The China Review/Volume 22/Number 2/The Höng Shán or Macao Dialect

by James Dyer Ball

The China Review.

The Höng Shán or Macao Dialect.^[1]

By J. Dyer Ball.

Though Macao has had early continuous and almost constant intercourse with Europeans for the long period of nearly three centuries and a half,—the Portuguese first took up their residence there in A.D. 1557, —yet the dialect of the Höng Shán district, in which it is situated, has not received, as far as the writer is aware, any special study. Led away by the will o' the wisp of having a uniform pronunciation,—a uniform pronunciation which prevails nowhere—our standard dictionaries of Cantonese have classed some words under sounds which are Höng Shán pronunciations, such for instance as the sound sü, part of the words which should come under súí or söü being placed under it. Dr. Williams in the Introduction to his Tonic Dictionary, pp. XVII, XX, and XXI, gives in a general way a few instances where the Höng Shán differs from the standard Cantonese, and in the Introduction to 'the Chinese Chrestomathy' in the Canton dialect, p. X, there are eleven lines calling attention to some of the variations of the language as heard in Macao; but with this slight exception, noting a few differences in pronunciation, nothing seems ever to have been written specially dealing with the speech of the Höng Shán people.

As far as can be ascertained, only one book has ever been written in the dialect of the Höng Shán district; and that was a small pamphlet of seven pages thus described in 'Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese giving a list of their publications':—問答俗話, Catechism in the Macao dialect, seven leaves. Macao, 1840. This is divided into three parts; the first is a catechism of Christian truths, prefaced by a map of Jerusalem; the second is geographical, with a map of Asia; and the third is a collection of Scripture quotations. This was prepared by Rev. J. J. Roberts of the Southern Baptist Convention, the signature of the author in Chinese being Háú. It would be most interesting to have a look at this little book, the only one that has ever been written in this dialect.

It is almost needless to say that the Chinese never appear to have thought of writing anything on it.

Scope of present article.

The present article is simply an attempt to give a general idea of the Höng Shán dialect and its points of difference when compared with the Cantonese of Canton city. As the writer has already said:—It would, of course, require years of study and comparison to be able to write an exhaustive monograph dealing with all the differences in pronunciation and shades of distinctions in any one dialect. It is, however, possible with shorter time at one's disposal and a less thoroughly complete. knowledge of a dialect, to be able to present a general idea of it, and its relationship to, and divergence from, a standard dialect.^[2]

In lieu therefore of any fuller account of this interesting and important dialect of the Cantonese, the following pages may be acceptable.

Geographical.

The Hong Shán district consists of the land lying between the main estuary of the Canton River and one of the numerous channels by which the West River pursues its southern course into the sea. A glance at the map shows it to be made up of a number of large islands and numerous small ones, separated in a geographical point of view, but from a commercial stand point joined together by almost countless waterways, natural and artificial, large and small. To the north, lie the Shun Tak and P'ún Yü districts; to the east, on the other side of the Bocca Tigris, the Tung Kwún district and lower down, on the eastern shores of Lintin Bay, the San On district. Its western neighbour is the San Wúí district from which it is separated more or less by the network of channels by means of which the mighty West River discharges the greater part of its water into the sea. The Höng Shán district stretches its southermost boundaries into the sea itself. The whole district is … well covered with villages, though their exact number is not known.^[3]

Antiquity.

The highest antiquity to which some of the families in the Höng Shán district can claim is an ability to trace up their descent to the Sung dynasty, perhaps some of their ancestors coming in the train of the ill-fated princes, a portion of whose followers settled after the disaster at Ngaí Mún in the neighbouring district and gave, according to one opinion, a distinctive and peculiar character to the San Ning speech. The village of Tung Ngon (東岸) is said to be the oldest village in the Höng Shán district, being founded in the time of the Sung dynasty. It would be very interesting to trace the sources from which the earlier influx of the present inhabitants took place. That different currents of immigration from the neighbouring districts have had their share in the formation of the present population during more recent times, is known as family tradition, and registries give proof of these facts.

Population.

It is always interesting to form some idea of the number of people who speak a given language or dialect; but it is generally nothing better than a rough guess that can be made when we are dealing with the Chinese.

The Chinese in the Portuguese colony of Macao according to returns made in 1879 numbered 63,532. We cannot be far wrong if we take three-quarters of these Chinese as natives of Höng Shán.

A Chinese estimate puts the number of Höng Shán people in Hongkong as about 10,000 more or less. They are compradores, boys, house and godown coolies, and agents for, or dealers in, Californian goods principally, though they are engaged in many other trades and callings. It is difficult to give exact figures with regard to the population, of the whole district of Höng Shán, as all who know anything about the Chinese are aware. In an article, on the population of the Chinese Empire, in the Chinese Repository for 1833, the following is one of the arguments adduced for believing the population of the entire empire to be (in round figures) 333,000,000:—In the eighteen provinces there are 1,518 of the smaller divisions—heën, chow, and sing,—each of which, were the population equally divided, would have about 237,000. Nanhae and Pwanyu, which includes the cities of Canton and Fatshan and also the village of Whampoa have on the lowest estimate more than twice the given number; Singan would probably fall below the average number. Heängshán heën might be assumed as a standard. Judging by what we have seen of Heängshán, we are inclined to believe that it contains more than 237,000 inhabitants.^[4] This estimate of the population of the Höng Shán District would appear to err largely on the side of moderation, Macao alone, as we have seen, having a Chinese population of over 60,000. In fact this estimate of 237,000 or more would seem scarcely to provide sufficient people to populate one of the towns in Höng Shán, Síú Lám—though to be sure it is the largest in the district and its inhabitants do not speak the Höng Shan dialect—to say nothing of all the other numerous towns and villages with their teeming populations, and Macao too would be left out of the calculation. Of Höng Shán, Dr. Henry says:—Beyond this we enter the district of Höng Shán, which stretches down to the sea, and has many large towns and important centres of trade and influence. Its principal town is Síú Lám, with a population variously reckoned at three hundred thousand and upward.^[5]

To try again to form some rough estimate of the population of the Höng Shán district.: with a population say of 360,000,000 the average for the whole empire is 268 persons to the square mile, while the average in the nine southern and western provinces is only 154 to the square mile; now there were 289 inhabitants to the square mile in Great Britain in 1881 (being a greater number to the square mile than in some of the principal countries in Europe). Keeping the above in one's memory, let the following extract be read:—Few spots in the world maintain a denser population than the delta of the Pearl River [the Canton River] … Its density of population doubtless is greater than any other equal area in the whole province; for if the whole contained as many, the entire amount could hardly be less than thirty millions instead of nineteen millions as now reckoned.^[6] Now with the computed population of 19,200,000 to the whole of the Kwong Tung Province, there would only be 245 inhabitants to the square mile; were the population 30,000,000, it would be 389 to the squre mile: in one case far below, and in the other far above, that of Great Britain. The area of the whole province is stated to be 78,250 miles. Kwong Chau Fu, with its fourteen districts contains a ninth of the area of the whole province. If it were all equally thickly populated as the delta of the Canton River which delta, the writer, already quoted, considers as roughly coinciding with the Kwong Chau Prefecture—then, supposing the population to be not less than say, 30,000,000, it would give us an average of 383 inhabitants per square mile, a total of 3,372,315 for the whole prefecture, and 240,879 for each of the fourteen districts of which Höng Shán is one. This calculation brings us to about the same conclusion as the writer in the Chinese Repository with his more than 237,000. But even by this process, of calculation, if the large town of Síú Lám has at least 300,000 inhabitants and the district city Shek Kéí, four or five miles of Macao, as we are informed has a population of between 100,000 and 200,000, or including its suburbs 300,000 at the least, we are still far below the right population number. Again the writer in the 'Chinese Repository' with his average of 237,000 says, he thinks the district of Singan would fall below the average number. There is no doubt it would fall below the average number of some of its neighbouring districts; but instead of San On only having less than 237,000, another writer^[7] gives the population of San On as somewhere about 240,000. If the latter is anywhere like the correct figure for San On, then the Höng Shán district has probably an immensely larger population.

