Abstract
At the turn of the nineteenth century, the French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière ushered motion pictures into the world’s forefront as a vector of culture. Its rise began with silent films; and by 1927, the world’s first sound film made its American debut. Five years later came China’s first Cantonese film, Two Girls Orphaned by War (戰地兩孤女), with Hong Kong’s first, The Idiot’s Wedding Night (傻佬洞房), following suit the year after. Unfortunately, neither film has survived. Of those Hong Kong Cantonese films still extant, one of the earliest is that which premiered in 1937, Lady Luminary (a.k.a. The Light of Women 女性之光). An exposé of China’s systemic gender inequality, the 84-min feature is realist yet progressive, indubitably securing itself a momentous place in film history. Not surprisingly, the sounds preciously captured hold equal significance in its preservation of Early Cantonese remnants. This paper zooms in on one middle-aged actress, Shen Lixia (沈麗霞; as Madam Tsang 曾師太 in Lady Luminary). A remnant in her speech is the apical rime /ɿ/, a distinctive feature of the Cantonese Xiguan dialect (廣州西關音) much revered at the cusp of the twentieth century. In analysing a subsequent 1938 film, Incident in the Pacific (太平洋上的風雲), we also find the feature there during a brief cameo made by an elderly uncredited actor as the male protagonist’s uncle. Both evince the rime’s subsistence into the 1930s. This rare glimpse into actual Cantonese speech of the day corresponds with Chao’s (1947) observations that the apical rime existed in the speech of those who were from “the western section of Canton City known as Saikwaan [=Xiguan],” based on dialect surveys he conducted in the late 1920s. While /ɿ/ would all but vanish after World War II, the remarkable resurfacing of the two films in recent years has not only provided actual-speech evidence towards Early Cantonese research, but affirmed as well the synergy that inherently exists between language transmission and transmission of the arts.
I am indebted to Shaw Movie City (Hong Kong) Limited, the rightful copyright holder of the two pre-war Hong Kong films discussed herein for their consent to analyse said films for linguistic research. I extend my gratitude to Hong Kong Film Archive of the HKSAR Government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department for making a copy of the clips for said analysis and Mr Jack Lee Fong of Palace Theatre, San Francisco, USA for his generous donation to HKAF of these and other films. Special mention is made of Dr B. C. Kwok of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong for drawing my attention to the available Wang Jingwei (汪精衞) radio recordings. The advice and guidance on gathering data generously given by Dr C. H. Ng of the Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong have been invaluable.
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Notes
- 1.
Born into a missionary family in Guangzhou, James Dyer Ball (1847–1919) was an official in the colonial civil service of Hong Kong, rising to First Interpreter of the Supreme Court and for a while Acting Inspector of Schools (Hamilton, 2009: 243). His works have most certainly left an indelible imprint on efforts to standardise the romanisation of place names in Hong Kong (Kataoka & Lee, 2008: 85). Cited by Ball (1883/1888) as the authority with the “wonderfully acute ear for Chinese sounds” (xv), Edward Harper Parker (1849–1926) is an experienced Chinese interpreter and civil servant in the British Consular Service stationed at more than a dozen Chinese cities who contributed the dialect pronunciations to the authoritative Chinese—English Dictionary (1892/1912) by Herbert Allen Giles (1845–1935), though not without reproach to the manner in which Giles had presented– or even misrepresented– parts of his submitted work (Branner, 1999: 13; 16–20).
- 2.
Not least to imply it is the only standard. Dictionaries by Williams (1856), Chalmers (1859, 1907) and Eitel (1877, 1910) would be only three oft-cited exemplars in a plethora of Cantonese learning aids that each present a “standard” that varies in conservativeness when juxtaposed against one another.
- 3.
The earliest mention of nine– rather than eight– Cantonese tones is found in the Chinese source Zhengyin Juhua (正音咀華) by Suo Yizun (莎彝尊), the extant 1853 edition being a re-draft of an earlier work, Zhengyin Bianwei (正音辨微), first published c. 1837 (Hou, 1962: 22). It should be noted, however, the term “jiuyin” (九音) has already been in use as early as Morrison’s Dictionary of the Chinese Language (1815–1823 [i.e., 1815]: v). Its ninth tone is listed as none other than “zhongru,” though Morrison does not explicitly relate the term to Cantonese.
- 4.
All reconstructed values are my own, refining earlier systems described by Cheung (2006), Lau and Cheung (2003), Peng (1990/2004a, 1992/2004b), Ting (2007), and Zhao (2007, 2015). For ease of comparison, modern phonological values are largely based on Zhan and Cheung (1987) with slight modification.
- 5.
Mai (2006) has detailed the diphthongization processes *u→ou, *i→ei, and *y→ɵy as found in Zhengyin Juhua (1853). Again, such processes appear to have begun in Morrison’s works, though for now only a few (e.g., Bauer, 2005; Cheung, 2006; Ting, 2007) have been tempted to make preliminary observations.
- 6.
Despite a Middle Chinese rendering otherwise, Fenyun’s recording “si 伺” as
(cf. modern Cantonese 
) is well attested across the Pearl River Delta dialects (Zhan & Cheung, 1987: 104). - 7.
While “shi 柿” has a Middle Chinese rendering in the “shang” (i.e., rising) tone, Fenyun records it under the “ping” (i.e., level) tone. According to Zhan and Cheung (1987: 106), the Fenyun rendering is clearly attestable in some modern Cantonese dialects such as Hong Kong (New Territories: Kam Tin 香港新界錦田), Conghua (Inner City 從化城內), and Gaoming (高明). In colloquial Guangzhou (as well as urban Hong Kong) Cantonese, “shi 柿” manifests as [tsʰi35] (i.e., with the changed tone), obscuring its origins.
