A NEW LOOK AT CANTONESE EXPLETIVES
[11
have a fairly clear idea of what is a word; with some doubt for forms like CAN'T and SHAN'T. Chinese is not so certain. In the written language the tendency is to regard each character as a word, though even in the classical writing some words, like ZEOE-JRYR78 are clearly disyllables, neither half occurring without the other; and this becomes more so in the Chinese Buddhist writing, whether with direct transliterations like SHEKGHAAHMROWN-REYTM79 for Sakyamuni, abbreviations like NRIPPRUUNN80 for Nirvana, SHAAHNREY81 for Śramaneya, PROWSAAT82 for Bodhisattva, translations like GWHUUNNJHAMM83 for Avalokitesvara, or part-abbreviations-part-translations like BUUT-JREOK-(or BOJREAK-)-SHAMM-GHENQ84 for the Prajñāparamita Sutra.
Where syllables are closely bound I think it better to keep "syllable" for each syllable and call the bound group a "word”. As soon as we do this, we can observe a pattern of stress or ictus, just as in English and other polysyllabic languages. "Words” as defined above may consist of single syllables, two syllables (very common), three or four syllables, but rarely more than four. And just as in English, we may distinguish a primary stress with strong ictus and a secondary which may be weak or very weak; and in three- and four-syllable “words" a tertiary stress. With the distinction that in Cantonese a few monosyllables have null ictus (absence of stress) as a significant feature distinguishing them in meaning.
Then, as in English, two or more "words" may be joined together to form a phrase. And the phrase has a stress-pattern of its own which can override the word pattern.
Applying the modern descriptions to these superfixes in Cantonese, I distinguish four levels of stress (including null) and four kinds of junction-strong, weak, null and less-than-null, by which last I mean an obligatory break like the caesura in Latin poetry. This incidentally is a feature in the reading of seven-syllable TRONQ85 and SUNG's poetry, where it regularly occurs between the fourth and fifth syllables.
77齟齬 82觀音
78釋迦牟尼 83般若心經
79涼怨
80沙彌 84痣
81菩薩 85
8.菩薩
A NEW LOOK AT CANTONESE EXPLETIVES
[11
have a fairly clear idea of what is a word; with some doubt for forms like CAN'T and SHAN'T. Chinese is not so certain. In the written language the tendency is to regard each character as a word, though even in the classical writing some words, like ZEOE- JRYR" are clearly disyllables, neither half occurring without the other; and this becomes more so in the Chinese Buddhist writing, whether with direct transliterations like SHEKGHAAHMROWN- REYTM for Sakyamuni, abbreviations like NRIPPRUUNN” for Nirvana, SHAAHNREY for Śramaneya, PROWSAAT1 for Bodhisattva, translations like GWHUUNNJHAMM82 for Avalo- kitesvara, or part-abbreviations-part-translations like BUUT- JREOK-(or BOJREAK-)-SHAMM-GHENQ3 for the Prajñāpara- mita Sutra.
Where syllables are closely bound I think it better to keep "syllable" for each syllable and call the bound group a "word”. As soon as we do this, we can observe a pattern of stress or ictus, just as in English and other polysyllabic languages. "Words” as defined above may consist of single syllables, two syllables (very common), three or four syllables, but rarely more than four. And just as in English, we may distinguish a primary stress with strong ictus and a secondary which may be weak or very weak; and in three- and four-syllable “words" a tertiary stress. With the distinction that in Cantonese a few monosyllables have null ictus (absence of stress) as a significant feature distinguishing them in meaning.
Then, as in English, two or more "words" may be joined together to form a phrase. And the phrase has a stress-pattern of its own which can override the word pattern.
Applying the modern descriptions to these superfixes in Cantonese, I distinguish four levels of stress (including null) and four kinds of junction-strong, weak, null and less-than- null, by which last I mean an obligatory break like the caesura in Latin poetry. This incidentally is a feature in the reading of seven-syllable TRONQ84 and SUNG's poetry, where it regularly occurs between the fourth and fifth syllables.
77齟齬 82 觀音
78 釋迦牟尼 83 般若心經
79 涼怨
84痣
80 沙彌 85
8.菩薩
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