We cannot perhaps be far wrong—speaking of necessity in the vague way in which the Chinese delight to speak of numbers—in thinking that the population of the Höng Shán district runs well up, if not even far up, into the hundreds of thousands at all events.

Though all in the district do not speak the Höng Shán dialect, yet on the other hand it must he remembered that large numbers are found of Höng Shán speakers elsewhere in China and of the treaty ports, &c., as well as in foreign lands: so that we may safely say that the language is spoken by hundreds of thousands of Chinese, perhaps we might well say by many hundreds of thousands.

Different languages and dialects.

The population of the Höng Shán district is not wholly composed of Cantonese. A rough estimate puts the Hakka population as one fourth of the whole. Whether this estimate, for it is nothing more, is an accurate one or approaches anything near truth it is impossible to say. The Hakkas are said to live mostly in villages inhabited wholly by themselves; and in the mountainous portions chiefly, as in upland valleys,

though, of course they are to be found in the district city itself, and are to be met with scattered over the district in the same way as in other parts of this region of country. The statement of the fact that nearly all the professors of the tonsorial art, in this part of China, are Hakkas would be almost sufficient proof alone that they are to be found everywhere; for how far can one travel in this much-shaved empire without coming across a barber? The villages of Chim Chung (尖涌) and Kwú Yau (古祐) are inhabited by both Hakkas and Puntis.

There is also quite a number of Hoklos as well in the Höng Shán district; but they do not approach to anything like the number of the Hakkas. How many there are of them, it is impossible to say. The villages they occupy are Wú Shek (烏石), Yung Mak (雍陌), P'ing Lám (平嵐), K'iú T'aú (橋頭), and A Kong (鴉江) . It would be an interesting study to compare the speech of these people with that of the portion of the country—be it the neighbourhood of Hoi Fúng, Lúk Fúng, Swatow, or Amoy—from which they emigrated, and note the influences of the new habitat on their language.

But notwithstanding the Hakkas and Hoklos, the greater part of the population of the Höng Shán district are so-called Cantonese speakers—so-called, as the district possesses a dialect of its own in which, not only the pronunciation of many of the words, but also the greater part of the whole series (three are the same) of the nine or ten tones diverge to a greater or lesser extent from the standard of correct Cantonese pronunciation, to say nothing of the use of different words to express the same ideas. It must not, however, be supposed that a uniform dialect pervades the whole district. Far from such being the case, there are a number of local peculiarities to be detected. And there are also places where the dialects of some of the neighbouring districts hold sway to a greater or lesser extent. Amongst the many large towns and important centres of trade and influence in the Höng Shán district, the principal town is Síú-lám (小欖). It is said to be larger than any district city in the Kwong Tung Province. Being so large in size and population— variously estimated at 300,000 and upwards^[8]—the inhabitants proudly say that they are a district to themselves, and refuse to recognise either Shun Tak or Höng Shán as their district. Politically they belong to the latter, although they, it is said, once owned allegiance to the Shun Tak jurisdiction. The Shun Tak dialect is still the speech of the Síú-lamites.

The San Wúí dialect is the native tongue of the dwellers in the Wong Löng Tò village (黃良都). The reason for this is said to be that this village once formed a part of the San Wúí district. The village of Taú Mún is inhabited by descendants of immigrants from the San Wúí district. They and their ancestors have probably resided here for three centuries; and the dialect they speak is a mixture of San Wúi and Höng Shán—the San Wúi element preponderating in their language, that is as regards the pronunciation of the words, but the idiom of their speech is that of the Höng Shán.

In the South of the Höng Shán district there are several villages where the dialect is like the South-west dialect of the San Wúí district. In Hong Héí's time it was perhaps included in Kong Chau, but this was changed two hundred years ago. Wong Löng Tò 黃良都 is one of these villages, also Kú Chan (古鎭). We believe, in both these places the dialect is said, according to Chinese phraseology, to be eight-tenths or nine-tenths like the San Wúí. There are also between ten or twenty or thirty villages where the speech is like the North-east dialect of San Wúí.

Again in some parts of the Höng Shán dialect near the Tung Kwún borders, the dialect is Tung Kwún to a more or less extent. This is due first to Tung Kwún people having moved into the Höng Shán district, and kept up their own dialect as a foundation to which they have added on some of the Höng Shán dialect; and secondly another cause for this is, that the Höng Shán dwellers in the neighbourhood either of the Tung Kwún district (for it lies on the other side of the main estuary of the Canton River) or in proximity to the Tung Kwún speakers, mentioned just above, have been influenced to some extent in their language.

A number of the Höng Shán people have gone abroad in common with their fellow-countrymen in the delta of the Canton River. The Hawaiian Islands, as well as Australia, have both received their contingents of emigrants from this district. A recent traveller in the district found himself accosted in pidgin-English in the Háng Méí (坑尾) village; and he discovered that a third of the adult male population of this village were able to speak this hybrid speech, they having returned from Australia (Sydney).

Comparison with Cantonese, &c.

A few sounds of the Cantonese are not found in the Höng Shán dialect, though a more extended study of the dialect might lead to the discovery of new words differing in pronunciation from any of the Cantonese sounds. There are 240 syllables in the Höng Shán which are pronounced differently from the Cantonese out of a total of 737 syllables in the latter. Roughly speaking then about one-third of the Höng Shán dialect, as represented by the pronunciation of words only, differs from the Cantonese. In this estimate the tones, which have no small share in distinguishing one dialect from another, are not taken into account: the ear is the best judge of the difference caused by them. The Höng Shán contains fewer syllables than the Cantonese. This is what would naturally be expected to be the case, as most of the words commencing in ch in Cantonese are to be found in Höng Shán under the initial letters ts; and all the words which in Cantonese begin with sh have the h dropped, as the Höng Shán speakers belong to the numerous tribe of Chinese Ephraimites who cannot frame to pronounce sh right; other changes also tend to lessen the number of syllables in the Höng Shán dialect. There are therefore about 80 fewer syllables in the Höng Shán than in the Cantonese, but this statement must be qualified, for account should be taken of other syllables represented by the exceptions in pronunciation—some of the words which follow the exceptions are almost as numerous as those which conform to the rule: in other words certain pronunciations in Cantonese are represented by two or more pronunciations in Höng Shán which occasionally pretty nearly equally divide the words represented by the original pronunciation in Cantonese between them. Allowing then for these exceptions, about twenty must be subtracted from the amount given above, leaving, say in round numbers, some sixty less syllables in the Höng Shán than in the Cantonese. That is to say, speaking again in round numbers, there are about 625 syllables in the Höng Shán dialect. This number must not, however, be taken as a definitive statement, for doubtless, were it possible to devote sufficient time to acquire a thorough knowledge of this dialect, more syllables would be found than can be discovered in an attempt merely to acquire a cursory acquaintanceship with it.

