Hello everyone,
I have a few questions regarding the dictionary.
The Jyutping section of the Cantonese dictionary will usually only list one pronunciation for compound words where one of the characters has both a literary and colloquial pronunciation. Does this indicate that the listed pronunciation is the only one used in that particular compound, or would people still use the other pronunciation. Otherwise, would this instead be the preferred / more popular pronunciation? How about the ones which do have a slash in the Jyutping section; does this indicate that all the pronunciations are equally as common?
For example, 成功 is listed as sing4 gung1; however, would people also pronounce this as seng4 gung1. Conversely, 成日 is listed as seng4 jat6 but could it also be pronounced as sing4 jat6.
Furthermore, although this may be slightly unrelated to the subject, 不 and 不同 are listed as "used in both Cantonese and Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese". Is this a mistake? Or can they indeed both be used in spoken Cantonese. I was under the impression that 唔 was always used where Mandarin would use 不. Moreover, all the compounds with 不同 are listed as Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only. How about 成語 which use characters like 不 or characters, which are otherwise not used in spoken Cantonese? Could they be used in spoken Cantonese (without it sounding awfully strange)? I have noticed that a few other compounds which I expected to be Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only were not marked so, or compounds which contained characters marked as Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only did not have Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese as well in the compound. I do not have any examples on the top of my head, but are these intentional or unintentional?
I am only just beginning in Cantonese; so, I am unable to answer these questions myself, nor do I have any Cantonese friends to ask.
Thank you kindly in advance.
Sincerely,
Varbird
I have a few questions regarding the dictionary.
The Jyutping section of the Cantonese dictionary will usually only list one pronunciation for compound words where one of the characters has both a literary and colloquial pronunciation. Does this indicate that the listed pronunciation is the only one used in that particular compound, or would people still use the other pronunciation. Otherwise, would this instead be the preferred / more popular pronunciation? How about the ones which do have a slash in the Jyutping section; does this indicate that all the pronunciations are equally as common?
For example, 成功 is listed as sing4 gung1; however, would people also pronounce this as seng4 gung1. Conversely, 成日 is listed as seng4 jat6 but could it also be pronounced as sing4 jat6.
Furthermore, although this may be slightly unrelated to the subject, 不 and 不同 are listed as "used in both Cantonese and Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese". Is this a mistake? Or can they indeed both be used in spoken Cantonese. I was under the impression that 唔 was always used where Mandarin would use 不. Moreover, all the compounds with 不同 are listed as Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only. How about 成語 which use characters like 不 or characters, which are otherwise not used in spoken Cantonese? Could they be used in spoken Cantonese (without it sounding awfully strange)? I have noticed that a few other compounds which I expected to be Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only were not marked so, or compounds which contained characters marked as Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese only did not have Mandarin / Standard Written Chinese as well in the compound. I do not have any examples on the top of my head, but are these intentional or unintentional?
I am only just beginning in Cantonese; so, I am unable to answer these questions myself, nor do I have any Cantonese friends to ask.
Thank you kindly in advance.
Sincerely,
Varbird