Cantonese Pronunciation & Romanization Schemes

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Unlike Standard Mandarin, there has yet been a globally accepted romanization scheme for modern Cantonese. As a matter of fact, a dozen of different romanization schemes have been developed by various entities ranging from individual linguists to government agencies.^[1] The usage of such romanization schemes also differs widely, ranging from educational publications to official transcriptions and even formal linguistic annotations.

Below is a list of the few most common Cantonese romanization schemes in use to-day. (Despite being a native Cantonese speaker myself, I’m ashame that I still cannot use any of these schemes effortlessly... @_@

Initials/Onsets (initial consonant)

Articulation					IPA^†	X-SAMPA	Cantonese Romanization Schemes							Examples^‡
Place			Manner				S. L. Wong	Guangdong	Jyutping	HK Govt.	Yale	Sidney Lau	Meyer-Wempe
Active gesture	Active & passive place		Manner				S. L. Wong	Guangdong	Jyutping	HK Govt.	Yale	Sidney Lau	Meyer-Wempe
N.B.: Cantonese characters whose pronunciations begins in [ɑː], [ɐ], [ɔː] or [uː] (without any initial consonant) are sometimes pronounced with a [ŋ] initial, too. For example, the character “拗” may be pronounced as either [ɑːu˧˥] or [ŋɑːu˧˥].
N.B.: Modern Cantonese no longer distinguishes the alveolo-palatal sibilants ([ɕ], [ʨ] or [ʨʰ]). But they still continue to occur in complementary distribution with the alveolar sibilants ([s], [ʦ] or [ʦʰ]), making both groups allophones. Native Cantonese speakers usually pronounce the alveolar sibilants unless the following vowel is [iː], [ɪ] or [yː], in which case the alveolo-palatal is pronounced.
† IPA phonetic symbols may require Unicode support in your browser. ‡ Audio samples were extracted from eGuideDog Ekho (version 5.0.7), licensed under GPL v2.
Labial	Bilabial		Stop	Plain	[p]	p	b	b	b	p	b	b	p	波
			Stop	Aspirated	[pʰ]	p_h	p	p	p	p	p	p	p'	婆
			Nasal		[m]	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	摸
	Labiodental		Fricative		[f]	f	f	f	f	f	f	f	f	科
Coronal	Apical alveolar		Stop	Plain	[t]	t	d	d	d	t	d	d	t	多
			Stop	Aspirated	[tʰ]	t_h	t	t	t	t	t	t	t'	拖
			Nasal		[n]	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	挪
			Lateral approximant		[l]	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	罗
			Fricative	Sibilant	[s]	s	s₂	s	s	s⁄sh	s	s	s	梳
			Affricate	Plain	[ʦ]	ts	dz₂	z	z	ch⁄ts	j	j	ts	左
			Affricate	Aspirated	[ʦʰ]	ts_h	ts₂	c	c	ch⁄ts	ch	ch	ts'	初
	Palatalized postalveolar		Fricative	Sibilant	[ɕ]	s\	s	x	s	s	s	s	sh	思
			Affricate	Plain	[ʨ]	ts\	dz	j	z	ch⁄ts	j	j	ch	知
			Affricate	Aspirated	[ʨʰ]	ts\_h	ts	q	c	ch⁄ts	ch	ch	ch'	雌
Dorsal	Velar	plain	Stop	Plain	[k]	k	g	g	g	k	g	g	k	哥	缸
			Stop	Aspirated	[kʰ]	k_h	k	k	k	k	k	k	k'	卡	抗
			Nasal		[ŋ]	N	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	我
		labialized	Stop	Plain	[kʷ]	k_w	gw	gu	gw	kw	gw	gw	kw	姑	光
			Stop	Aspirated	[kʷʰ]	k_w_h	kw	ku	kw	kw	kw	kw	k'w	箍	狂
			Approximant		[w]	w	w	w	w	w	w	w	w⁄oo	华
	Palatal		Approximant		[j]	j	j	y	j	y	y	y	y⁄i	也
Laryngeal	Glottal		Fricative		[h]	h	h	h	h	h	h	h	h	何

Finals/Rhymes (nucleus, necleus + coda, syllabic nasal)

Different from that in Standard Mandarin, finals in Standard Cantonese consists of two kinds, depending on vowel length. Furthermore, the bilabial nasal coda [m] and plosive codas [p], [t] and [k] from Middle Chinese are preserved in Cantonese.