To a casual observer the differences between Cantonese and Höng Shán are sufficiently marked to strike the ear at once; somewhat like the change of the Greek η into α in the ancient Doric, the Cantonese i before ng is changed to the dull, short a and being of the special peculiarities, the attention is at once arrested by it, added to which the dropping of the w after k and h after s, besides the continual substitution of the word ko for ke, the constant use of words not so commonly employed in Cantonese, as well as the introduction of other and new words, are all noticeable, while more especially the low tones give, combined with the pronunciation, a heavier, lower, and more gruff character to the speech—the language seems pitched on a lower key and even the usual soprano of the Cantonese female voice seems to sink to a low alto or approach almost to a bass. Such changes are sufficiently distinctive to give a character of its own to the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the Höng Shán district; and deserve at least some attention from those living in their neighbourhood and taking an interest in the spoken language of the Chinese.

Now to compare the Höng Shán in its differences from and similarities to Cantonese with some of the other dialects in its neighbourhood as regards their likeness to and differences from Cantonese:—The Höng Shán has two-thirds of its syllables the same as in Cantonese, i.e. the mere pronunciation of them is the same as in Cantonese. The San Wúi dialect has also the same proportion like the Cantonese. The Tung Kwún agrees with the Cantonese as far as regards its syllables to the extent of nine-tenths. Now with regard to the syllables in each:—Cantonese 737; Höng Shán 672, or possibly more; San Ning 708; San Wúí 600, or possible more; Tung Kwún 600, or rather more.

The figures are almost all under than above the mark; for instance in Cantonese there are said to be 780 or 798 distinct syllables. The statements given above are however near enough for the purpose of a rough comparison, especially as our knowledge of most of these dialects is not extended enough to give exact figures.

Consonants.

After these general statements we shall now proceed to a more particular account of the Höng Shán dialect. And first as to the initials. Though there are not so many changes from the Cantonese initials in the Höng Shán dialect as there are in some of 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:—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:—The sounds tsz' and sz are sounded like a hard hissing tchí and chí differing from the common chí by its forced enunciation as if attempting to say tsz': in both these deviations an approach to the Fukien dialect is observed. 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—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:—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:—with regard to the w after k—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 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 waí, while wún 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.,—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:—All words having no initial consonant are very liable to have a nasal ng or h prefixed to them, or to have the vowel altered. The people in Hiang-shán, Macao and Sin-ngáu, change many words in this way, so that if one does not see the character, he will look for it under h or ng. The writer of the Introduction to the 'Chinese Chrestomathy' (p. X.) also notices this in the following words:—A few words, which at Canton are spoken without any initial vowel are in Macao heard beginning with ng; as ngí (two) for í; ngín or ngün (words) for ín; ngít (hot) for ít; ín (worthy) is pronounced hín.

As regards the final consonants:—The final consonants are the same as in Cantonese with the exception of z (used only in Cantonese in the words sz, tsz, and ts'z) which is invariably changed into the long vowel í.

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, á, aí, 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 pe) 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 í 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, This attempting to represent Chinese sounds by the letters of an alphabet, is but a halting expedient, since the letters as we are accustomed to use them in our own language, are never in every case capable of producing the identical Chinese sound.^[9] Having got un peu près to the Chinese pronunciation, or sometimes even very near to it, we must perforce—since we have no similar or identical sound in our language Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/96 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/97 there is only one 去, höü sheng, in the Höng Shán Dialect, and this is a little lower in musical pitch than the Cantonese tone and shorter in duration of pronunciation.

The 下入, há yap, lower entering tone, is higher in musical pitch than the Cantonese, being between the Cantonese 中入, chung yap, middle entering tone, and the Cantonese 下入 há yap; and much nearer to the former than to the latter. In short the 下入, há yap, is higher than the Cantonese 下入, há yap, and a little lower than the Cantonese 中入, chung yap. Here we may notice that the word 嚇 hak becomes a 上入 shöng yap, upper entering tone, in the Höng Shán dialect.

We come next to the three extra tones; the higher shöng p'ing as illustrated in Cantonese by the word 孫 _⸰sün, grandchild, third rising or colloquial rising tone and the 中入, chung yap, middle entering tone.

The higher, or upper shöng p'ing, is almost apt to be overlooked at first, for it is not so distinct from the ordinary 上平, shöng p'ing, upper even tone, as in Cantonnese, and besides it does not appear to be as largely used as in Cantonese. Out of a list of twenty-one words in it in Cantonese, five, or say one-fourth, seem in the Höng Shán dialect to be used in the ordinary 上平, shöng p'ing. This upper shöng p'ing then in the Höng Shán dialect is not so sharp and shrill as in Cantonese, nor is there such a musical interval in space between it and the ordinary 上平 shöng p'ing, as there is in Cantonese. In other words it is not nearly such a high tone as the pure Cantonese higher 上平 shöng p'ing; it is only a little higher than the ordinary 上平 shöng ping; but it appears to be the same tone as the Cantonese 上平 shöng p'ing, the ordinary 上平 shöng p'ing in Höng Shán being lower than that tone is in Cantonese. The third, or colloquial, rising tone, playing such an important part in pure Cantonese in the matter of tense, emphasis, and meaning of the word, as well as being used when the word is used alone or singly, is of much less importance in the Höng Shán dialect. It is used as a sign of the past tense, as for example in 做, ꜂tsò, done, and 吃 ꜂yák, eaten, 來 ꜂lôí came; and, as far as can be discovered at present, in no other way. For example it is not used in 邊誰, pín shúí? Who? (this phrase being commonly used for the mat shöü? of Cantonese) for the 誰 shúí retains its tone; nor is it used in the phrases 慢慢 mán꜅ ꜂mán, slowly, or 耐耐 noí꜅ ꜂noí, now and then. Again the third word in the phrase 唱木魚 ch'öng꜄ múk꜁ ꜂yü, to sing songs in dialect does not take the third rising tone, as it does in Cantonese; nor does a picture 一幅畫 pronounced yat꜆ fúk꜆ ꜂wá for wá꜅ retain its book-language tone; neither does 妹 múï꜅ in 姊妹 ꜂tsz ꜂möíí go into the third rising tone as it often does in Cantonese; nor does 錢 ꜂ts'ín in 銀錢 ꜁ngan ꜂ts'ín, dollars, take this colloquial rising tone as it usually does in conversation in Cantonese; nor is 名 ming꜅ in 堂名 ꜁t'ong ꜁meng in this tone as it would often be in Cantonese. Again it is not used as an emphatic as in 唔 ꜂m I wo'nt, in Cantonese. There is again the loss of the distinctive use of the third rising tone in conveying a different meaning to a word, as in the employment of it with the word 話 wá꜅ in Cantonese to denote a dialect or language, this tone in Cantonese distinguishing this character when so used from the primary meaning of the word which means a word, &c. This is entirely wanting in the Höng Shan dialect where 話 wá꜅ retains its original tone and 聲 ꜀sheng is employed often where it would be used; but even where it (話 wá꜅) is used in this sense, it retains its original tone. The third rising tone in the Höng Shán dialect is shorter in duration of utterance, i.e. it passes through a shorter space in utterance than the Cantonese similar tone; and consequently this leads to its being possibly not quite so well pronounced and marked as in Cantonese, though it is distinct enough. There would seem to be some difference between some of the third rising tone words in Höng Shán: at all events this is noticeable in comparing the two words 來 lóí and 吃 yák in this third rising tone; the latter is much shorter in duration of sound than the former, and it also rises from a lower level—in fact it even at its close does not reach the level from which the former starts. This may also be noticed in Cantonese with regard to 嚟 ꜂laí and 吃 ꜂yák. The emphatic elongation and and consequently longer rise of this tone is an interesting feature very noticeable in Cantonese. It is higher in its inception than the Cantonese ordinary 上上 shöng shöng, upper rising tone, but appears to be of the same duration of sound.

