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Topics of This Lecture
LING6014 Lecture 5
Lexical Borrowing from English into Cantonese from Early 19th Century to Present Day 10 October 2009
Prof. Robert S. Bauer Dept. of Linguistics University of Hong Kong 1
Stratification of Cantonese syllabary and lexicon Language Contact, Bilingualism, Linguistic Borrowing, Loanwords History of contact between Cantonese and English in South China Historical stages of borrowing English words into Cantonese Methods of borrowing words from English into Cantonese
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Fig. 1 Stratification of Cantonese Syllabary and Lexicon
Topics of This Lecture Distribution of loanwords by syntactic and semantic categories Integration of loanwords into the Cantonese lexicon and grammar Impact of borrowing English words through phonetic transliteration on the Cantonese phonological system and syllabary
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Fig. 1 Stratification of Cantonese Syllabary and Lexicon 3. Loanword Syllables: syllables that only occur in the phonetic transliterations of English words that have been borrowed into Cantonese. 4. Non-occurring (unused) Syllables: syllables which do not occur in the syllabary because they are systematic or accidental gaps (not needed and so not yet created).
The Cantonese syllabary from which syllables are drawn to form words comprises a series of layers or strata: 1. Standard Syllables: syllables associated with the standard Chinese characters as their standard Cantonese reading pronunciations. 2. Colloquial Syllables: syllables associated with colloquial lexical items that may or may not have standard or dialectal characters as their written forms. 4
Fig. 1. Kinds of Syllables in the Cantonese Syllabary
Overlapping circles represent schematic relationships among different categories of syllables that form the Cantonese syllabary: 1. Syllables which are reading pronunciations of standard characters: ming4 2. Syllables that belong to Cantonese colloquial lexicon: mam1 in sik6 mam1 mam1 3. Syllables which occur only in English loanwords: men1 < man
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4. Non-occurring or unused syllables: khwyn
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Fig. 1 (continued)
Appendix 1 Cantonese Syllabary
5. Syllables that belong to categories 1, 2: keoi5 , keoi5 6. Syllables that belong to categories 1, 3: fo1 man4/2 , dik1 si6/2
7. Syllables that belong to categories 2, 3: [ni1] di1 ( ) , di1[tew4] < detail 8. Syllables that belong to categories 1, 2, 3: naa4 , naa2 , [paat1] naa2 < partner 7
Distinguishing Four Categories of Syllables in Cantonese Syllabary
Appendix 1 maps out in detail the Cantonese syllabary: it has spelled out both occurring and non-occurring syllables (which is not ordinarily done), and thus this syllabary has further distinguished the four kinds of syllables. Because of the comprehensive information presented here, this particular syllabary is unique among the representations of the Cantonese syllabary that have been 8 produced over the years.
Study of English Loanwords in Cantonese
Appendix 1 distinguishes the four types of syllables as follows: 1. Syllables that are reading pronunciations of standard Chinese characters: No superscript symbol: 2. Colloquial syllables: Superscript c: c 3. Syllables that occur only in English loanwords: Superscript +: + 4. Non-occurring or unused syllables: Superscript n: n 9
Although one strata of the Cantonese syllabary comprises syllables that only occur in English loanwords (to be demonstrated below), as indicated in Figure 1, loanword syllables also occur in strata 1 and 2, because they are homophonous with syllables belonging to these two layers. • As a result of their generally salient identifiability, English loanwords in Cantonese lend themselves to the systematic study of 10 linguists.
ABC Etymological Dictionary of English Loanwords in Cantonese
Consequences of Contact Between Two Languages
Some of the findings discussed in this lecture have come from a research project I have been working on in collaboration with Dr. Cathy Sin Ping Wong in the English Department at the HK Polytechnic University for the past four years. Our project is entitled ABC Etymological Dictionary of English Loanwords in Cantonese, and its computerized database currently comprises over 700 entries of 11 English loanwords.
