Comments on: L=N, a sound you won’t hear in Beijing http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/03/ln-a-sound-you-wont-hear-in-beijing/?&owa_medium=feed&owa_sid= Home of the Beijing Sounds Studios: productions mostly of language through foreign ears Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:08:32 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Claw http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/03/ln-a-sound-you-wont-hear-in-beijing/comment-page-1/#comment-28382 Claw Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:34:37 +0000 http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/?p=80#comment-28382 I should note that not all Mandarin hu- initial words correspond to Cantonese f- initial words though. All the other ones correspond to Cantonese w- initial; so it looks like the h- was completely dropped in those words (e.g., 湖 wu﹑华 wa﹑环 waan﹑黄 wong﹑回 wui﹑魂 wan﹑或 waak). Hmm... as I was writing this comment, I just noticed something interesting. All the ones that became f- in Cantonese have 阴 tones (which corresponded to unvoiced initial consonants in Middle Chinese) while all the ones that became w- have 阳 tones (which corresponded to voiced initial consonants in Middle Chinese). I should note that not all Mandarin hu- initial words correspond to Cantonese f- initial words though. All the other ones correspond to Cantonese w- initial; so it looks like the h- was completely dropped in those words (e.g., 湖 wu﹑华 wa﹑环 waan﹑黄 wong﹑回 wui﹑魂 wan﹑或 waak).

Hmm… as I was writing this comment, I just noticed something interesting. All the ones that became f- in Cantonese have 阴 tones (which corresponded to unvoiced initial consonants in Middle Chinese) while all the ones that became w- have 阳 tones (which corresponded to voiced initial consonants in Middle Chinese).

]]> By: Claw http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/03/ln-a-sound-you-wont-hear-in-beijing/comment-page-1/#comment-28381 Claw Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:21:48 +0000 http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/?p=80#comment-28381 @Zev: That's an interesting note about the f-/h- interchange. I always wondered why certain words in Mandarin that have an hu- initial correspond to Cantonese words that have an f- initial (e.g., 虎 fu﹑花 fa﹑欢 fun﹑荒 fong﹑灰 fui﹑婚 fan﹑火 fo). Your theory definitely provides an explanation. @Zev: That’s an interesting note about the f-/h- interchange. I always wondered why certain words in Mandarin that have an hu- initial correspond to Cantonese words that have an f- initial (e.g., 虎 fu﹑花 fa﹑欢 fun﹑荒 fong﹑灰 fui﹑婚 fan﹑火 fo). Your theory definitely provides an explanation.

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