The 中入, chung yap, middle entering tone, is between the Cantonese 上入 shöng yap, upper entering tone, and the Cantonese 中入, chung yap, being midway or about that between the two. It is shorter in duration than the Cantonese 中入 chung yap. It does not always follow that because a word is in the 中入 chung yap in Cantonese that it is in the 中入 chung yap in the Höng Shán dialect; lect; for instance 隻 chek꜆ is shöng yap in the Höng Shán instead of being a 中入 chung yap, and so in 捉 chuk꜆ 𡰪 tuk꜆ 壆 pok꜆ 駁 pok꜆ 𣐝 láp꜆, while 責 tsák꜆ and 鼈 pít꜇ are both in the 下入 há yap, lower entering tone, instead of being in the 中入 chung yap.

It will thus be seen from the above, that these extra tones in the Höng Shán dialect do not appear to be as fully developed as in the Cantonese—their use is not so extended as in the provincial city. It would appear very much as if the Höng Shán people were following, or had followed the Cantonese in their use of the three extra tones, but had not yet reached the extent to which the Cantonese have gone. It is impossible to say at present whether this supposition is only a plausible surmise or whether it is the real explanation of the case. It is reasonable to suppose that, even if they were all advancing originally together, the metropolis of the province would be more progressive than the country districts.

After this account of the tones it can readily be understood that the speech of the Höng Shán native at once betrayeth him, for he can scarcely open his lips before the lower tones into which he throws many words at once point him out; but besides this feature of lower tones, there are many other peculiarities which differentiate him in the matter of speech from his fellow-countrymen:—his peculiar use of 個 ko for this, the substitution of the duller sound of a before ng and k instead of retaining the sharp crisp i; and his other dialectic usages, some of which have been already pointed out, all proclaim him at once to hail from the 'fragrant hills' of the Macao district. Not least amongst these peculiarities are his constant use of different words—some new to the Cantonese and some used in a different manner and some used in a different sense to the Cantonese.—We now propose to give some illustrations of the different use of words—new and otherwise; but, before leaving the tones and doing so, we would just remark that the dialect of the San On district is somewhat similar to the Höng Shán in some respects, as regards the tones, but still there is a great difference and there is no danger of not being able to clearly distinguish men from each district. There is also a slight resemblance in the Tung Kwún dialect in some very few particulars as regards the tones. But otherwise the Höng Shán dialect appears to have very close affinities with the dialects of other districts, though, of course, it is possible that more extended study of the different dialects on the sea-girt coast of this province might bring to light more similarities.

As far as the writer has been able to discover, a solitary instance is found in the Höng Shán dialect in which it differs from the Cantonese in dropping the final in the 入 yap tones: the solitary instance is found in the word cockroach which is pronounced ⿰虫卡曱 ꜀k'a-ts'at꜇ (instead of 曱甴 kát꜇-tsát꜇, as in Cantonese) without the t to the first character.

Differences in words used.

As instances of words that differ in the Höng Shán from the Cantonese, we may cite the following:—耕仔 ꜀káng ꜂tsaí for farm labourers; to engage such is 請耕仔 ꜁tsy'eng ꜀káng ꜂tsaí or 請耕 ꜁tsyeng ꜀káng. 'A married woman⟨'⟩ is called a 夫娘 ꜀hú ꜁nöng, (this word is used in the Tung Kwún district and it is also used by the Hakkas) . The Kwong Tung San Yü says that this term is a rather ancient one.^[10] A bride or daughter-in-law is not called a 新 (or 心) 抱 ꜀san (or ꜀sam) ꜃p'o but a 新娘 ꜀san ꜁nöng. This latter word is used in Cantonese also; but it is employed much more extensively in Höng Shán, and is the common word there. ⿱亠甾 ꜃t'om is not used for a pit but 氹 ꜁t'am. This comes perhaps more under the heading of a different pronunciation than of a difference in words. 𫬀 ꜀tö is not used for the sound of a trumpet but 嘟 ꜀tú is employed instead. A bunch of keys is called a 抽 ꜀ts'aú and not a 唥 ꜀lang as in Canton. 𢆡 ꜀nín is not a word for milk in Höng Shán but ⿰女呢 ꜀ne is the word employed, and to suckle is 食⿰女呢 shak꜇ ꜀ne. This 上 平 shöng p'ing is a little lower than the ordinary 上平 in the Höng Shán. 砦 ꜂cháí (or rather ꜂tsáí) is seldom used for brothels in the villages in the Höng Shán district; but 老舉寮 ꜂lò ꜂kü ꜁líú takes its place generally; book words are used, however, in Macao and Shek-k'éí.

A place, spot, or the word 'here' is represented by ⿰口坭 naí, as:—he lives at his place (i.e. his house, &c.) 佢在佢⿰口坭住 ꜃kü tsôí꜄ ꜃k'ü ꜀naí chü꜄, not here 唔 在⿰口坭 ꜁m tsôí꜄ ꜀naí, sometimes is here 愛 時在⿰口坭 cí꜄ ꜁shí tsôí꜄ ꜀naí; so ⿰口坭 ꜀naí equals 處 shü꜄ in the Cantonese.

