Home Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments

  • Werner Botha EMAIL logo and Lawrie Barnes
Published/Copyright: October 10, 2015

Abstract

This article considers how meaningful social differences are conveyed through the use of initial and final segments in Macau Cantonese. The research presented in this article provides a sociolinguistic account of the use of initial and final segments in Macau Cantonese, and specifically illustrates how social meanings of initials and finals are variable, and do not only subsume explanations that derive from internal linguistic constraint categories. This study employed an eclectic and multidimensional sociolinguistic approach that combines sociolinguistic survey methods, social network theory and constructionist approaches, with a view to accounting for the dynamics underlying initial and final segment variation in Macau Cantonese. Results of this study indicate that social constraints such as conversation topic, the affective relations between interlocutors, and other social factors such as gender and social class possibly impinge on the distribution and use of initials and finals in Macau Cantonese.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Transcription key (adapted from Du Bois (1991))

:

Speaker turn

[ ]

Speech overlap

.

Final

?

Appeal

\

Falling tone

/

Rising tone

^

Primary accent/stress

`

Secondary accent/stress

=

Lengthening

…(N)

Long pause

Medium pause

..

Short pause

(0)

Latching

( )

Linguistic variables

(H)

Audible inhalation

@

Laughter

<Q Q>

Quotation quality

/ /

Phonetic transcription

<X X>

Uncertain hearing

1–9

Tones

Appendix 2: Words elicited in the survey interviews

Part A: Initials

[kw-] vs. [k-]

gwa1 ‘melon’

gwai1 ‘tortoise’

kwan4 ‘skirt’

[ŋ-] vs. [ʔ-]

ngau4 ‘cow’

ngaap3 ‘duck’

ngo5 ‘me/I’

[ts-] vs [t∫-]

jeuk3 ‘bird’

jyu1 ‘pig’

cheun1 ‘Spring’

[n-] vs. [l-]

naam4 ‘South’

nai4 ‘mud’

neui5 ‘woman’

nyun5 ‘warm’

Part B: Finals

[-m] vs. [-n]

naam4 ‘South’

saam1 ‘three’

sam1 ‘heart’

tim4 ‘sweet’

[-p] vs. [-t]

sap1 ‘wet’

ngaap3 ‘duck’

sap6 ‘ten’

yip6 ‘leaf’

[-ŋ] vs. [-n]

leng3 ‘beautiful’

ying1 ‘fly’

leung5 ‘two’

[-k] vs. [-t]

baak3 ‘hundred’

uk1 ‘house’

juk1 ‘catch’

jeuk3 ‘bird’

References

Bauer, Robert S. 1982. Cantonese sociolinguistic patterns. Berkeley, CA: University of California PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Bell, Allan. 1984. Language style as audience design . Language in Society 13. 145–204.10.1017/S004740450001037XSearch in Google Scholar

Boersma, Paul & David Weenink. 2010. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer. http://www.praat.org/ (accessed 25 February 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Botha, Werner. 2012. Dimensions in variationist sociolinguistics: A sociolinguistic investigation of language variation in Macau. Pretoria: University of South Africa MA dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Botha, Werner & Lawrie Barnes. 2013. Variation in the use of sentence final particles in Macau Cantonese . Chinese Language and Discourse 4(2). 276–295.10.1075/cld.4.2.05botSearch in Google Scholar

Borgatti, Steve P., Martin G. Everett & Lin C. Freeman. 2002. Ucinet 6 for Windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard: Analytic Technologies.Search in Google Scholar

Bourgerie, Dana S. 1990. A quantitative study of sociolinguistic variation in Cantonese. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Briggs, Charles L. 1986. Learning how to ask: A sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139165990Search in Google Scholar

Chan, May. 2012. Innovative sound changes in Hong Kong Cantonese: The case of syllable-final consonant alveolarisation. Paper presented at the Workshop on Innovations in Cantonese Linguistics meeting, The Ohio State University, Columbus.Search in Google Scholar

Cheng, Teresa. 1968. The phonological system of Cantonese (Project on linguistic analysis (reports). Berkley, CA: The University of California.Search in Google Scholar

Chinese Government. 1993. The basic law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Macao: Legal Affairs Bureau.Search in Google Scholar

Clayton, Cathryn Hope. 2001. “If we are not different, we will cease to exist”: Culture and identity in transition-era Macau. Santa Cruz, CA: University of California PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Cook, Guy. 1989. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Du Bois, John W. 1991. Transcription design principles for spoken discourse research . Pragmatics 1(1). 71–106.10.1075/prag.1.1.04boiSearch in Google Scholar

Eckert, Penelope. 2000. Linguistic variation as social practice. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the indexical field . Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4). 453–476.10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00374.xSearch in Google Scholar

Ho, Miu-Tai. 2004. A sociolinguistic investigation of Cantonese in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Colchester: University of Essex PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Labov, William. 2006 [1966]. The social stratification of English in New York City, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511618208Search in Google Scholar

Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Search in Google Scholar

Li, Wei. 1994. Three generations, two languages, one family: Language choice and language shift in a Chinese community in Britain. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Search in Google Scholar

Li, Wei & Lesley Milroy. 1995. Conversational code-switching in A Chinese community in Britain: A sequential analysis . Journal of Pragmatics 23. 281–299.10.1016/0378-2166(94)00026-BSearch in Google Scholar

Liao, Sze Wei. 2010. Identity, ideology, and language variation: A sociolinguistic study of Mandarin in central Taiwan. Davis, CA: University of California PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Macao Special Administrative Region Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). 2011. Usual languages in Macao. http://www.dsec.gov.mo/Statistic.aspx?NodeGuid=8d4d5779-c0d3–42f0-ae71– 8b747bdc8d88 (accessed 18 July 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Milroy, Lesley. 1980. Language and social networks, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Milroy, Lesley. 1987. Observing and analyzing natural language data. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Pan, Peter G. 1982. Hong Kong Cantonese: A sociolinguistic perspective. In Working papers in linguistics and language teaching. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong.Search in Google Scholar

Rampton, Ben. 1999. Styling the other: Introduction . Journal of Sociolinguistics 3(4). 421–427.10.1111/1467-9481.00088Search in Google Scholar

Schiffrin, Deborah. 1994. Approaches to discourse. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 2004. Constructing ethnicity in interaction . Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(2). 163–195.10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00257.xSearch in Google Scholar

Silverstein, Michael. 1985. Language and the culture of gender: At the intersection of structure, usage and ideology. In Elizabeth Mertz & Richard J. Parmentier (eds.), Semiotic mediation: Sociocultural and psychological perspectives, 219–259. New York: Academic Press.10.1016/B978-0-12-491280-9.50016-9Search in Google Scholar

Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life . Language and Communication 23. 193–229.10.1016/S0271-5309(03)00013-2Search in Google Scholar

Stoessel, Saskia. 2002. Investigating the role of social networks in language maintenance and shift . International Journal of the Sociology of Language 153. 93–131.10.1515/ijsl.2002.006Search in Google Scholar

Trudgill, Peter. 1974. The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Yeung, Suk-Wah Helen. 1980. Some aspects of phonological variations in the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University MA dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Yip, Moira Jean Winsland. 1980. The tonal phonology of Chinese. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2015-10-10
Published in Print: 2015-11-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 5.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijsl-2015-0027/html
Scroll to top button