Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation - Chinese Language

March 8, 2014


		1 Introduction 2 Usage 3 Phonology 4 See also 5 External links

Chinese Chinese Language

Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation

Wikipedia

Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation (not an official title) is the method of romanisation used in Hong Kong. This article illustrage and explain how the proper nouns in Hong Kong are transcribed and romanised, and the corresponding pronunciations of the spellings with respect to International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA and Jyutping.
RCL

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Usage

It is used in romanising names of people, when the applicant do not produce one by her/himself, and geographical names, for places which do not have an English name.

For place names, "Street" and "Road" are often used instead of "Do" and "Kai", with just a handful of rare examples (e.g. Lan Kwai Fong). "Wan" and "Bay", "Tsuen" (or "Chuen") and "Estate", are, however, equally common. Some places, such as "Un Long", was later renamed as "Yuen Long" according to this standard.

When the romanisations are spoken in an English conversation, they are pronounced in the English manner. A good everyday example are the broadcast of the names of stations on MTR trains.

Some Internet instant messenger users, who are having problem to type in Han characters|Chinese characters, model this rule of romanisation to communicate.

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Phonology

It is not a fully standardised system, and many of the phonemes correspond to more than one letter combination, or the other way round. All tones are omitted. Distinctions between aspirated and unaspirated stops are also omitted.

Under the following table, geographical names are used to illustrate. (Biographical names are not used as people have the right to decide how their names be romanised, although the same rule usually applies.)

Consonants
Initials

International Phonetic Alphabet\|IPA	Jyutping	Romanisation	Example	in Chinese
p/pʰ	p	p	Sai Ying Pun	西營盤
b/p	b	p	Po Lam	寶琳
t/tʰ	t	t	Tuen Mun	屯門
d/t	d	t	Tai O	大澳
k/kʰ	k	k	Kai Tak	啟德
g/k	g	k	Tai Kok Tsui	大角嘴
kw/kʰw	kw	kw	Kwai Chung	葵涌
gw/kw	gw	kw	Kwun Tong	觀塘
m	m	m	Yau Ma Tei	油麻地
n	n	n	Nam Cheong	南昌
ŋ	ng	ng	Ngau Tau Kok	牛頭角
l	l	l	Lam Tin	藍田
f	f	f	Fo Tan	火炭
s	s	s sh	So Kon Po Shau Kei Wan	新蒲崗筲箕灣
h	h	h	Heng Fa Chuen	杏花邨
j	j	y	Yau Tong	油塘
w	w	w	Wong Tai Sin	黃大仙
ts/tsʰ	c	ch ts	Heng Fa Chuen Yau Yat Tsuen	杏花邨又一村
dz/ts	z	ch ts	Chung On Estate Tai Kok Tsui	頌安邨大角嘴

Finals

International Phonetic Alphabet\|IPA	Jyutping	Romanisation	Example	in Chinese
-p	-p	-p	Ap Lei Chau	鴨脷洲
-t	-t	-t	Yau Yat Tsuen	又一村
-k	-k	-k	Shek O	石澳
-m	-m	-m	Sham Shui Po	深水埗
-n	-n	-n	Kwun Tong	觀塘
-ŋ	-ng	-ng	Kwun Tong	觀塘

Vowels

International Phonetic Alphabet\|IPA	Jyutping	Romanisation	Example	in Chinese
ɑ	aa	a ah	Yau Ma Tei Wah Fu Estate	油麻地華富邨
ɐ	a	a o u	Tsz Wan Shan Hung Hom Sham Chun River	慈雲山紅磡深圳河
ɛ/e	e	e	Che Kung Miu	車公廟
ɪ/i	i	i ze z ee	Tsing Yi Sheung Sze Wan Tsz Wan Shan Tat Chee Avenue	青衣相思灣慈雲山達之路
ɔ	o	o	Wo Che	禾輋
ʊ/u	u	u oo	Kwun Tong Mei Foo	觀塘美孚
?	eo oe	eu eo u	Sheung Wan Nam Cheong Shun Lee Estate	上環南昌順利邨
y	yu	u ue	Yu Chau Street Yung Shue Wan	汝州街榕樹灣
ɑɪ	aai	ai	Chai Wan	柴灣
ɐɪ	ai	ai	Mai Po	米埔
ɑʊ/ɑu	aau	au	Shau Kei Wan	筲箕灣
ɐʊ/ɐu	au	au	Sau Mau Ping	秀茂坪
eɪ	ei	ei ee ze ay	Lei King Wan Lee On Shap Sze Heung Kam Hay Court	鯉景灣利安十四鄉錦禧苑
ɪʊ	iu	iu	Yiu Tung Estate	耀東邨
ɔɪ	oi	oi oy	Choi Hung Estate Choy Yee Bridge	彩虹蔡意橋
ʊɪ/uɪ	ui	ui	Pui O	貝澳
?y	eoi	ui	Sham Shui Po	深水埗
əʊ	ou u	o u	Tai Mo Shan Tung Chung	大帽山東涌
m	m	m	m koi *	唔該
ŋ	ng	ng	Ng Tung River	梧桐河

* no geographical example.

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