Contact between two languages can typically serve as the catalyst for changes in either one or both. A range of linguistic phenomena can result from language contact: Bilingualism Linguistic borrowing Loanwords Code-mixing Code-switching Pidgins Creoles Language endangerment Language shift Language loss 12
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Reasons for Language Contact For such reasons as trade, military conquest, colonization, migration, etc., groups of people speaking two or more different languages come into prolonged physical contact with each other. Some people from both groups take on the task of learning each other’s language. Those people who achieve proficiency in the second language have become bilinguals.
Languages in Contact “. . . Two or more languages will be said to be in contact if they are used alternately by the same persons. The language-using individuals are thus the locus of the contact.” (Weinreich 1964:1)
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Historical Contact Between English and Cantonese in South China
Language Contact and Bilinguals “The practice of alternately using two languages will be called bilingualism, and the persons involved, bilingual.” (Weinreich 1964:1) The locus of language contact is actually in the brains of bilingual speakers. 15
Foreign traders buying tea in South China (ca. 1820)
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Contact between Cantonese and English began on the South China coast in the late 17th century when British traders began arriving in increasing numbers to buy Chinese tea, silk, porcelain, and other goods. As contact became more intimate and protracted, this led to changes in the two languages through lexical borrowing in both directions, thus augmenting and enriching their lexicons. Another linguistic development was the emergence of Canton Pidgin English or 16 derived from the Portuguese pidgin.
This little book (and there were many others like it) was published in Canton in about 1835 and was written to help Cantonese speakers learn to speak English. English words were transliterated with Chinese characters. (The picture is of a Portuguese Fidalgo, i.e. member of the lower nobility circa 1750).
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English Loanwords in Canton Pidgin
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wai1 fu6 waifoo ‘wife’ maa1 daa2 mother ‘mother’ faa1 daa2 father ‘father’
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This Chinese almanac was published in Hong Kong in about 2001. To help Cantonese speakers learn English it includes a section of English words phonetically transliterated with Chinese characters to be pronounced in Cantonese.
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Page from almanac with English words phonetically transliterated based on Cantonese pronunciations of Chinese characters. 21
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Loanword
Lexical Borrowing Borrowing: “The process whereby bilingual speakers introduce words from one language into another language, these loan words eventually becoming accepted as an integral part of the second language.” (Trudgill 2003:19) 23
“. . . words borrowed from one language into another language, . . . which have become lexicalized (= assimilated phonetically, graphemically, and grammatically) into the new language. . . In lexical borrowings the word and its meaning (usually together with the new object) are taken into the language and used either as a foreign word . . . or as an assimilated loan word . . .” (Bussman 2000:287) 24
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Bilinguals and Loanwords
Bilinguals Mix Their Two Languages
“. . . a bilingual is perhaps even more apt than the unilingual to accept loanword designations of new things because, through his familiarity with another culture, he is more strongly aware of their novel nature.” (Weinreich 1964:59)
Bilingual speakers may mix their two languages together by switching from one to the other. This switching may involve phrases or words and occurs due to convenience, or there is no readily available equivalent for the word or phrase in the other language, or the speaker may simply want to show off his/her knowledge of the other language.
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Three Methods for Borrowing English Words Into Cantonese
Code-switching “[In code-switching a] sequence of steps often takes place : (1) A bilingual introduces a loanword from language A into language B in a phonetic form close to the norm of language A. (2) If the bilingual has occasion to repeat it, or if other speakers also begin using it, elements of language B will be substituted for those of language A. (3) If monolinguals learn the loanword, a total or practically total substitution will be made in the sound structure, and the word will be integrated 27 into the grammar as well.” (Lehiste 1988:2)
Phonetic Transliteration In examining loanwords borrowed from English into Cantonese, we observe that the majority have entered the language via phonetic transliteration, i.e., Cantonese imitates the pronunciation of the source word with phonetically-similar syllables. When phonetically-transliterated loanwords are written with Chinese characters, Cantonese readers know they should ignore the characters’ meanings and read them for their pronunciations, as in zi1 si6/2 ‘cheese’.
