Introduction
People usually refer to modern Standard Chinese, one of China’s most widely spoken varieties, when discussing the Chinese language. In turn, linguists refer to Standard Chinese as Standard Northern Mandarin, colloquially known as Mandarin (Lee, 2022). However, the word may also apply to the Mandarin dialect group rather than its historical standard. Nevertheless, the present work uses the terms “Chinese” and “Mandarin” interchangeably.
Furthermore, Cantonese is commonly considered one of the Chinese dialects. It originated in Guangzhou, China’s southernmost province (Wakefield, 2019). Cantonese has expanded to many other nations as a result of Chinese migration, and it is one of the principal languages of Hong Kong, where public officials use it for formal communication. The language is also used in everyday life in Hong Kong and is the primary language of instruction in many schools.
Although Cantonese and Mandarin appear fairly similar, users of the two languages typically have difficulty understanding each other. Most connections are found in vocabulary, while the differences are primarily in phonology, which is further discussed in the paper.
Comparison of Standard Chinese and Cantonese
Before describing their phonology, several significant differences between Standard Chinese and Cantonese should be considered. For example, Mandarin is spoken in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore, whereas Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and Guangdong provinces (Lee, 2022). Cantonese employs traditional Chinese characters, whereas Mandarin uses modernized Chinese characters. In contrast, Cantonese employs the Jyutping romanization system, whereas Mandarin employs Pinyin (Lee, 2022).
Furthermore, these dialects have different pronunciations, which is reflected in their phonology. As a result, while Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken differently, they share the same basic writing system: Chinese characters (Lee, 2022). This implies that Mandarin and Cantonese speakers will not be able to comprehend each other’s words. However, they could both grasp the same writing system and converse effectively with each other.
Phonetics
Cantonese and Mandarin are tone languages, suggesting that the phonetic character of vocalic tone affects the meanings of lexemes. Specifically, the tone is a suprasegmental property in a language, which implies it cannot be confined to a mere segment or phoneme. Hence, different tones can signify the difference between two syllables with the same phonemic value. Standard Chinese contains four tones: flat, one that rises, one that falls and then rises, and one that falls (Shen, 2020).
There is also the option of uttering a syllable with no tone, which some describe as the fifth tone (Shen, 2020). In turn, Cantonese has six major tones, and although several researchers claim there are nine tones, some are exceedingly minor versions of the primary tones (Wakefield, 2019). More precisely, Cantonese has three tonal registers – low, mid, and high – with flat tones and rising and falling tones between some of these (Wakefield, 2019). Therefore, Cantonese and Standard Chinese differ phonologically in their tones.
Syllables
Furthermore, the syllable structure of Mandarin and Cantonese deserves specific attention. As such, there are numerous forms of syllable structure in these languages. A Chinese syllable is generally separated into initials, finals, and tones.
In Mandarin, an initial is a consonant that represents the start of a syllable and cannot exist on its own (Shen, 2020). In Cantonese, most syllables begin with an initial consonant, and fewer consonants than in Chinese can begin a syllable. However, an initial consonant is not required in Cantonese, and syllables lacking an initial consonant are referred to as having an empty initial (Wakefield, 2019).
Moreover, Cantonese does not have consonant clustering at the beginning of a syllable (Wakefield, 2019). Furthermore, rolled finals are common in spoken Mandarin (Shen, 2020). Northern Chinese people roll their tongues when uttering particular words (typically nouns and verbs) in everyday conversations. In contrast, people from southern China and Cantonese speakers infrequently use such syllables (Lee, 2022). Therefore, although Cantonese and Chinese share similar elements in their syllables, they have distinct rules and uses for the initials and finals.
Tones
Another feature of phonology that warrants attention is the phenomenon of tone sandhi. Tone sandhi is a phonological alteration that occurs in tonal languages. Namely, the tones allocated to specific words or lexemes vary depending on how nearby words or lexemes are pronounced. Several circumstances cause tone shifts in Mandarin Chinese. As such, each Chinese character has its own initial tone; however, when combined with other symbols, some of these initial tones can alter. Some tone shifts are discretionary, while others are essential.
When the third tone is mixed with other characters, the tone nearly always changes (Shen, 2020). For example, when two successive third tones exist in a group, the initial third tone turns into a second tone (Shen, 2020). The widely used character bù is subject to the following tone change regulation. The character bù’s native tone is fourth (Shen, 2020). However, when succeeded by another fourth tone, bù is sounded as a second tone.
In turn, tone sandhi, or shifts in tonal qualities in particular phonetic circumstances, is usually considered absent in modern Cantonese. Cantonese includes lexical derivation, which requires a tone shift; many debates examine both tone changes simultaneously (Lee, 2022; Wakefield, 2019). For example, Cantonese has a high falling tone from high to mid. This tone is generally the predominant realization in some sentence-final elements, such as contractions in current colloquial Hong Kong Cantonese (Wakefield, 2019). Otherwise, it is not distinguishable from the high-level tone.
As a result, with the gradual fading of this differentiation, the sandhi rule became redundant as the two tones merged into a single tone (Wakefield, 2019). To summarize, although Chinese has a tone sandhi feature in its phonology, the Cantonese dialect does not appear to exhibit this phenomenon.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Chinese and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, despite sharing a common writing system. The most significant difference in these language varieties lies in phonology. As such, Mandarin and Cantonese employ different pronunciations, which makes the speakers of each variety utter the sounds of the exact words differently.
However, contrast is more apparent in the structural phonology of these dialects. Namely, Chinese and Cantonese are well-known tonal languages. Yet, the number of tones used by each dialect differs between the two tonal systems. Moreover, although Mandarin exhibits tonal change, known as the tone sandhi feature, Cantonese does not employ this phonological phenomenon. Finally, the dialects have different rules for using syllable elements, namely, initials and finals, which result in different pronunciations of the Chinese characters by the speakers of the described dialects.
References
Lee, P. P. (2022). Focus manifestation in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese: A comparative perspective. Routledge.
Shen, Z. (2020). A phonological history of Chinese. Cambridge University Press.
Wakefield, J. C. (2019). Cantonese as a second language: Issues, experiences and suggestions for teaching and learning (1st ed.). Routledge.