《唐字调音英语》与二十世纪初香港粤语的声调

English Made Easy and the Tone System of Hong Kong Cantonese at the Beginning of the 20th Century

百年来香港粤语语音变化很大,其间有关调值的记录有很多争论,特别是阴平调以及高平变调的问题。本文指出约在二十世纪初出版的莫文畅(莫若濂)《唐字调音英语》(《唐字音英语》),可以作为解决这些问题的参考。此外本文指出《唐字调音英语》这一类用粤语标注英语读音供大众学习英语的课本手册,一般目录甚少著录,应该予以适当的重视。

Throughout the 20th century, the tone system of Hong Kong dialect has undergone a number of significant changes. Past research focusing on these changes has repeatedly been impoverished by a severe lack of Chinese documentary material dating from the first half of the 20th century. This article points out the importance of the much -neglected English Made Easy authored by Mok Man Cheung and seeks to illustrate its usefulness as a highly relevant source of documentary evidence.