Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/95

 some words where the semi-vowel y takes their place in Cantonese.

As a general rule initial s appears in the same words in Höng Shán that it does in Cantonese; but it is more common as an initial in Höng Shán, as the initials sh are never found in Höng Shán, the h being dropped and simple s remaining. T initial is the same as in Cantonese, and ts also as a general rule, the exception being ts before ü when it becomes ch. A similar change takes place in some words with the spelling tsöü and ts'öü.

Initial w is generally the same but wú drops the w, or becomes fú, or hú, or kú. Wúí becomes huöü, or úöü, or, while drops the w or becomes hún, hün, kún, or k'ún, and finally wút becomes út. Y as an initial is dropped before í, or ng is put in its place, or occasionally h, or k' . In Shek-k'éí, there is a slight tendency, in two or three cases to retain the y. A syllable unknown in Cantonese, viz. yôi, occurs in the Höng Shán dialect. Another peculiarity of the Höng Shán dialect, viz.,&mdash;the use of ng or h in many cases where in Cantonese the semi-vowel y only appears as an initial, is noticed by Dr. Williams in the Introduction to 'the Tonic Dictionary,' p. XX, as follows:&mdash; The writer of the Introduction to the 'Chinese Chrestomathy' (p. X.) also notices this in the following words:&mdash;

As regards the final consonants:&mdash;The final consonants are the same as in Cantonese with the exception of z (used only in Cantonese in the words ) which is invariably changed into the long vowel.

Vowels.

It will usually be found that the length and shortness of the vowels are the same in Höng Shán as in Cantonese when the vowels themselves are the same in these two dialects. The vowels and diphthongs a, áí, aú and áú are retained in the Höng Shán words, where they occur in the same words in Cantonese, as a general rule. Exception k'yéú for k'aú.

The short e is also the same. Exception, pí (or ) for pe.

In the change of the diphthong éí into the long í occurs one of the most characteristic of the Höng Shán sounds, nor is it confined to Höng Shán alone. And again another of the equally or even more characteristic sounds of this dialect is heard in the short a which supersedes the short when it is followed by k or ng. Exceptions 名 and 命 meëng and 聲, 城, and 成 which are either sang or seng. Long í is the same in both Cantonese and Höng Shán.

O and ò are the same in both Cantonese and Höng Shán with the exception of short ò before m, p, when it then becomes a short a, ö is the same in Höng Shán as in Cantonese. It is difficult to know how to represent the class of sound which is the counter-part of the Cantonese oi. For want of any better means of setting it forth in an English spelling, it is here represented by ôí. As has already been said by the writer, since the letters Having got un peu près to the Chinese pronunciation, or sometimes even very near to it, we must perforce&mdash;since we have no similar or identical sound in our language