The classifiers are the same as in Canton, and used with the same words, and in the same way, with the single exception of 笪 tát꜇ which is not used in the villages as a classifier of them, the more bookish word 處 ch'ü being used in its stead. But in the large centres of trade 笪 tát꜇ is in use, as the inhabitants of such places have learned it from Cantonese traders. This single instance will show how a standard dialect exerts a dominant influence which tends to eliminate the peculiarities of other dialects in use in its vicinity. Examples of this same tendency towards copying the standard, as heard in Canton city, are to be seen in the approximation of the district city (Shek-k'éi) in its pronunciation of words to that of Canton. No doubt with the increasing facilities of intercourse, in the use of steam now being employed pretty well throughout the delta of the Canton River in the way of steam-launches as tow-boats for the native passage-boats, this tendency will make itself felt more and more until, with the advent of railways or even some more rapid method of intercommunication, it will have fulfilled one part of its mission by assisting in the development of a more uniform speech amongst those who are comparatively neighbours.

The sign of the genitive or possessive is not 嘅 ke꜄ as in Cantonese, but 個 ko꜄, as:—mine 我個 ꜂ngo ko꜄; ours 我哋 個 ꜂ngo tí꜄ ko꜄, and so on, the 嘅 ke꜄ not being used at all in Höng Shán; hence it may be said once for all that, where 嘅 ke꜄ is used in Cantonese, it is superseded by 個 ko꜄, whether following nouns or verbs or other parts of speech.

One of the most noticeable features in the Höng Shán dialect is the strange use of 'that' for 'this.' This continued substitution of the one demonstrative pronoun for the other is, to say the least of it, confusing to one accustomed to pure Cantonese; for the 'city man' to hear this persistent misuse of 'that' to represent' this' is perplexing in the extreme. Another word, of course, has to be employed for 'that,' it is the word ⿰口𫨸 ꜀nú⟨.⟩ ꜀Nú is, not, however, confined entirely to the Höng Shán people, as it is in constant use by the Nám Tau people (Nám T'au is the district city of the San On district), as well as by some others. The demonstrative pronouns there are as follows:—

This

𱒲個 ꜀ko ko꜄, or 該⿰口坭個 ꜀kôí ꜀naí ko꜄

That

⿰口𫨸個 ꜀nú ko꜄, or ⿰口𫨸⿰口坭 ꜀nú ꜀naí.

These

該⿰口坭個 ꜀kôí ꜀naí ko꜄, or 個⿰口坭 ko꜄ ꜀naí.

Those

⿰口𫨸⿰口坭個 ꜀nú ꜀naí ko꜄.

Of course this word ko꜄ is used in the same way as in Cantonese before 處 shü꜄ and other words, and before the different classifiers also; but always with the opposite meaning to what it has in Cantonese; for example, the words which would be used to stand for the idea of 'there' in Cantonese to a Höng Shán man would convey the meaning of 'here,' i.e. 個處 ko꜄ shü, is 'here.' The word 'some' is not represented by 啲 ꜀tí as in Cantonese, but ⿰口坭 ꜀naí is used, as:—Give some more 俾⿰口坭添 ꜃pí ꜀naí ꜀t'ím. A few examples will show how ⿰口坭 ꜀naí takes the place of 啲 ꜀tí:—

A very little

一⿰口坭仔 yat꜆ ꜀naí ꜂tsaí, or ⿰口坭仔 ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

The least bit

⿰口坭仔咁多 ꜀naí ꜂tsaí kam꜄ ꜀to.

A little better

好⿰口坭 ꜂hò ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

Quicker

快⿰口坭 faí꜄ ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

Dearer

貴⿰口坭 kwaí꜄ ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

Nearer

近⿰口坭 kan꜄ ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

⿰口坭 ꜀naí alone can be used in all these phrases as well as ⿰口坭仔 ꜀naí ꜂tsaí.

Instead of saying 汙糟 ꜀ò ꜀tso for dirty 嗏喇 ꜁ch'á ꜁là is employed (a term also used in Cantonese), but 嗏喇 ꜁ch'á ꜁lá also means haunted by ghosts, a use of the term not known in Cantonese. 昭 ꜀ts'íú is used for beautiful or nice looking instead of the word 靚 leng꜄⟨;⟩ 好彩 ꜂ho ꜂ts'oí, good luck or fortunate are replaced by 感謝 ꜂k'yám tse꜄.

For the phrase 細蚊仔有病 saí꜄ ꜀man ꜂tsaí ꜃yaú peng꜅, the child is sick, is substituted 細蚊仔⿲口禾乔事 saí꜄ ꜀man ꜂tsai ꜁k⟨'⟩íú sz꜄. 嚤 ꜀mo is not used alone for slowly but 嚤⿰口佗 ꜀mo ꜀t'o is used.

A common word for all is ⿺風都⿺風都 ꜁tú ꜁tú derived or rather copied from the Portuguese ⟨tudo⟩ and todo. The servants employed by the Portuguese use it to the exclusion of 喊𠾴唥 hám꜅ pá꜅ láng꜅; it is heard more ⟨at⟩ Macao than in the country, though it is understood throughout the district and used. Another word from the Portuguese which, however, is not used seriously but only in jest is the term lá꜄ ꜀lí ꜀lung, thief, robber from the Lusitanian ladrão, nor is a knowledge of this foreign word confined to the Macao or Höng Shán district.

'Sometimes' is represented by the words 愛時 ôí꜄ ꜁shí, as for example:—

Sometimes there is and sometimes there is not 愛時有愛時有 ôí꜄ ꜁shí ꜂yau, ôí꜄ ꜁shí ꜂mò. Sometimes he comes and goes 愛又來愛又去 ôí꜄ yaú꜄ ꜁lôí, ôí꜄ yaú꜄ höü꜄. 自家 tsí꜅ ꜀ka and 自己 tsí꜄ ꜂kí are used for self, though the latter is used more than the former. A curious interrogative 吥哪 pat꜆ ꜁níá is used. It also means 'any' as well as 'what?' As:—what wine is this？該⿰口坭個係吥 哪酒 ꜀koi naí꜄ ko꜄ haí꜄ pat꜆ ꜁níá ꜂tsau? 'What' has again another curious word representing, viz.:—呀哪 a꜄ ꜁níá, as:— What are you doing？你做呀哪 ꜂ní tso꜄ á꜄ ꜁níá? Have you got anything more to say? 你重有吥哪講 ꜂ní tsúng꜄ ꜂yau pat꜆ ꜁níá ꜂kóng? Something is 𡄟哪 ꜁há ꜁níá.

擠 ꜀chaí to put down anything, to place, is not found in the Höng Shán man's vocabulary, for he confines himself to the equally good Cantonese words 安 ꜀on and 放 fong꜄. To slap is 扲 ꜁k'am and not 摑 kwák_⸰, as in Cantonese. Instead of saying 𠰌埋嘴唇 mút꜆ ꜁máí ꜂tsöü ꜁shun as in Cantonese for pout, 嘟埋個 嘴 ꜀tú ꜁máí ko꜄ ꜂tsöü is used. 摩 ꜀mo, to grasp, takes the place of 撚 ꜂nan⟨,⟩ both good Cantonese words. The Cantonese 訥 nut꜇ for stammering, stuttering, &c. is replaced by 跀 kat꜇. 揾 ꜂wan, to look, is not heard from a Höng Shán man; he confines himself to the word 尋 ꜁ts꜀am. Of a woman who is pregnant, it is said 有男 孫 ꜃yáú ꜁nám ꜀sün, she has a male grandchild. To differ slightly is called 爭咡 ⿰口蟻 ꜀tsáng ꜀ngí ꜁ngai. The negative particle ꜃mai, do not, instead of being pronounced ꜃mai, is sounded môí꜄. 唨 ꜂cho is never used as a sign of past time; but 𡁞 ꜀háú is in constant use for that purpose. It is, probably, the same word as the Cantonese 嘵 ꜀híu, e.g. taken away in Höng Shán is 擰𡁞去 ꜀nang ꜀háú höü꜄. 在 tsôi꜄ takes the place of 喺 ꜂haí for to be at, &c. The latter is not used unless learned from the Cantonese. 看 hon꜄ is the common word for to see, 見 kín꜄ is seldom used; but the two together 看見 hon꜄ kín꜄ are used.

