Cantonese Lyrics

Cantonese Lyrics

In the current version of #1314, there are several songs written and sang in Cantonese lyrics. Let’s probe into the challenge in devising Cantonese lyrics.

As a common phenomenon among Cantonese lyrics, characters with tones unmatched to pitches are often mistaken as other words. Accompanied by music, Cantonese lyrics easily have their meanings altered, causing confusion for audience at times. The same problem does not concern lyrics in Mandarin Chinese or English though. Certain scenes of # 1314 contain singings of Shakespeare’s sonnets in original English. Their scores, in whatever style, do not give rise to any misunderstanding of verbal content.

This problem, unique to Cantonese, is caused by the dialect’s complex tonal system. Syllable with a slightly varied tone will be interpreted as another character.

Tonal System in Cantonese

The four tones in Chinese are level, rising, falling, and entering. The Cantonese dialect further divides these four tones into nine tones, by differentiating the first three each into yin (higher pitch) and yang (lower pitch), and the entering tone into three tones yin, middle, and yang.

Pronunciations of characters in the three entering tones is slightly different from the other six. A syllable that ends in nasals, that is ending in -m, -n and -ng, will change to a checked sound ending in -p, -t and -k respectively.

Tonal Pattern – Level and Oblique

As its name suggests, level refers to level tone; oblique tones, on the other hand, are rising, falling, and entering tones. The four tones are but high and low pitches. As a result, the regulation of tonal pattern in poetry is reasonably justified, as it generates the metre and makes the lines catchy. Likewise, lyrics, which have to fit in the melody, have a stricter demand on tones.

Some linguists argued that Cantonese, by retaining the entering tone, bears a stronger resemblance to ancient Chinese pronunciations. It is therefore easier to verify the tonal pattern of poetry through a Cantonese recital.

Comparing with Cantonese, the tonality in Mandarin is less complicated. And English is not a tonal language. Consequently, the issue of unmatched tones does not bother lyrics in these dialects.

Extended reading

Cantonese Phonics Express The Independent Learning Centre, Chinese University of Hong Kong

The website systemically introduces Cantonese vowels, consonants, and tunes. It also makes simple comparison of tunes between Cantonese and Mandarin. The website offers a practical means for learning Cantonese at the beginning level.

Participating Art Group:

Théâtre de la Feuille

Publisher:

Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Editor:

Cultural Connections

Design: PAPAPER

Date:

December, 2021

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