How to speak British, course 206
Hong Kong English:
The accent of English spoken in Hong Kong follows mainly British, with rather strong influence from Cantonese on the pronunciations of a few consonants and vowels, and sentence grammar and structure. Since the Handover to the PRC, English in Hong Kong remains primarily a second language, in contrast to Singapore where English has been shifting toward being a first language.
Intonation in Hong Kong English dialect includes: omission of entire “r-“ syllables in longer words; difference becomes tifens, and temperature becomes tempit͡sœ. Words beginning with the unstressed syllable con- are generally pronounced with its stressed form [khan] with a lower pitch, e.g. connection, consent, condition. Words beginning with the stressed syllable com- e.g. competition, common and compromise are pronounced [khǎm]. The schwa [In linguistics– specifically phonetics and phonology–schwa [IPA symbol ⟨ə⟩], is placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it usually represents the mid central vowel sound (rounded or unrounded), produced when the lips, tongue, and jaw, are completely relaxed. Exaggeration of certain final consonants, for example “s” to [sil] and “d” sounds of the past-tense form of verbs to [tetl].
As expected, there are significant difference in the Hong Kong dialect that developed from native Cantonese speakers: Pronouncing the silent “w”, “h” sounds in words like Green-wich (instead of Grenitch), Bon-ham, Chat-ham, Beck-ham are often reflected in the transliteration of the words; for example, Beckham is transliterated/pronounced [pɪk̚˥ haːm]. Some words and phrases widely understood in Hong Kong are rare or unheard of elsewhere. These often derive from Chinese, Anglo-Indian, or Portuguese/Macanese. For example: chop=seal which originated from [colonial Indian English]; Tai-Pan/taipan=[Chinese] daai baan is a term used in the early 20th century for a business executive of a large corporation; live-in servant=amah/a ma, from Macanese/Portuguese ama’ [nurse}. It has now been supplanted by “domestic helper” in the spirit of political correctness.
A shroff =[a cashier, in a hospital, a government office, or a car park, and a parking garage; godown= warehouse, from the Malay gudang. The ultimate origins were traced to the Indian subcontinent. Nullah [a concrete or stone-lined canal or a reinforced creek bed used to contain run-off.] Nullah entered the English language from Hindi. Jetso=discount/special offer. ga yau=[Add oil, a direct translation of Chinese, an exclamatory entreaty of encouragement] which became popularized by the Umbrella Movement. Lai see, a transliteration of the Cantonese term also referred to as “red envelopes”/“red packets”, from a Mandarin term for red envelopes bearing auspicious Chinese phrases or characters containing money and handed out as gifts, particularly during the Lunar New Year festival.
Bead/bird=bid; bed=bad; this=zis; those=dos; think=sink; light=night (and vice versa); fool=foo; rice=wise; vine=wine; she=see; miss=missi; help=hell; “May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Jones?”=“May I take our coats, Mr. and Mrs. Jones?”