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1. Phonetic transliteration e.g., zi1 si6/2 < cheese 2. Semantic translation
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bai3 goek3 aap3/2 [‘lame’ + ‘duck’] < lame duck 3. Combination of 1 and 2 e.g. be1 zau2 [ zau2 ‘alcoholic drink’] < beer As we will see below, these methods have been 28 used since the earliest time of borrowing.
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Loanwords Collected for Research Project • The research project referred to above, ABC Etymological Dictionary of English Loanwords in Cantonese, has collected only those loanwords that have been phonetically-transliterated. • It does not include any loanwords that are semantic translations.
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Historical Periods of Borrowing
The history of borrowing from English into Cantonese is tentatively divided as follows: 1. Early Period: from 18th century to mid-19th century when British occupation of Hong Kong began. 2. Middle Period: from mid-19th century to end of World War II. Through intimate and prolonged contact in Hong Kong large number of loanwords entered Cantonese. 3. Modern Period: from mid-20th century to present day. Many loanwords borrowed and 31 continue to be borrowed in this period.
Loanwords from Early Period The world’s first Cantonese-English, English-Cantonese dictionary was compiled and published by Robert Morrison, the British missionary in Macao in 1828. This dictionary is very likely the first reliable documentation of English words borrowed into Cantonese in the early period. 32
Some English Loanwords Recorded in Morrison’s Dictionary with Modern Counterparts Title page from the world’s first Cantonese-English, English-Cantonese dictionary compiled by Robert Morrison, the British missionary, and published in Macao in 1828. 33
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arack ball beer brandy cheese chocolate coffee couch flannel jelly (no characters) liqueur
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bo1 be1 zau2 baak6 laan4/1 dei6/2 zi1 si6/2 zyu1 gu2/1 lik6/1 gaa3 fe1 so1 faa3/2 (< sofa) faat3 laan4/1 jung4/2 ze1 lei1/2 34 lei6 giu1 zau2
Three Methods of Borrowing Date from Early Period
In the Preface to his dictionary Morrison described the methods by which foreign goods were named in Canton; it turns out these methods were exactly the same then as they are today.
Methods of borrowing English words according to Morrison in 1828: 1. entirely foreign, i.e. phonetic transliteration 2. translation of foreign names, i.e. semantic translation 3. half Chinese and half foreign, i.e. combination of methods 1 and 2 35
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Loanwords from Middle Period
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bus => baa1 si6/2 cream => gei6 lim4/1 face => fei1 si6/2 fiber => faai3/1 baa2, faai3/1 lou2 file => foreman => fo1 man4/2 gallon => gaa1 leon4/2 store => si6 do1 taxi => dik1 si6/2 toast => do1 si6/2
Loanwords from Modern Period
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Distribution of English Loanwords by Syntactic Category
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Evidence for Integration of Loanwords into Lexcion
Main piece of evidence attesting to integration of English loanwords is that many are written with Chinese characters. Older loanwords are more likely to be so written. • At the same time, many loanwords do not have written forms, other than their regular English spellings. Lack of characters is partly related to the mismatch between loanword syllables and unavailability of suitable reading pronunciations of Chinese characters. 41
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MAN [men1] as loanword 42
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Integration of Loanwords Into Grammar
Integration of Loanwords Into Grammar
Loanwords enter into the same morphosyntactic processes as indigenous words: • fe1 from gaa3 fe1 coffee: fe1 fe1 dei2 sik1 ‘brownish’ • SHORT SHORT sot1 sot1 dei2 ‘somewhat crazy’ • SHORT keoi5 sot1 zo2 ‘he’s gone crazy’ • MAN nei5 hou2 ci5 men1 zo2 hou2 do1 ‘you seem to have become very 43 manly’
HAP HAPPY ? nei5 hep1 m4 hep1 pi2 aa3 ‘Are you happy?’ • UN UN ? nei5 an1 m4 an1 aa3 ‘Do you understand?’ (UN an1 from understand) • , FEN keoi5 waa6, nei5 tung4 keoi5 hou2 fen1 wo5 ‘He said, you and he are good friends.’ • keoi5 dei6 heoi3 waan1 zai2 be1 jat1 be1 ‘They went to Wanchai to have a beer.’ (Noun be1 zau2 => Verb 44 be1 ‘to have a beer’)
Integration of Loanwords Into Grammar
Phonetic Transliteration and Semantic Translation
