Yale romanization of Cantonese

	Yale
Traditional Chinese	耶魯
Simplified Chinese	耶鲁
; Cantonese Yale;	Yèh-lóuh
	;
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Yèh-lóuh
IPA	[jɛ̏ː.lo̬u]
Jyutping	Je4lou5
	;

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Yale romanization of Cantonese was developed by Gerard P. Kok for his and Parker Po-fei Huang's textbook Speak Cantonese initially circulated in looseleaf form in 1952^[1] but later published in 1958.^[2] Unlike the Yale romanization of Mandarin, it is still widely used in books and dictionaries, especially for foreign learners of Cantonese.
It shares some similarities with Hanyu Pinyin in that unvoiced, unaspirated consonants are represented by letters traditionally used in English and most other European languages to represent voiced sounds. For example, [p] is represented as b in Yale, whereas its aspirated counterpart, [pʰ] is represented as p.^[3] Students attending The Chinese University of Hong Kong's New-Asia Yale-in-China Chinese Language Center are taught using Yale romanization.^[4]

Initials[edit]

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

Finals[edit]

a [aː] 沙	aai [aːi̯] 晒	aau [aːu̯] 筲	aam [aːm] 三	aan [aːn] 山	aang [aːŋ] 省	aap [aːp̚] 圾	aat [aːt̚] 殺	aak [aːk̚] 客
	ai [ɐi̯] 西	au [ɐu̯] 收	am [ɐm] 心	an [ɐn] 新	ang [ɐŋ] 生	ap [ɐp̚] 十	at [ɐt̚] 失	ak [ɐk̚] 塞
e [ɛː] 些	ei [ei̯] 四				eng [ɛːŋ] 聲			ek [ɛːk̚] 石
i [iː] 司		iu [iːu̯] 消	im [iːm] 閃	in [iːn] 先	ing [eŋ] 星	ip [iːp̚] 攝	it [iːt̚] 舌	ik [ek̚] 色
o [ɔː] 蔬	oi [ɔːy̯] 鰓	ou [ou̯] 酥		on [ɔːn] 看	ong [ɔːŋ] 康		ot [ɔːt̚] 割	ok [ɔːk̚] 各
u [uː] 夫	ui [uːy̯] 灰			un [uːn] 寬	ung [oŋ] 風		ut [uːt̚] 闊	uk [ok̚] 福
eu [œː] 靴	eui [ɵy̯] 去			eun [ɵn] 信	eung [œːŋ] 上		eut [ɵt̚] 摔	euk [œːk̚] 削
yu [yː] 書				yun [yːn] 孫			yut [yːt̚] 雪
			m [m̩] 唔		ng [ŋ̩] 吳

Only the finals m and ng can be used as standalone nasal syllables.

Tones[edit]

Graphical representation of the tones of six-tone Cantonese.

Modern Cantonese has up to seven phonemic tones. Cantonese Yale represents these tones using a combination of diacritics and the letter h.^[5]^[6] Traditional Chinese linguistics treats the tones in syllables ending with a stop consonant as separate "entering tones". Cantonese Yale follows modern linguistic conventions in treating these the same as the high-flat, mid-flat and low-flat tones, respectively.

No.	Description	Chao tone number	Yale representation
1	high-flat	55	sī	sīn	sīk
1	high-falling	52	sì	sìn
2	mid-rising	25	sí	sín
3	mid-flat	33	si	sin	sik
4	low-falling	21	sìh	sìhn
5	low-rising	23	síh	síhn
6	low-flat	22	sih	sihn	sihk

Examples[edit]

Traditional	Simplified	Romanization
廣州話	广州话	Gwóngjàuwá
粵語	粤语	Yuhtyúh
你好		Néih hóu

Sample transcription of one of the 300 Tang Poems by Meng Haoran:

春曉孟浩然	Chēun híu Maahng Houh-yìhn
春眠不覺曉，	Chēun mìhn bāt gok híu,
處處聞啼鳥。	chyu chyu màhn tàih níuh.
夜來風雨聲，	yeh lòih fūng yúh sīng,
花落知多少？	fā lohk jī dō síu?

References[edit]

^ Huang, Parker Po-fei (1965). Cantonese Sounds and Tones. New Haven, CT: Far Eastern Publications, Yale University. p. Foreword..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em

^ The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language, p. 40.

^ "Cantonese". Omniglot. Retrieved 2016-10-27.

^ "CUHK Teaching Materials". Retrieved 2016-10-27.

^ Ng Lam & Chik 2000: 515. "Appendix 3: Tones. The student of Cantonese will be well aware of the importance of tones in conveying meaning. Basically, there are seven tones which, in the Yale system, are represented by the use of diacritics and by the insertion of h for ..."

^ Gwaan 2000: 7. "Basically, there are seven tones which, in the Yale system, are represented by the use of diacritics and by the insertion of h for the three low tones. The following chart will illustrate the seven tones: 3 Mid Level, 1 High Level, 5 Low Falling, 6 Low Level..."

External links[edit]

Comparison chart of Romanization for Cantonese with Yale, S. Lau, Guangdong, Toho and LSHK (uses Shift JIS encoding)

MDBG free online Chinese-English dictionary (supports Cantonese Yale romanization)

Online Chinese Character to Yale Romanization of Cantonese lookup Conversion tool

[1] Huang, Parker Po-fei (1965). Cantonese Sounds and Tones. New Haven, CT: Far Eastern Publications, Yale University. p. Foreword..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em

[2] The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language, p. 40.

[3] "Cantonese". Omniglot. Retrieved 2016-10-27.

[4] "CUHK Teaching Materials". Retrieved 2016-10-27.

[5] Ng Lam & Chik 2000: 515. "Appendix 3: Tones. The student of Cantonese will be well aware of the importance of tones in conveying meaning. Basically, there are seven tones which, in the Yale system, are represented by the use of diacritics and by the insertion of h for ..."

[6] Gwaan 2000: 7. "Basically, there are seven tones which, in the Yale system, are represented by the use of diacritics and by the insertion of h for the three low tones. The following chart will illustrate the seven tones: 3 Mid Level, 1 High Level, 5 Low Falling, 6 Low Level..."

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