Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/94

 the other dialects belonging to the Cantonese family of dialects, such for example as in the San Ning, yet there are more than in some of the others, as for example in the Tung Kwún. The following are the principal changes in the Höng Shán:&mdash;ch in Cantonese becomes almost always ts except before e, í, ö, and ü. It may at first sight be thought 正 cheng and 秤 ch'eng (in Höng Shán tsang and ts'ang) are exceptions to these exceptions; but it will be noticed that the e (or rather i, it being ching in the book language) becomes a short a; and that in the second word in Cantonese it is a short i. Again 黜 chut retains the ch in Höng Shán, because the u in Cantonese is turned into the French ü, in the Höng Shán.

It can readily be understood that there is considerable difficulty at times in distinguishing whether the letters are ts or ch. The writer of the Introduction to the 'Chinese Chrestomathy' (p. X) also seems to have experienced something of the same nature as he says:&mdash; As far as the present writer is informed, these remarks appear to be erroneous. The sound is ts and not tch, and sz is not pronounced chú but sí. It is just possible that there may be some variant of the Höng Shán in which these words are so pronounced; but the present writer is informed that such is not the case. In listening attentively to a speaker, it seems as if he veered between ch and ts, sometimes pronouncing the one and sometimes the other. Perhaps the speech of those from the country who have never heard any other dialect but their own, might give more certain and reliable results; for it is well known the Chinese as a rule are not able to distinguish clearly between these two sounds, so that residence amongst speakers who pronounce them in a slightly different way is apt, unknown almost to themselves, to lead them occasionally perhaps to pronounce the words like those they are living amongst, when especially in their everyday talk with those around them they give up their own speech and adopt the speech of those amongst whom they live. As far as the writer can gather the ts sound seems to predominate in the Höng Shán dialect; but thus ts does not appear to have such an explodent force as from Cantonese lips&mdash;in short it appears to be softer somewhat than the Cantonese ts. There seems often to one who is listening very little distinction between ts and ch: they sometimes appear to approach as near to each other as it is almost possible to do. It is just possible, of course, that there may be a wavering between the two, though this is scarcely likely.

H takes the place of the initial f in Cantonese before u and ú as a general rule, there being some exceptions. Initial f before ok and on is sometimes replaced by k'  in Höng Shán. Initial h is generally the same, but words in hak with perhaps one exception become h'ak, and other words occasionally take a k or k' . Exception:&mdash;愷 ôí, h replaces the semi-vowel initial y that appears in some pure Cantonese words.

Initial k is always the same. Exception 嬀 waí. Kw:&mdash;with regard to the w after k&mdash;it is dropped throughout the Höng Shán district; and the district city of Shek-k'éí was no exception to the general rule until the students attending the literary examinations in Canton began to despise their own provincialisms, and approximated in this respect to the standard of pure Cantonese, as represented in the provincial capital: so that in the city of Shek-k'éí both pronunciations are in use. The initials l, m, n, ng, and p are the same in Cantonese and Höng Shán as a general rule; but ng is more common in Höng Shán, as it forms the first letters in some words in which it does not appear in pure Cantonese, being prefixed to