''w''. * The

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

s: ''aa'' (except when used alone), ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. * The

nasal stop In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majorit ...

s: ''m'', ''ng''. * The

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

s: ''i'' (except for being the

in Yale), ''u'', ''m'', ''n'', ''ng'', ''p'', ''t'', ''k''. But they have these differences: * The

s ''oe'' represent and in Cantonese Pinyin while the ''eu'' represents both vowels in Yale. * The vowel ''y'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while both ''yu'' (used in

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucle ...

) and ''i'' (used in

) are used in Yale. * The

''j'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while ''y'' is used instead in Yale. * The initial ''dz'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while ''j'' is used instead in Yale. * The initial ''ts'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while ''ch'' is used instead in Yale. * In Cantonese Pinyin, if no

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

precedes the vowel ''y'', then the initial ''j'' is appended before the vowel. In Yale, the corresponding initial ''y'' is never appended before ''yu'' under any circumstances. * Some new

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

s can be written in Cantonese Pinyin that are not contained in Yale Romanization schemes, such as: ''eu'' , ''em'' , and ''ep'' . These three finals are used in colloquial Cantonese words, such as ''deu6'' (掉), ''lem2'' (舐), and ''gep9'' (夾). * To represent tones, only tone numbers are used in Cantonese Pinyin while Yale originally used tone marks together with the letter ''h'' (though tone numbers can be used in Yale as well).

Comparison with Jyutping

Cantonese Pinyin and

Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates for ...

represent Cantonese pronunciations with these same letters: * The

s: ''b'', ''p'', ''m'', ''f'', ''d'', ''t'', ''n'', ''l'', ''g'', ''k'', ''ng'', ''h'', ''s'', ''gw'', ''kw'', ''j'', ''w''. * The

s: ''aa'', ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. * The

s: ''m'', ''ng''. * The codas: ''i'' (except for being the

in Jyutping), ''u'', ''m'', ''n'', ''ng'', ''p'', ''t'', ''k''. But they have these differences: * The

s ''oe'' represent and in Cantonese Pinyin while ''eo'' and ''oe'' represent and respectively in Jyutping. * The vowel ''y'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while both ''yu'' (used in

) and ''i'' (used in

) are used in Jyutping. * The initial ''dz'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while ''z'' is used instead in Jyutping. * The initial ''ts'' represents in Cantonese Pinyin while ''c'' is used instead in Jyutping. * To represent tones, numbers 1 to 9 are usually used in Cantonese Pinyin, although to use 1, 3, 6 to replace 7, 8, 9 is acceptable. However, only numbers 1 to 6 are used in Jyutping.

Examples

An old Chinese poem:

References

External links

Website of Standard Chinese in Hong Kong
Cantonese romanisation Languages of Hong Kong Pinyin