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Loanwords can undergo change of meaning and change of syntactic category after being borrowed: soft Adj. =>1. Vb. so1 fu4 ‘to enjoy oneself’ 2. Stative Vb. ‘to be relaxing, enjoyable’ 1. ? ngo5 dei6 heoi3 bin1 dou6 so1 fu4 ‘Where shall we go to enjoy ourselves?’ 2. heoi3 saa1 taan1 saai3 taai3 joeng4 hou2 so1 fu4 ‘Going to the beach to sunbathe is very relaxing’
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Pronunciation of Loanwords
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In contrast to standard Chinese which favors semantic translation for assimilating English words into its lexicon, Cantonese has phonetically transliterated the majority of English words it has borrowed; this is most likely because it is ordinary Cantonese speakers who have been responsible for borrowing words. Unlike in Beijing, HK has no official government organization that is tasked with making decisions about ordinary lexical borrowing. 46
Identification of Equivalent Sounds
When bilingual speakers borrow words from one of their languages into the other, what happens to the pronunciation of the borrowed word? Since fluency in the second language can vary, pronunciation will also vary. However, there is a tendency to subconsciously select those speech sounds which are considered to closely approximate the pronunciation of the original word. 47
“That a bilingual should render phonemes of two languages in the same way if he identifies them is only natural from the point of view of economy: The practice of the same phonetic habits in both languages is an efficient way of easing one’s burden of linguistic devices. . . it requires a relatively high degree of cultural sophistication in both languages for a speaker to afford the structural luxury of maintaining separate subphonemic habits in each.” (Weinreich 1964:24) 48
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Bilinguals have a Dual Impact on Development of Cantonese
Cantonese and English Phonologies Despite the fact that Cantonese and English are two typologically quite distinct languages coming from opposite sides of the world, nonetheless, we observe that in the phonetic representation of loanwords their two sound systems neatly mesh together, the one fits with the other like hand in glove. In particular, Cantonese syllable initial consonants p, t, k, ph, th, kh, f, s, h, m, n, l, w, j and endings –m, -n, -ng, -p, -t, -k, -j, -w are matched up with their English counterparts. 49
Not only do Cantonese-English bilingual speakers borrow words from English and introduce the new loanwords into their Cantonese speech, but in so doing, they may also create new rimes and new syllables with which these loanwords are represented. This stage allows the Cantonese speaker to exercise some phonetic creativity by combining existing consonants and vowels into new rimes and syllables that did not 50 previously exist.
Impact of Phonetic Transliteration on Phonological System and Syllabary
Importance of the Syllable Chinese linguistics has traditionally taken the syllable as the basic analytical unit on both the phonological and morphological levels. In the analysis of loanwords in Cantonese the syllable plays a central role, since it is with syllables that words borrowed from English are transformed into loanwords.
The process of selecting syllables to phonetically transliterate loanwords is not constrained by the existing inventory of syllables. If speakers feel the need to do so, they take existing initial consonants, vowels, and consonant endings and recombine them into new rimes and new syllables.
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Table 10. Cantonese Rimes
Table 1. Cantonese Rime System The contemporary Cantonese rime system comprises a total of 60 rimes. This number includes three “new” rimes, namely, and ; these rimes are only found in a few English loanwords that were recently transliterated and imported into the Cantonese lexicon. In this table the symbol — (bar) indicates the rime does not exist. 53
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Treatment of Non-occurring Syllables Other syllabaries have been designed just like Appendix 1 with initial consonants across top of page and rimes down far left side. To the best of my knowledge, however, this syllabary is the only one which has explicitly spelled out all possible syllables, that is, both occurring and non-occurring ones. The usual practice has been to ignore the nonoccurring syllables and leave them as uninteresting and unidentified blank spaces.
