Cantonese Tone Tool
January 12th, 2006 by MarkMy Pinyin Tone Tool, being a fast and convenient tool that is neither slow (requiring server queries) like the fool’s workshop’s tool, nor buggy and incomplete like the fozza tool, has attracted some interest over on Chinese-Forums.
Some people requested a Cantonese tone tool. Since I just wrote one for Mandarin a few months ago, I figured it would be pretty easy to make one for Cantonese and help everyone out. Unfortunately, I no NOTHING about Cantonese except that it’s the language of choice for movies about gambling, gangsters and mad, mad kung-fu action. If you speak Cantonese and are interested in this tool, please check my new Cantonese Tone Tool. I’m not sure about a few things, though.
1) Is this the correct display for ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 ma5 ma6 and ma7?
mà mā má ma máh màh mah
2)Can “ng” be an independent syllable with a tone mark?
3)What are the rules for adding the “h” for fifth, sixth, and seventh tones if the syllable is a dipthong?
:
January 13th, 2006 at 5:29 am
Thanks a lot for your effort!
So, jung3 leui5 cham4 ta1 chin1 baak3 dok6。
is converted to júng léhui cham tà chìn báak dòhk。
This is our pattern:
ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 ma5 ma6 ma7
mà mā má ma máh màh mah
léhui is incorrect - should be léuih, but dòhk is good - H is inserted at the end of a final (could be one vowel or a diphtong) but before the final - -t, -p, -n, ng, etc.
Thanks for the effort, I’ll try to check a bit more later. Could I have a look at the codes, please? (canto-tonetool.js)
January 13th, 2006 at 5:37 am
>>2)Can “ng” be an independent syllable with a tone mark?
Yes, it can. E.g. number 5 (五 is ng5)
>>3)What are the rules for adding the “h” for fifth, sixth, and seventh tones if the syllable is a dipthong?
As in my previous comment, “h” is inserted after the diphthong but before the final. m, n, ng, k, p, t.
i is part of the diphtong, not final (e.g. paai)
All possible syllables are in the attached spreadsheet on the Chinese forums.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
It’s at
http://toshuo.com/scripts/canto-tonetool.js
I think I may end up re-writing the whole thing after I get home from work tonight, though. The fact that the “h” can be separated from the vowel with the tonemark means that I’ll have to completely change the tones, mvowel, and ngvowel arrays.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
It’s a bit of a kludge, but the problem’s fixed. Check it out.
January 20th, 2006 at 1:20 am
Wow, you are a really handy with those scripts. I shall call you The Javaman!
Keep the good work coming!
BTW, I’ve been taking advantage of your Pin-yin tone tool and hope it’ll make it more comprehendable for my readers. Big thanks!
January 20th, 2006 at 1:20 am
“handyman” I mean…