This page shows Hong Kong English phonology, i.e. phonetic realization of phonemes in English by people who have Hong Kong Cantonese as their mother tongue.
Some contents are removed due to update in 2021.
Structure
editA syllable of Hong Kong English is in the form (F)(C)V(C)(F)+Tone where F are any of the fricative [f, s, ɕ, t͡ɕ˭, t͡ɕʰ].
The first C can be any consonants below while the second C may only be one of [j, w, m, n, ŋ, p̚, t̚, k̚] or a fricative above.
Tone
editThis is the main feature of Hong Kong English.
Hong Kong English is a tonal language.
Hong Kong English has two tones (High, Low) phonemically and three tones (High, Low, Extra-low) allophonically.
TBD
Consonants
editIn word initial, /v/ is mostly pronounced [w], except for a few words like very [fɛ́ːwìː]. In the medial of a word, /v/ is mostly pronounced [w] for high tone and [f] for low tone (See the tone section above).
Some of the younger generations have developed the phoneme /ɹ/ for English, and they are able to pronounce /ɹ/ as [ɹ].
/b, p, d, t, g, k, x/ are elided before unreleased stops, after nasal consonants and diphthongs, and between any two other consonants.
/p, t, k/ are unaspirated [p˭, t˭, k˭] after /s/.
[ʃ], [t͡ʃʰ] and [t͡ʃ˭] are palatal [ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, t͡ɕ˭] for a portion of people.
/ɹ/ may be pronounced [w], and /l/ and /ɹ/ may be elided when they act as a part of consonant clusters.
/l/ and /n/ are mixed for a protion of people.
Possible realizations of consonants
editLabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [m] | [n] | [ŋ] | ||
Plosive | Unaspirated | [p˭] | [t˭] | [t͡ɕ˭] | [k˭] |
Aspirated | [pʰ] | [tʰ] | [t͡ɕʰ] | [kʰ] | |
Fricative | [f] | [s] | [ɕ] | [h] | |
Approximant | [l] | [j] | [w] |
([h] is glottal and [t͡ɕ˭] and [t͡ɕʰ] are affricate.)
Individual phonemes and their realizations
editSome sequences below may not occur in English, e.g. initial /ŋ/ and /x/.
Phoneme | Realizations | |
---|---|---|
Non-final | Final | |
/h/ | [h] | elided |
/ɹ/ | [w] | |
/l/ | [l] | [w] |
/n/ | [n] | [n] or [ŋ] |
/ŋ/ | [ŋ] | |
/b/ | [p˭] | [p̚] |
/p/ | [pʰ] | |
/d/ | [t˭] | [t̚] or [k̚] or [ʔ] |
/t/ | [tʰ] | |
/g/ | [k˭] | |
/k/ | [kʰ] | |
/x/ | [h] | |
/v/ | [w] or [f] | [f] |
/ð/ | [t˭] | |
/ʃ/ | [ʃ] or [s] | |
/ʒ/ | ||
/t͡ʃ/ | [t͡ʃʰ] or [t͡sʰ] | |
/d͡ʒ/ | [t͡ʃ˭] or [t͡s˭] | |
/f/ | [f] | |
/θ/ | ||
/s/ | [s] | |
/z/ | ||
/m/ | [m] | |
/j/ | [j] | |
/w/ | [w] |
Vowels
editIn the following, [ɐ] is transcribed [ʌ]. The actual pronunciation may be as high as [ɜ] but not as back as [ʌ].
According to the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, [ɪ] and [ʊ] are merged to [e] and [o] respectively.
[ʌ] may also be pronounced [aː] or [œː] for the phoneme /ə/ (but not /ʌ/).
[ɵ] and [y] are not included despite their presence in Cantonese. Note that [y] may be used as an echo-vowel after
Vowels are not necessary lengthened despite the presence of the symbol “ː”.
[i̯] and [u̯] are treated as [j] and [w] respectively.
Possible realizations of vowels
editFront | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unrounded | Rounded | |||
Close | [iː] | [uː] | ||
Close-mid | [e] | [o] | ||
Open-mid | [ɛː] | [œː] | [ʌ] | [ɔː] |
Open | [aː] |
Standard Lexical Sets
editThe following table shows the pronunciation of each diaphoneme in Hong Kong English.
Keyword | RP | GA | HK | Example words |
---|---|---|---|---|
PRICE | aɪ̯ | [aːj] | arrive, high, try, buy | |
[ʌj] | ripe, write, height | |||
MOUTH | aʊ̯ | [aːw] | loud, crowd, cow | |
[ʌw] | out, house, mouth | |||
LETTER | ə | ɚ | [ʌ] | paper, metre, calendar, figure |
STRUT | ʌ | cup, suck, budge, pulse, trunk, blood | ||
FLEECE | iː | i | [iː] | creep, speak, leave, feel, key, people |
HAPPY | ɪ | copy, scampi, taxi, committee, hockey | ||
KIT | ship, bridge, milk, myth, busy | |||
[e] | sick, kick, king, singing | |||
FACE | eɪ̯ | cake, steak, eight | ||
[ej] | raid, day | |||
[ɛː] | name, tape, veil | |||
DRESS | e | ɛ | step, neck, edge, shelf, friend, ready | |
TRAP | æ | tap, back, badge, scalp, hand, cancel | ||
BATH | ɑː | æ | dance, sample | |
[aː] | staff, ask | |||
PALM | ɑ | psalm, father, bra, spa, lager | ||
START | ɑ˞ | far, sharp, bark, carve, farm, heart | ||
COMMA | ə | catalpa, quota, vodka | ||
NURSE | ɜː | ɝː | [œː] | hurt, lurk, urge, burst, jerk, term |
LOT | ɒ | ɑ | [ɔː] | stop, sock, dodge, romp, possible, quality |
CLOTH | ɔ | cough, broth, cross, long | ||
THOUGHT | ɔː | taught, sauce, hawk, jaw, broad | ||
FORCE | o˞ | four, wore, sport, porch, borne, story | ||
NORTH | ɔ˞ | for, war, short, scorch, born, warm | ||
CHOICE | ɔɪ̯ | join, coin | ||
[ɔːj] | adroit, noise, toy, royal | |||
GOAT | əʊ̯ | o | [ow] | know, so, roll |
[o] | soap, joke, home | |||
FOOT | ʊ | look, cook | ||
[uː] | put, bush, full, good, wolf | |||
GOOSE | ʉː | ʉ | loop, shoot, tomb | |
jʉː | jʉ | [iːw] | mute, huge, view | |
CURE | ʊə̯ | ʊ˞ | [uː.ʌ] | poor, tour, plural, jury |
jʊə̯ | jʊ˞ | [iːw.ʌ] | pure, cure | |
NEAR | ɪə̯ | ɪ˞ | [iː.ʌ] | beer, sincere, fear, beard, serum |
SQUARE | ɛə̯ | ɛ˞ | [ɛː.ʌ] | care, fair, pear, where, scarce, vary |