Articulation					IPA^†	X-SAMPA	Cantonese Romanization Schemes							Examples^‡^*
Tongue Position		Shape of Lips	Length	Coda			S. L. Wong	Guangdong	Jyutping	HK Govt.	Yale	Sidney Lau	Meyer-Wempe
Height	Backness	Roundedness	Length	Coda			S. L. Wong	Guangdong	Jyutping	HK Govt.	Yale	Sidney Lau	Meyer-Wempe
† IPA phonetic symbols may require Unicode support in your browser. ‡ Audio samples were extracted from eGuideDog Ekho (version 5.0.7), licensed under GPL v2. * Example characters in parentheses (‘(’ and ‘)’) shall be considered for their final rhymes only, whereas those in brackets (‘[’ and ‘]’) shall be considered for their colloquial pronunciation variants only.
Open	Back	Unrounded	Long	—	[ɑː]	A:	aa	a	aa	a⁄ah	a	a	a	呀	桠
				-i	[ɑːi]	A:i	aai	ai	aai	ai	aai	aai	aai	挨
				-u	[ɑːu]	A:u	aau	ao	aau	au	aau	aau	aau	拗
				-m	[ɑːm]	A:m	aam	am	aam	am	aam	aam	aam	(监)	(三)
				-n	[ɑːn]	A:n	aan	an	aan	an	aan	aan	aan	晏	(山)
				-ŋ	[ɑːŋ]	A:N	aang	ang	aang	ang	aang	aang	aang	罂	(盲)
				-p̚	[ɑːp̚]	A:p_}	aap	ab	aap	ap	aap	aap	aap	鸭
				-t̚	[ɑːt̚]	A:t_}	aat	ad	aat	at	aat	aat	aat	押	压
				-k̚	[ɑːk̚]	A:k_}	aak	ag	aak	ak	aak	aak	aak	轭	(客)
Near-open	Central	Unrounded	Short	-i	[ɐi]	6i	ai	ei	ai	ai	ai	ai	ai	矮
				-u	[ɐu]	6u	au	eo	au	au	au	au	au	欧
				-m	[ɐm]	6m	am	em	am	om	am	am	am⁄om	庵
				-n	[ɐn]	6n	an	en	an	an⁄un	an	an	an	(恩)	(分)
				-ŋ	[ɐŋ]	6N	ang	eng	ang	ung	ang	ang	ang	莺	(盟)
				-p̚	[ɐp̚]	6p_}	ap	eb	ap	ap⁄up	ap	ap	ap⁄op	(急)
				-t̚	[ɐt̚]	6t_}	at	ed	at	at⁄ut	at	at	at	(不)
				-k̚	[ɐk̚]	6k_}	ak	eg	ak	ak⁄uk	ak	ak	ak	(德)
Open-mid	Front	Unrounded	Long	—	[ɛː]	E:	e	é	e	e	e	e	e	诶	(爹)
				-u	[ɛːu]	E:u	—	—	eu	—	—	—	—	[掉]
				-m	[ɛːm]	E:m	—	—	em	—	—	—	—	[舐]
				-ŋ	[ɛːŋ]	E:N	eng	éng	eng	eng	eng	eng	eng	(镜)	(赢)
				-p̚	[ɛːp̚]	E:p_}	—	—	ep	—	—	—	—	[夹]
				-t̚	[ɛːt̚]	E:t_}	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	(坺)
				-k̚	[ɛːk̚]	E:k_}	ek	ég	ek	ek	ek	ek	ek	(尺)
