Sidney Lau romanisation explained

pronounced as /notice/

Sidney Lau romanisation is a system of romanisation for Cantonese that was developed in the 1970s by Sidney Lau for teaching Cantonese to Hong Kong Government expatriates. It is based on the Hong Kong Government's Standard Romanisation which was the result of the work of James D. Ball and Ernst J. Eitel about a century earlier.

Innovation

Lau's singular creative step was to indicate tonality with superscript numbers so as to do away with diacritics entirely.^[1] His system was a plain attempt at simplification which proved popular with western learners of Cantonese as a second language and was initially the system of romanisation adopted by the University of Hong Kong.^[2] However, the university now employs the Jyutping system for its Cantonese courses.^[3]

Initials

b pronounced as //p// 巴	p pronounced as //pʰ// 怕	m pronounced as //m// 媽	f pronounced as //f// 花
d pronounced as //t// 打	t pronounced as //tʰ// 他	n pronounced as //n// 那		l pronounced as //l// 啦
g pronounced as //k// 家	k pronounced as //kʰ// 卡	ng pronounced as //ŋ// 牙	h pronounced as //h// 蝦
gw pronounced as //kʷ// 瓜	kw pronounced as //kʷʰ// 誇			w pronounced as //w// 蛙
j pronounced as //ts// 渣	ch pronounced as //tsʰ// 叉		s pronounced as //s// 沙	y pronounced as //j// 也

Finals

In his system, Lau treats /ɵ/ and /o/ as allophones of one phoneme represented with "u", while they are often respectively regarded as allophones of /œ:/ and /u:/ in other systems.^[4]

	Coda
∅	pronounced as //i//	pronounced as //u//	pronounced as //m//	pronounced as //n//	pronounced as //ŋ//	pronounced as //p̚//	pronounced as //t̚//	pronounced as //k̚//
Vowel	pronounced as //aː//	a pronounced as //aː// 沙	aai pronounced as //aːi̯// 徙	aau pronounced as //aːu̯// 梢	aam pronounced as //aːm// 三	aan pronounced as //aːn// 山	aang pronounced as //aːŋ// 坑	aap pronounced as //aːp̚// 圾	aat pronounced as //aːt̚// 剎	aak pronounced as //aːk̚// 客
	pronounced as //ɐ//		ai pronounced as //ɐi̯// 西	au pronounced as //ɐu̯// 收	am pronounced as //ɐm// 心	an pronounced as //ɐn// 新	ang pronounced as //ɐŋ// 笙	ap pronounced as //ɐp̚// 濕	at pronounced as //ɐt̚// 失	ak pronounced as //ɐk̚// 塞
	pronounced as //ɛː// pronounced as //e//	e pronounced as //ɛː// 些	ei pronounced as //ei̯// 四				eng pronounced as //ɛːŋ// 鄭			ek pronounced as //ɛːk̚// 石
	pronounced as //iː//	i pronounced as //iː// 詩		iu pronounced as //iːu̯// 消	im pronounced as //iːm// 閃	in pronounced as //iːn// 先	ing pronounced as //eŋ// 星	ip pronounced as //iːp̚// 攝	it pronounced as //iːt̚// 洩	ik pronounced as //ek̚// 識
	pronounced as //ɔː//	oh pronounced as //ɔː// 疏	oi pronounced as //ɔːy̯// 開	o pronounced as //ou̯// 蘇		on pronounced as //ɔːn// 看	ong pronounced as //ɔːŋ// 康		ot pronounced as //ɔːt̚// 喝	ok pronounced as //ɔːk̚// 索
	pronounced as //uː//	oo pronounced as //uː// 夫	ooi pronounced as //uːy̯// 灰			oon pronounced as //uːn// 寬			oot pronounced as //uːt̚// 闊
	pronounced as //ɵ// pronounced as //ʊ//		ui pronounced as //ɵy̯// 需			un pronounced as //ɵn// 詢	ung pronounced as //ʊŋ// 鬆		ut pronounced as //ɵt̚// 摔	uk pronounced as //ʊk̚// 叔
	pronounced as //œː//	euh pronounced as //œː// 靴					eung pronounced as //œːŋ// 商			euk pronounced as //œːk̚// 削
	pronounced as //yː//	ue pronounced as //yː// 書				uen pronounced as //yːn// 孫			uet pronounced as //yːt̚// 雪
	∅				m pronounced as //m̩// 唔		ng pronounced as //ŋ̩// 五

Tones

Tone symbol	Tone description	Example
		Romanization	Word	Meaning
1° or N°	high flat	si^1°	詩	poem
		ga^1 je^2°	家姐	elder sister
1	high falling	tim^1	添	final particle expressingthe idea of addition or regret.
2 or N*	mid rising	si^2	史	history
		dik^1 si^6*	的士	taxi
3	mid flat	si^3	試	try
4	low falling	si^4	時	time
5	low rising	si^5	市	city
6	low flat	si^6	是	is

1° indicates the high flat tone. If ° appears after any other tones, it signifies a changed tone and that the word is to be pronounced as 1°, but 1° is not the original/normal tone of the word. Similar to °, if * appears after any tones apart from tone 2, it indicates that the word is to be pronounced as tone 2, but tone 2 is not the original/normal tone of the word.^[5]

External links

• Explanation of Sidney Lau's Cantonese Romanization System
• Cantonese writing, with information on Sidney Lau romanisation
• Cukda Cantonese IME

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pronunciation Guide – Initials. Sidney Lau. 3 April 2017.
2. Kataoka. Shin. Lee. Cream. A System without a System: Cantonese Romanization Used in Hong Kong Place and Personal Names. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics . 11. 2008. Chinese University of Hong Kong.
3. Web site: Certificate in Chinese Language courses for foreign students. School of Chinese. University of Hong Kong. en-US. 2019-01-21.
4. Web site: Pronunciation Guide – Finals. Sidney Lau. 3 April 2017.
5. Web site: Pronunciation Guide – Tones. Sidney Lau. 3 April 2017.