Grammar 文法 Man4 faat3̌ | |
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二. Pronunciation 拼音 Ping1 yam1 | |
Cantonese finals 2 (aam – am) |
II. Contrastive pairs |
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No. | aam (long) | English | am (short) | English |
1 | (攬住我) laam2 zyu6 ngo5 |
Hold me | (諗住我) lam2 zyu6 ngo5 |
Think of me |
2 | 三級 saam1 kap1 |
Third rated category | 心急 sam1 gap1 |
Impatient |
3 | 擔心 daam1 sam1 |
Worried | (揼心) dam2 sam1 |
Feel sad |
4 | 斬頭 zaam2 tau4 |
Cut a head off | 枕頭 zam2 tau4 |
Pillow |
Pronunciation hints:
1. Both “-aam” and “-am” have a nasal ending “m”, which is pronounced with both lips closed, releasing the air from the nose.
2. Cantonese “aa” on “-aam” is a long vowel. Its sound is similar to “-a” as in English calm. However, “a” in “-am” is a short vowel which resembles English come.
3. To differentiate “-aam” from “-am”, “-aam” should be pronounced with your jaw more lowered and mouth more open than “-am”.
Note: In Cantonese, some syllables may end with “-p”, “-t”, or “-k”. These are called unreleased stops because your
mouth and tongue form a closure in preparation for these sounds, finishing without releasing the air at the end of a syllable. In other words, they are made mute in the production of the sound.