Non-Occurring Syllables It is to our advantage to observe the nonoccurring or unused syllables because: 1. Some of these may be potential, future syllables for phonetically-transliterating loanwords. 2. Identifying phonetic patterns in the nonoccurring syllables can help us better understand Cantonese phonotactics.
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How Many English Loanword Syllables?
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Formation of Loanword Syllables
Total number of English loanword syllables, i.e., those that only occur in English loanwords, has steadily increased over the past 20 plus years: 1985: 26 syllables 1997: 40 syllables 2006: 50 syllables 2008: 79 syllables
How are bilingual speakers creating/producing new syllables to phonetically transform the words they are borrowing from English?
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Table 3
Table 2 50 Cantonese syllables only occurring in English loanwords (based on Bauer 2006:178-179). These syllables were collected between 1984 and 2005. In this list we observe that syllables with nuclear vowels and are numerous. 59
Subset of loanword syllables arranged by rimes with nuclear vowels and . The rimes with belong to the colloquial stratum. The rimes with belong to the stratum of standard Chinese character readings. 60
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Table 5
Table 4 29 recently identified syllables only occurring in English loanwords. These loanword syllables were collected between 2005 and 2008.
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Conclusions
Recently Created Rimes Three new rimes only occur in loanwords: 55 < firm 55 < perm (< permanent), t 55 < term 55 < form 55 < warm 55 < top (< bra top) 55 21 < shopping 55 < hop (< hip hop) 55 < job
Subset of new loanword syllables arranged by rimes with nuclear vowels , , and . Rime belongs to the stratum of standard Chinese character readings. All of the rimes with belong to the colloquial stratum. Rimes , , and have been recently created and occur only in English loanwords.
Cantonese phonology is a flexible and dynamic system that responds to the needs of bilingual speakers who not only use existing syllables, but also create new ones in the process of phonetically transliterating English loanwords. A total of 29 new syllables have been created in recent years to represent loanwords. 63
Conclusions Speakers are creating new rimes and new syllables – not by introducing new, foreign sounds but – through the recombination of existing initial and final consonants and vowels. As we have just seen, three recently created rimes include , , and . 65
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Conclusions Through its ongoing contact with English, the Cantonese lexicon continues adopting new words. In order to phonetically transform and assimilate the new loanwords, the Cantonese syllabary continues its expansion by creating new syllables with which to represent the new loanwords. 66
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References
Anonymous. ca. 1835. . Guangzhou. Bauer, Robert S. and Paul K. Benedict. 1997. Modern Cantonese Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Bauer, Robert S. 2005. Two 19th century missionaries’ contributions to historical Cantonese phonology. In Geoff P. Smith and Stephen Matthews, eds., Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, Special Issue, Chinese Pidgin English: Texts and Contexts 67 : . 10.1:21-46.
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References ________. 2006. The Stratification of English loanwords in Cantonese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 34.2:172-191. ________. 2008. Loanwords as catalyst for phonetic change: recent innovations in the Cantonese syllabary. Invited lecture for Dept. of Linguistics and Modern Languages, Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong. 25 Sep. 2008.
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References
References Bauer, Robert S., Cathy S.P. Wong, and Zoe Lam Wai Man. 2007. Recent developments in Cantonese loanword phonology. Paper presented at 40th Intl. Conf. on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Heilongjiang Univ., Harbin, China. 27 Sep. 2007.
Bussman, Hadumod. 2000. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Gregory P. Trauth and Kerstin Kazzazi, editors and translators. Lehiste, Ilse. 1988. Lectures on Language Contact. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Morrison, Robert. 1828. Vocabulary of the Canton Dialect . Macao: 70 East India Company’s Press.
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References Trudgill, Peter. 2003. A Glossary of Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Weinreich, Uriel. 1964. Languages in Contact. The Hague: Mouton & Co. Wong, Cathy Sin Ping, Robert S. Bauer, and Zoe Lam Wai Man. 2009. The Integration of English loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. 1:251-265. 71
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