- 8.
Ball’s Cantonese Made Easy is also published after the nineteenth century in two later editions, viz. the third revised within his lifetime in 1907 and the fourth in 1924 edited by his son, Arthur Dyer Ball (b. 1888). Suffice it to say, both are largely similar (with some print corrections) and retain the features of late nineteenth-century Early Cantonese.
- 9.
Originally in Chinese: “少數的小姐們有意無意的裝腔.”
- 10.
According to the Encyclopaedia of Chinese Films (vols. 1905–1930 and 1931–1949.9), Shen portrays Old Mrs Chen (陳老太) in The Woman of My Dream (春閨夢裏人; 1925), Widow Yi (伊孟麗) in Resurrection (良心復活; 1926), Zhichao’s Mother (志超母) in The Horrified Days (落魄驚魂; 1926), Lady Shen (沈氏) in The Country Maid (鄉姑娘; 1926), Mrs Huang (黃妻) in Why Not Her (玉潔冰清; 1926), Mother Kong (孔母) in Arrow of Hatred (一箭仇; 1927), Mrs Huang-Sun (黃孫氏) in Heroes at Beach (海濱豪傑; 1929), Lady Sun (孫氏) in The Valliant Girl Nicknamed White Rose (女俠白玫瑰; 1929), and Luo Ming’s Mother (羅明母) in A Plot with Blood (血花淚影; 1931). Shen also takes part in The Hero and the Beauty (英雄與美人; 1930), but the identity of her character is unknown.
- 11.
Cf. modern Cantonese “未V過”
, for which see Yang (2006: 85; 125). - 12.
The other being
, which is literary, even antiquated. - 13.
Cf. “si 死”
for both Fenyun and Cantonese Made Easy reconstructed above. - 14.
The first instance found in
‘die asp’ retains its lexical meaning, whereas the second found in 
‘enrage emp’ is a grammaticised emphatic marker. Both are of course colloquial in nature. - 15.
Cf. modern Cantonese “由細睇到你大”
vs. Mandarin “從小看著你長大的” (in Pinyin romanization <cóngxiǎo kàn•zhe nǐ zhǎngdà •de>). - 16.
In dismissing Jones & Woo’s (1912) phonetic description of “iͅ” (= our [ɿ]) being “a vowel intermediate between i and y, i.e., an i with slight lip-rounding added” (xiii) as depiction of dialects like that of Shunde (順德) that have merged ∗ɿ into /y/, Chao (1947: 18) appears to have been misled by their peculiar use of “slight lip-rounding.” Yue(-Hashimoto) and Hashimoto (1971) take a different stance when they refer to the “suspicion” about the dialect described in Jones and Woo. In a forthcoming paper, Ho & Sham will show “lip-rounding” should be read as what phoneticians nowadays determine to be “lip-protruding.”
- 17.
- 18.
Jones and Woo (1912) at times give a narrow transcription for “the reduction of the diphthongs ei and ou in unimportant words, such as… ˏnei (“you”) (frequently reduced to ˏne)” (xiii).
- 19.
- 20.
Interestingly, Text 6 in the Reader (i.e., The Time) contains a dialogue asking when someone was born. The answer might just be Woo’s autobiographical account: 17 November 1892.
- 21.
The intrusion of the character “shi 侍” with a Middle Chinese zhang-series initial into the rime /y/ is peculiar not just in the Sanshui dialect, but also across most of the Pearl River Delta area (Zhan & Cheung, 1987: 108). It appears to be a token example of hypercorrection by phonetic inferential assimilation (cf. its phonetic component “si 寺”
). The Fenyun rendering (i.e., 
) aligns better with Middle Chinese, as does the modern Cantonese 
. - 22.
The official versions (in written Chinese) can be found in Wang Zhuxi Heping Jianguo Yanlunji (汪主席和平建國言論集, 1940: 53–57; 59–64) published by his (puppet) regime’s Central Propaganda Bureau.
- 23.
Unlike Woo, however, Wang does not use /ɿ/ and /y/ interchangeably. In this regard, we see less of a Sanshui dialect influence (where Early Cantonese ∗ɿ more likely manifests as modern Sanshui /y/) in Wang’s speech in comparison with that of Woo.
- 24.
If the spoken data corresponds with the written speech, the corresponding page number from Wang Zhuxi (1940) is given in brackets. While largely following the same train of thought and logical progression, the spoken and written forms are not the same. Considering the written speech contains literary references (e.g., Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio 聊齋志異) and insidious mockery of his political enemies (e.g., Woo Chih-hui 吳稚暉; 1865–1953) not found in the spoken broadcast, the propaganda material may be a subsequent transcript adapted to fit Wang’s political needs at the time of publication.
(cf. modern Cantonese 
) is well attested across the Pearl River Delta dialects (Zhan & Cheung, 1987: 104).
, for which see Yang (
, which is literary, even antiquated.
for both Fenyun and Cantonese Made Easy reconstructed above.
‘die 
‘enrage 
vs. Mandarin “從小看著你長大的” (in Pinyin romanization <cóngxiǎo kàn•zhe nǐ zhǎngdà •de>).
). The Fenyun rendering (i.e., 
) aligns better with Middle Chinese, as does the modern Cantonese 
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Sham, R.Y.H. (2020). Cantonese Cameo: Pre-war Hong Kong Films and /ɿ/ of Early Cantonese. In: Chan, K.K.Y., Lau, C.S.G. (eds) Chinese Culture in the 21st Century and its Global Dimensions. Chinese Culture, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2743-2_8
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