The contractions, or at all events some of them, common in Cantonese colloquial, appear to be eschewed by the Höng Shán speaker as 乜 ꜀mi in 乜野 ꜀mi ꜃ye? What? &c. and 𠱷 ꜁meng, for 唔曾 ꜁m ꜁ts꜀ang, not yet.

The conjunction and particle 嚊 pe꜅ is not used as a final nor as a disjunctive conjunction, but the conjunction 亦或 ak꜆ wák꜇ (Cantonese yik꜆ wák꜇) occurs. 吖 ꜀á is employed instead of it, á being then used as an interrogative, as:—

係噉吖亦或㸃呢 haí꜄ ꜂kam ꜀á, yik꜆ ak꜆ wák꜇ ꜂tim ꜀ne?

Is this so or how is it?

係噉吖㸃呢 haí꜄ ꜂kam ꜀á ꜂tím ꜀ne?

Is it so or how.

This construction is, of course, also good Cantonese. It reminds one of the 乜 á commonly used in the Swatow colloquial for for or; but in this latter case it is a true disjunctive conjunction and not the falling back upon an interrogative form as in the Höng Shán and Cantonese above. The prepositional 喺 ꜂haí is never used in Höng Shán, but 在 tsôí꜄ takes its place.

We get some new interjections and interjectional phrases in the Höng Shán, such as:—𭉩 ꜀p'oí instead of 𫪻 ꜀ch'í, tush! bosh! tut! 𠵈聲 môí꜄ ꜀sheng for the Cantonese 咪聲 ꜂maí ꜀sheng. This is due more perhaps to a difference in pronunciation. 唨哪咁吖 ꜀chü ꜁ne ꜂kam á? for 乜噉吖 mat꜆ ꜆kôm á꜄! What! The Höng Shánite expresses by his feelings saying ⿰口柯噯 ꜁o ꜂oí where the Cantonese would say 唉乜 ꜀aí yá꜄ which is never used. Instead of ꜁o ôí꜆ 啞⿰口矮 ꜁á ꜂áí. Of course these two phrases have many equivalents in English, expressive of surprise, &c. A still stronger phrase, expressing more surprise, is 嗚噅⿰口裔 ꜀ú ꜀waí ꜀yôí.

Some differences will also be noticed in the finals that are used in Höng Shán. To begin with, 嘅 ke꜄ is never used; 個 ko꜄ completely takes its place under every circumstance. The emphatic 唨 ꜂cho is not used, 咋 tsá꜄ ꜀tsá, also known in Cantonese, doing duty for it. 麽 mo in all its different tones must be struck out of the list of finals in the Höng Shán dialect and 𡀔嘛 lú꜄ ꜁má inserted in its stead. The very emphatic and noticeable 𡃓 po꜄ of the Cantonese is unknown in Höng Shán, but in lieu of it appears the compound final 個𡀔 ko꜄ lú꜄. The finals 喇 ꜀lá and 嚹 lá꜄ are not used, but 呀 á꜄ instead of 哩. 呀 á꜄ again taking its place, but 唎 le꜄ is used. This seems to be the only le used.

A new compound final is 囉㗒 lo꜄ ꜀ôí which does duty for another curious combination at the end of a sentence is 吱呢 ꜀chí ꜀ní e.g.，都係抬過來吱呢 ꜀tú ꜀laí꜄ ꜁t'oí ko꜄ ꜁lôí ꜀chí ꜀né. It was also only carried over, or all the same it was carried over. Another new interrogative particle is in use in the Höng Shán dialect which is unknown in Canton. It is 𭉚 ꜀áí, taking the place of the Cantonese 𫫃 e꜅, as, may I go with you? or I'll go with you, shall I? 我同你去𭉚 ꜂ngo ꜁t'ung ꜂ní hü꜄ ꜀áí?

The finals wá and wo, used in Cantonese in different tones and so expressive, signifying that the statement made is on hearsay, containing, if not the exact words, at least the gist of a statement made by some one else—these finals are not found in the Höng Shán dialect at all; but are replaced by a combination consisting of the words 𡄔囉 ꜀sheng ꜁lo, as 佢話唔識你 𡄔囉 ꜂kü wá꜄ ꜁m shak꜆ ꜂ní ꜀sheng ꜁lo. He says he does not know you, that is what he says.

The sharp sound of 呢 ꜁ni is changed to the duller 呢 ꜀ne in the Höng Shán dialect.

𠾵 ꜀chá is not often used as a final, but 啫嚰 che꜄ ꜁mo is employed instead⟨;⟩ 𠾵 ꜂chá and 咋 chá꜄ are never used.

A compound interrogative final is employed which is not found in Canton: it is 呀㗎 á꜄ ká꜄, as, will you come back? 翻來呀𡃉 ꜀fán ꜁lôi á꜄ ká꜄? These two finals are found in use separately in Canton; but not in combination.

A final not known in Canton, and which is used in combination with 嗎 má꜄, is ⿰口租 ꜀tsú, with the meaning of only, taking the place of the Cantonese final 呮 ꜀che, as:—He was only scolding you，佢不過閙 吓你⿰口租嗎 ꜂k'ü pat꜆ ko꜄ náú꜄ há꜅ ꜂ní ꜀teú má꜄?

The Kaí Chung variant.

The speech of 界涌 Káí꜄ ꜀Chung, a small village of 300 or 400 houses, a few hours journey from Macao, demands some attention in a paper purporting to deal, even though it be in a cursory manner, with the Höng Shán dialect.

The inhabitants of Káí꜄ ꜀Chung are descended from the Tán Ká, or boat people—that peculiar tribe of Cantonese, believed to be descendants of some of the aborigines of this portion of China.

The ancestors of the Káí꜄ ꜀Chungites, however, left their frail boats (a similar process on a very small scale appears to have gone on round us even in Hongkong) and settled themselves on terra firma. This change of residence is said to have taken place about two hundred years ago.

Naturally these humble scions of a despised race are ashamed to own their origin; and, though the majority of them are of this descent, yet amongst them are to be found others who were originally landsmen.

The speech then of this people forms & sub-dialect, or perhaps rather a curious variety, of the Höng Shán; for, with the single exception of the tones, it conforms exactly to the Höng Shán in pronunciation, idiom, and everything else, the only difference consisting in the peculiarity of some of the tones. Those who know anything about the tones in Chinese are aware that they alone are capable of differentiating one speech from another very widely.

