--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
>
> Mandarin Cantonese Japanese
> 1 yi(-) yat(\) ichi
> 2 er(\) yi(_) ni
> 3 san(-) saam(\) san
> 4 shi(\) sei(_) shi (also native /yon/)
> 5 wu(//) ng(//) go
> 6 liu(/) lok(/) roku
> 7 qi(-) chat(\) shichi
> 8 ba(-) baat(\) hachi (from *pachi)
> 9 jiu(//) gao(/) kyuu
> 10 shi(/) sap(/) juu
>
> Tones are given in parentheses:
>
> - high tone (Pinyin Mandarin "1")
> _ low tone
> / rising tone (mid-to-high; Pinyin Mand. "2")
> // rising tone (low-to-mid; Pinyin Mand. "3")
> \ falling tone (Pinyin Mandarin "4")
>
The Cantonese numerals were not quite right, particularly the tones
given. Cantonese has 9 basic tones as opposed to Mandarin's 4. I
has preserved the 8 tones of ancient Chinese (though not the actual
values) and split one tone, the upper entering, into two - an upper
and middle register. The numeral should actually be:
1 yat(')
2 yi(_)
3 saam(\)
4 sei(--)
5 ng(_/)
6 luk(.)(not 'lok')
7 chat(')
8 baat(-)
9 gao(-/)
10 sap(.)
Where:
' is a high clipped tone
\ a high falling tone
-- a middle level tone
- a middle clipped tone
-/ a middle rising tone
_ a low level tone
_/ a low rising tone
. a low clipped tone
The 'clipped' tones are those the end in stops, 'p', 't' and 'k'.
They are the 'entering' tones of ancient Chinese.
Cheers,
Brian Beck