Close-mid			Short	-i	[ei]	ei	ei	éi	ei	ei⁄ee⁄ay⁄ai	ei	ei	ei	(非)	(你)
Close	Front	Unrounded	Long	—	[iː]	i:	i	i	i	i⁄ze⁄z⁄ee	i	i	i	衣
				-u	[iːu]	i:u	iu	iu	iu	iu	iu	iu	iu	妖	腰
				-m	[iːm]	i:m	im	im	im	im	im	im	im	淹	艳
				-n	[iːn]	i:n	in	in	in	in	in	in	in	烟	燕
				-p̚	[iːp̚]	i:p_}	ip	ib	ip	ip	ip	ip	ip	叶
				-t̚	[iːt̚]	i:t_}	it	id	it	it	it	it	it	热
Near-close	Near-front		Short	-ŋ	[ɪŋ]	IN	ing	ing	ing	ing	ing	ing	ing	英
Near-close	Near-front		Short	-k̚	[ɪk̚]	Ik_}	ik	ig	ik	ik	ik	ik	ik	益	(式)
Open-mid	Back	Rounded	Long	—	[ɔː]	O:	o	o	o	o	o	oh	oh	柯
				-i	[ɔːi]	O:i	oi	oi	oi	oi⁄oy	oi	oi	oi	哀	爱
				-n	[ɔːn]	O:n	on	on	on	on	on	on	on	安
				-ŋ	[ɔːŋ]	O:N	ong	ong	ong	ong	ong	ong	ong	(康)	(丧)
				-t̚	[ɔːt̚]	O:t_}	ot	od	ot	ot	ot	ot	ot	(渴)
				-k̚	[ɔːk̚]	O:k_}	ok	og	ok	ok	ok	ok	ok	恶
Close-mid			Short	-u	[ou]	ou	ou	ou	ou	o	ou	o	o	奥
Close	Back	Rounded	Long	—	[uː]	u:	u	u	u	u⁄oo	u	oo	oo	乌
				-i	[uːi]	u:i	ui	ui	ui	ui	ui	ooi	ooi	煨	(杯)
				-n	[uːn]	u:n	un	un	un	un	un	oon	oon	碗
				-t̚	[uːt̚]	u:t_}	ut	ud	ut	ut	ut	oot	oot	活	(阔)
Near-close	Near-back		Short	-ŋ	[ʊŋ]	UN	ung	ung	ung	ung	ung	ung	ung	瓮
Near-close	Near-back		Short	-k̚	[ʊk̚]	Uk_}	uk	ug	uk	uk	uk	uk	uk	屋
Open-mid	Front	Rounded	Long	—	[œː]	9:	oe	ê	oe	eu⁄eo	eu	euh	oeh	(靴)
				-ŋ	[œːŋ]	9:N	eung	êng	oeng	eung⁄eong	eung	eung	eung	(香)
				-t̚	[œːt̚]	9:t_}	—	—	oet	—	—	—	—	(coet⁷)
				-k̚	[œːk̚]	9:k_}	euk	êg	oek	euk⁄eok	euk	euk	euk	(约)	(脚)
Close-mid	Central		Short	-y	[ɵy]	8y	eue	êu	eoi	ui	eui	ui	ui	(去)
				-n	[ɵn]	8n	eun	ên	eon	un	eun	un	un	(春)	(津)
				-t̚	[ɵt̚]	8t_}	eut	êd	eot	ut	eut	ut	ut	(律)	(卒)
Close	Front	Rounded	Long	—	[yː]	y:	ue	ü	yu	yu⁄u⁄ue	yu	ue	ue	于
				-n	[yːn]	y:n	uen	ün	yun	un⁄uen	yun	uen	uen	冤
				-t̚	[yːt̚]	y:t_}	uet	üd	yut	ut⁄uet	yut	uet	uet	月
Syllabic bilabial nasal				—	[m̩]	m=	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	唔	呣
Syllabic velar nasal				—	[ŋ̩]	N=	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	ng	五	吴

