李晓婷
( 广东东软学院外国语学院）
The trend of global integration is getting faster and faster, and the exchanges between the various nations in the world are increasing. As a part of culture, language is not only the carrier and expression of culture, but also the most important means of cultural transmission and inheritance. Cantonese, as the core for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is greatly influenced by English language.
Influence of English on Cantonese
Cantonese words have similar characteristics to English vocabulary. Cantonese has its own voice and tone system. Cantonese originally had nine tones, and only six were commonly used, which is "nine tones and six tones."
There are 26 phonetic letters in Cantonese, 22 initials, and 53 finals. The names of the letters are the same as in English. No language can be said without pronunciation. Cantonese is rich in vowels. First of all, it includes five basic letters a, e, I, O, U of English vowels. It also covers 12 monosyllabic and 8 diphthongs. Vowels are the soul of English pronunciation, which is more beneficial for Cantonese speaking children to learn English. For example, “派头”,which pronounces similar to “pride” in English, “木独”,which pronounces similar to “moody” in English, “依靠”,which pronounces similar to “ecology” in English. Thus, the mastery and understanding of phonetic symbols are the basis for students to effectively and truly learn English listening and speaking in the future.
Cantonese mainly absorbs English Loanwords in three forms(Wu, 1997): the first is transliteration, which refers to the translation of loanwords into Chinese characters with similar pronunciation, such as的士(taxi), 巴士(bus),车厘子(cherry), etc.; the second is semi-transliteration, in which transliteration is used in the first half and free translation is used in the second half, such as 波鞋(ball shoes), 三文鱼(salmon), 果酱(jam), etc. And the third is semi free translation, in which free translation is used in the first half, and transliteration is used in the second half. Examples includes我呢次考试肥佬咗(I failed in this exam), in which the pronunciation of”肥佬” is similar to “fail” but they means completely different liberally; and another example is 你好茶煲啊(you’re troublesome), in which “茶煲” and “trouble” sound similarly but means differently.
The absorption of English influences the way people speaks Cantonese. Some people mixed English vocabulary in the conversation, and then slowly transformed it from the pronunciation. People assimilate English pronunciation by replacing and adding or removing syllables, to make it completely Cantonese, and then spread to the society.
Conclusion
Language and society are closely related. In any living language, new words will appear constantly. The more developed the society is, the more and faster creation and popularity of new words are. A considerable number of Cantonese loanwords in English are the result of long-term contacts and exchanges among Chinese, British, and Americans. The Greeter bay Area as a melting pot of diverse languages and cultures must show its diversity in its original language, Cantonese.
References:
[1] Wu Huijian, The Loanwords in Cantonese from English [J], Journal of Guangdong Education Institute,1997(03):86.
项目信息：2020年佛山社科项目：粤港澳大湾区背景下粤语语言文化的传承之机遇与挑战研究，2020-GJ052)