The Káí꜄ ꜀Chung 上平 shöng p'ing, upper even tone, is much lower than in Canton or amongst the rest of the Höng Shán people, being a rising tone, lower than the Cantonese 上上 shöng shöng, an upper rising tone and higher in its inception and rise than the Cantonese 下上 há shöng, lower rising tone. Its duration of utterance is perhaps about the same as that of the Cantonese 下上.

The 上上 shöng shöng, upper rising tone, is not a descending tone, but a very slightly high, rising tone—much higher in its start than the Cantonese 上上 shöng shöng, which latter tone is not so high in musical pitch at its start, nor does its final stage reach the height that even the Káí꜄ ꜀Chung 上上 shöng shöng commences at. In short the whole tone from beginning to end is on a much higher scale than the Cantonese tone. Its duration is about the same as the Cantonese 上上 shöng shöng.

The 上去 shöng höü, upper retiring tone, is the same as in the Macao dialect and Cantonese.

The 上入 shöng yap, is the same as in the Macao and Cantonese.

The 下平 há p'íng, lower even tone, is different from both the Cantonese and Macao 下平 há p'íng. It is lower than the Cantonese 下平 há p'íng.

The 下上 há shöng, lower rising tone, is different from the same tone in Cantonese and Macao; but is the same as their own 上上 shöng shöng, upper rising tone. In fact there is no need to distinguish between the tones in Káí Chung, but they may be classed together as one tone, in this following the rest of the Höng Shán people whose two 上聲 shöng shing, rising tones, are the same.

The 下去 há höü lower retiring tone, is in common with the Macao 下去há höü, nearly the same as the Cantonese 上去 shöng höü, upper retiring tone.

The 下入 há yap, lower retiring tone, is the same as the Macao 下入 há yap.

The 中入 chung yap, medial retiring tone, is a trifle higher than the Káí Chung 下入 há yap, lower retiring tone, and there is quite a difference between it and the Macao 中入 chung yap, the latter being much higher in tone.

The third rising tone, the colloquial rising tone, is a very high one—much higher than either the Macao or Cantonese. It ends on the pitch of the Cantonese 上平 shöng p'íng, upper even tone. This is exemplified in the pronunciation of the word 來 ꜁lôi, to come; but for 吃 yak꜆, to eat, it is a much lower tone.

The colloquial highest even tone, as used in the word 孫 _⸰sün in Cantonese, is wanting in the Káí Chung series of tones.

The people of 前山 ꜁Ts'ín ꜀Shán, 沙尾 ꜀Shá ꜃Méí, 翠薇 Ts'öü꜄ ꜀méí, 古鶴 Kwú Hok꜇, 北山 Pak꜆ ꜀shán, 那洲 ꜁Nò ꜀Chaú 白石 Pák꜆ Sek꜇, containing it is said approximately about 400 or 500 families, and all situated within a short distance from Macao (a few hours by road), have in common with Káí Chung this same sub-dialect, but each place has its own local peculiarities, having some slight variations in the tones, the pronunciation of the words, as represented by an English spelling, being the same.

The following version of the Lord's Prayer in the Höng Shán dialect will give an idea of the pronunciation in vogue in that district. There is perhaps no use in marking the tones in, as it needs the living voice to illustrate perfectly what these are; but as they may give some little guide they are inserted. It must, however, be remembered that it is the tones that serve largely to give their peculiar distinctiveness to these dialects.

The Lord's Prayer.

꜂Ngo-tí꜄ ko꜄ Fú꜄ tsôí꜄ (bet. tsoí and tsúi) ꜀t'ín, Ngún꜄ ꜂ní ko꜄ ꜁meng haí꜄ sáng꜄. ꜂Ní ko꜄ kok꜆ k'ong꜄ (or kong꜄) ꜁lam. ꜂Ní ko꜄ ꜂chí-í꜄ tak꜆ ꜁sang tsau꜄, tsôí꜄ (bet. tsoí and tsuí) ti꜄, ꜂ho-꜂ts'í tsôí꜄ (bet. tsoí and tsuí) ꜀t'ín yat꜆ yông꜄. ꜂Ngo-tí꜆ ꜀aü-yung꜄ ko꜄ ꜁löng ꜀kyam yat꜇ ts꜀í꜄ ꜂ngo. Yau꜄ ꜂mín ꜂ngo-tí꜄ ko꜄ hím꜄-hú꜄, ꜂ho-꜂ts'í ꜂ngo-tí꜄ ꜂mín-꜀háú ꜁yan hím꜄-hú꜄ ꜂ngo ko꜄. Môí꜄ (bet. moí and muí) ꜂yan ꜂ngo-ti꜄ yap꜇ eí꜄-wák꜇, ꜂ts'ang kaú꜄ ꜂ngo ts'at꜆ tsôí꜄ (bet. tsoí and tsuí) ok꜆. ꜀Yan-waí꜄, kok꜆ á꜄, ꜁k'ün á꜄, ꜁ang á, ꜀káí haí꜄ ꜂ni ꜂yau tsi꜄ to꜄ saí꜄ saí꜄. ꜁Sang ꜀sam ꜂so ngún꜄.

In this specimen will be noticed the change of the initial to h which happens before the vowel u; the initial y changed to ng; the dropping of the h in sh and of w in kw; the y introduced after the initial k which happens in a few instances; the substitution of short a for í a very marked and universal trait of the dialect; the peculiar pronunciation of the ôí, between oí and uí—neither the one nor the other, but about midway between both; the employment of í instead of z as the use of long í (double ee) for éí, in Cantonese a final, and the use of au instead of íú in the sign of the past tense, híú which becomes háú; the change of ai in ꜃moú into the peculiar môí (between oí and uí) noticed above; the short u sound represented in Williams' system of orthography by short a, which short u (a) is used instead of the longer u in the word ch'ut in Cantonese; the repugnance to the w was shown already in k alone for kw, but even more marked when it is omitted entirely from the word ꜁wing, the further transposing of the vowel in this word already noticed almost puts the word beyond recognition when first heard; the sharper sound of ts for ch; and finally the employment of ko꜄ for the possessive.—All make up a sum total of changes not to be despised by any means, and when the tones come into play as well, the peculiarity and individuality of the dialect becomes most pronounced.

The Lord's prayer, as given above, contains ninety-three words and there are nearly half of the words pronounced differently from what they are in pure Cantonese, viz. forty-five. Again counting the same word only once (not counting it when it reappears), there are fifty-nine separate words and the words that are differently pronounced and used from what they are in Canton are twenty-five. A comparison like this may probably give a better idea of the great amount of the difference there is in some of these dialects from Cantonese, than a mere counting of the number of words which are represented by a different spelling from lists compiled for the purpose would show; for, if one only thinks about it, it is the whole body of the speech that differs, and this whole body of the speech is made up of many words; and a large proportion of the words which differ happen to be common words which occur over and over again in everyday speech, while some of the words that do not differ may be less used; ergo a comparison of the language as it is used is more likely to give a better idea of the differences.