Tones

In spoken English, tones may be used to differentiate statements from questions: A falling tone at the end of a sentence usually denotes a statement (e.g., You are.), while a rising tone at the end usually denotes a question (e.g., You are?). Tones in Cantonese, like in Mandarin, however, are a lot more complicated. Tones are an integral part of each character’s pronunciation, which have to be maintained or varied throughout a sentence.

Traditionally, Cantonese pronunciation can be divided into nine (or even up to 14 to 15) tones. Due to the subtle differences between some falling and level tones, however, it is empirical that many annotation systems reduce that count to six. The contours of these six tones are illustrated on the right (they are also colour-coded accordingly in the table below).

Syllable Type	Name	Articulation		IPA^†		X-SAMPA	Cantonese Romanization Schemes								Examples^‡^*
Syllable Type	Name	Contour	Description	Tone Letters	Diacritics	X-SAMPA	S. L. Wong		Guangdong	Jyutping	HK Govt.	Yale	Sidney Lau	Meyer-Wempe	Examples^‡^*
† IPA phonetic symbols may require Unicode support in your browser. ‡ Audio samples were extracted from eGuideDog Ekho (version 5.0.7), licensed under GPL v2. * Example characters in brackets (‘[’ and ‘]’) shall be considered for their colloquial pronunciation variants only. § Tone annotations and romanizations are demonstrated with the syllable [siː]. ¶ Tone annotations and romanizations are demonstrated with the syllable [sɪk̚], except the Upper Entering Rising tone. # This tone appears only in some colloquial pronunciation variants like 笛 ([tɛk̚]).
Open syllable^§	Upper Level	55	high level	[si˥˥]	[sí]	si_T_T	ˈsi	1	1	1	—	sī	1⁰	si	诗	芬	三
	Upper Level	53	high falling	[si˥˧]	[sî]	si_T_M	ˈsi	1	1	1		sì	1	si		婚	三
	Upper Rising	35	medium rising	[si˧˥]	[sǐ]	si_M_T	ˊsi	2	2	2		sí	2	sí	史	粉	九
	Upper Departing	33	medium level	[si˧˧]	[sī]	si_M_M	ˉsi	3	3	3		si	3	sì	试	训	四
	Lower Level	21	low falling	[si˨˩]	[si̖]	si_L_B	ˌsi	4	4	4		sìh	4	sī	时	焚	零
	Lower Level	11	very low level	[si˩˩]	[sȉ]	si_B_B	ˌsi	4	4	4		sīh	4	sī	时	焚	零
	Lower Rising	23	low rising	[si˨˧]	[si̗]	si_L_M	ˏsi	5	5	5		síh	5	sǐ	市	奋	五
	Lower Rising	13	low rising	[si˩˧]	[si̗]	si_B_M	ˏsi	5	5	5		síh	5	sǐ	市	奋	五
	Lower Departing	22	low level	[si˨˨]	[sì]	si_L_L	ˍsi	6	6	6		sih	6	sî	事	份	二
Stopped syllable^¶	Upper Entering #1	5	high level	[sɪk̚˥]	[sík̚]	sik_}_T	ˈsik	7	1	1	—	sīk	1	sik	色	忽	七
	Upper Entering #2	3	medium level	[sɪk̚˧]	[sīk̚]	sik_}_M	ˉsik	8	3	3		sik	3	sìk	锡	发	八
	Lower Entering	2	low level	[sɪk̚˨]	[sìk̚]	sik_}_L	ˍsik	9	6	6		sihk	6	sîk	食	佛	六十
	Upper Entering Rising^#	45	high rising	[tɛːk̚˦˥]	—	tE:k_}_H_T	—	10	—	—		—	—	—	[笛]

References

《广州音字典：修订版（普通话对照）》，饶秉才编，广东人民出版社，2003年9月，ISBN-13：978-7-218-00050-3。
Chinese Character Database: With Word-formations, Phonologically Disambiguated According to the Cantonese Dialect. Research Centre for Humanities Computing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
S. L. Wong’s A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton. Research Centre for Humanities Computing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
《实用广州音字典（同音字并列·普通话对照）》，苏翰翀编著，中山大学出版社，1994年1月，ISBN-10：7-306-00670-3/H.35。
Standard Cantonese, Wikipedia, January 2009.
粤语拼音对照表，维基百科，2009年1月。
粵語網路課堂，香港中文大學語文自學中心，2009年3月。
MDBG free online Chinese-English dictionary.
User:Stewart/Cantonese, Wikipedia, January 2009.
广东话拼音，百度百科，2009年1月。
The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. UCLA Department of Linguistics, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.