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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Transliteration of Cantonese
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References: <5fr5r4$8pk@reader.seed.net.tw> <7flo7t8phy.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk> <5gaedu$d1v@portal.gmu.edu> <7f67yr3cih.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 19:50:04 GMT
Lines: 56

In article <7f67yr3cih.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>,
Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} <sdlee@cs.hku.hk> wrote:
>>>>>> "Ryan" == Ryan M Rafferty <rraffer1@osf1.gmu.edu> writes:
>
>
>    Ryan> I have tried to figure out the difference between the long
>    Ryan> and short "a" of Cantonese, but I still can't seem to get it
>    Ryan> right.  Can someone give me a quick lesson in how to
>    Ryan> pronounce "a" versus "aa" for an American English speaker?
>
>I'm not familiar with US pronunciations of English.  But I suppose you
>pronounce  "cart"  with a  long vowel and  "cut"  with a  short vowel.
>They're close to the long "aa" and short "a" in Cantonese.

For British speakers, that is.  Cantonese [a:] has none of the
"r-colouring" that an American English speaker (outside of the limited
non-rhotic areas in New England and the American South) would give the <a>
in <cart>.  A better example, for those for whom "cot" and "caught" are
not homophonous, is "cut" vs. "cot".  "fudder" vs. "father" works as a
near-minimal pair.

>If you know German, try also "Bahn"  vs. "Band" and not the difference
>in vowel length.

The vowel length distinction in German is being discarded in regards to
/a/ by an increasing number of younger speakers.  For them, "Bahn" and
"Bann" are no longer distinguished.

>In Cantonese, the  short "a" must be followed  by another  vowel (in a
>diphthong) or a syllabic-final consonant.  In either  case, the "a" is
>pronounced for a  very short duration, and the  remaining  time of the
>syllable is filled by the final consonant or the second vowel.
>
>For instance, to pronounce  "an", you pronounce "a"  for a  very short
>time  (of  less than  1/2  of the  total   syllable length), and  then
>pronounce  "n"  for the remaining   time.    To pronounce  "aan",  you
>pronounce  the "aa" sound for over  half of the  length of time of the
>syllable, followed by a shorter "n" for the remaining time.
>
>Pictorially,
>
>         <---syllable-->
>"an" :   aaaaannnnnnnnnn
>"aan":   aaaaaaaaaannnnn
>
>         Time-->   (Not to scale)

What the Cantonese hear as a length distinction (short vs. long),
Americans hear as a quality distinction (central vs. back).  I imagine the
actual phonetic distinction is a combination of the two, but I haven't the
data to support this.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