1. For other papers on the dialects of Cantonese see China Review, Vol. XI, p. 236 and Vol. XII, p. 47 for the San Ning dialect by Rev. A. Don, Vol. XVIII, p. 178 for the San Wúí dialect by the present writer, and the same Vol. p. 284 for the Tung Kwún dialect also by the present writer. The papers on San Wúí and Tung Kwún dialect have been issued as separate pamphlets.
2. The Tung Kwún Dialect.
3. Williams' 'Middle Kingdom,' Vol. 1, p. 281.
4. 'Chinese Repository,' Vol. I, p. 395.
5. The Cross and the Dragon, p. 35.
6. 'Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,' Part V, p. 1855.
7. Transactions North China Branch R. A. S.
8. Henry's 'The Cross and the Dragon,' p. 35.
9. 'Cantonese Made Easy,' 2nd Edition, Introduction, p. VIII.
10. Under the heading of 土言 it says:—謂平人之妻曰夫娘，夫娘之稱頗古劉宋蕭齊崇尙佛法閣內夫娘令持戒夫娘謂夫人娘子也，廣州則以爲有夫之娘也。

Comparative syllabary of Cantonese and Höng Shán sounds.

Cantonese.	Typical Characters.	Höng Shán.
á	呀	á
aí	翳	aí[1]
áí	挨	áí
ak	渥	ak
ák	鈪	ák
am	唵	am[2]
ám	No such sound.
án	晏	án
ang	鶯	ang[3]
áng	甖	áng
ap	洽	ap
áp	鴨	áp
at	No such sound.
át	壓	át
aú	毆	aú
áú	拗	áú
chá	揸	tsá
ch'á	茶	ts'á
chaí	制	tsaí
cháí	齋	tsáí
ch'áí	差	ts'áí
chak	仄	tsak
ch'ak	測	ts'ak
chák	碃	tsák
ch'ák	册	ts'ák
cham	枕	tsam
ch'am	沉	ts'am
chám	斬	tsám
ch'ám	杉	ts'ám
chan	眞	tsan
ch'an	塵	ts'an
chán	盞	tsán
ch'án	產	ts'án
chang	箏	tsang
cháng	爭	tsáng
ch'áng	撐	ts'áng
chap	汁	tsap
cháp	閘	tsáp
ch'áp	插	ts'áp
chat	質	tsat
chát	札	tsát
ch'át	察	ts'át
chaú	周	tsaú
ch'aú	綢	ts'aú
cháú	找	tsáú
ch'áú	抄	ts'áú
che	遮	che
ch'e	車	ch'e
ch'ek	尺	ch'ek
cheng	正	tsang
chí	之	chí
ch'í	始	ch'í
chik	織	tsak
ch'ik	斥	ts'ak
chím	占	chím
ch'ím	諂	ch'ím
chín	氈	chín
ch'ín	纏	ch'ín
ching	正	tsang[4]
ch'ing	秤	ts'ang[5]
chíp	摺	chíp
chít	折	chít
ch'ít	設	ch'ít
chíú	朝	⟨chíú⟩
ch'íú	朝	ch'íú
cho	助	tso
ch'o	初	ts'o
chok	濯	tsok
chök	着	chök
ch'ök	綽	ch'ök
chong	狀	tsong
chöng	章	chöng
ch'öng	昌	ch'öng
chöü	追	tsúöü
ch'öü	吹	ts'úöü
chü	朱	chü
ch'ü	處	ch'ü
chuk	竹	tsuk
ch'uk	畜	ts'uk
chun	準	tsan[6]
ch'un	春	ts'an[6]
chün	甎	chün
ch'ün	穿	ch'ün
chung	中	tsung
ch'ung	充	ts'ung Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/107 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/108 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/109 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/110 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/111 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/112 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/113 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/114 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/115 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/116 Page:The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, Volume 22 1RZBAQAAMAAJ.pdf/117 |wú	烏	ú[7]
wuí	噲	waí[8]
wún	援	ún[9]
wút	活	út
yá	吔	yá[10]
yaí	𠯋	yaí
yák	喫	yíek[11]
yam	音	yam
yan	因	yan
yap	邑	yap
yáp	𫼸	yáp
yat	一	yat
yaú	有	yaú
yáú	拞	ngáú
ye	夜	ye
yí	伊	í[12]
yik	億	ak
yím	鹽	ím[13]
yín	煙	ín[14]
ying	嬰	ang[15]
yíp	葉	íp[16]
yít	𤍠	ngít[17]
yíú	夭	íú[18]
yök	約	yök
yöng	洋	yöng[19]
yöü	蕊	yôí
yü	于	ü[20]
yuk	欲	yuk
yun	潤	yan[21]
yün	冤	ün
yung	用	yung
yüt	穴	üt[22]

J. Dyer Ball.

1. Exceptions.—唉 and 矮 ái. The term 暑翳 shü aí is not used.
2. 掩 is ím.
3. In Shek K'éí or Höng Shán district city this is pronounced ing.
4. See above Cheng. In Shek K'éí this is tsing.
5. In Shek K'éí this is ts'ing.
6. In Shek K'éí these two are tsun and ts'un respectively.
7. Exceptions.—乎 fú; 壺, 弧, 糊, 狐, 瑚, 瓠, 糊, 胡, 戶, 葫 and 蝴 are hú; and ⿴行古, 醐, 餬, 鬍, 鶘, 塢, 祜 are kú.
8. Exceptions.—煨, 匯, 會, 蛕 are úöü; and 囘, 廻, 徊, 𭰁, 茴 are húöü.
9. Exceptions.—垣, 洹, 桓, 緩 are hún; 媛 is hün; 澣 and 晥 are kún; and 浣 is k'ún.
10. 也 is yá, or ye; 卄 is ngáp.
11. In Shek K'éí this is yák.
12. Exceptions.—儀, 兒, 宜, 疑, 爾, 議, 邇, 二 are ngí.
13. 炎, 嚴, 閻, 髯, 儼, 冉, 染, 驗, 豔 are ngím.
14. 延, 妍, 研, 現, 彥, 諺 and 見 are ngín; 言 is ngün, or ngín and 覽 and 莧 are hín.
15. Exceptions.—迎 and 認 are ngang; 影 and 暎 are yang.
16. Exceptions.—頁 hip; 業 and 鄴 are nyip.
17. Exceptions.—咽 and 噎 are ít; and 謁 is k'it.
18. Exceptions.—堯 and 姚 are ngíú but scholars sometimes call them íú.
19. In Shek K'éí this is yong.
20. Some fifty-nine of the large number of characters under this heading are ü as above, while the following, viz:—如, 嵎, 庾, 㥥, 愚, 榆, 洳, 漁, 禺, 虞, 蠕, 魚, 女, 汝, 語, 麌, 齬, 兪, 喩, 寓, 御, 瑜, 茹, 蕷, 遇 are pronounced 'ngü; 竽 is kòn; 蜍 is k'ü; 乳 is yü; and 煦 is hü.
21. In Shek K'éí this is yun.
22. Exceptions.—月 is ngüt throughout the district. In Shek K'éí 悅 is üt also; but the rest of this class may be pronounced yüt in Shek K'éí, though üt is the more common pronunciation.