Cantonese Research Articles

Lotus seed epicarp extract as potential antioxidant and anti-obesity additive in Chinese Cantonese Sausage

The antioxidative activities of a lotus seed epicarp extract in different concentrations (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100μg.mL−1) in pork homogenates representative of Chinese Cantonese Sausage were evaluated using three methods: thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values, peroxide values (POVs) and acid values (AVs). Also the cytotoxic and anti-obesity effects of the lotus seed epicarp extracts were evaluated using an in vitro 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell model. Results showed that the lotus seed epicarp extracts were non-toxic and effective in inhibiting preadipocyte differentiation. Supplementation of pork homogenate with lotus seed epicarp extracts was effective in retarding lipid oxidation. Moreover, the antioxidative and preadipocyte differentiation inhibition effects of the lotus seed epicarp extracts were dose-dependent. Thus, the lotus seed epicarp extract might be a good candidate as an antioxidant and anti-obesity natural additive in Chinese Cantonese Sausage.

Contemporary Hoisan-wa Language Maintenance in Northern California: Evidence From Fourteen Frog Story Narratives

This article explores uninvestigated issues in Cantonese and Hoisan-wa language maintenance from an ethnic Chinese diaspora point of view. Data come from a larger study looking at Frog Story narratives from 140 Cantonese–English bilingual children in California. Fourteen of these children were found to display uniquely Hoisan-wa phonology and lexicon in their narratives. Focusing on these 14 children, this article attempts to answer the following questions: Due to low prestige factors and lack of support for the maintenance of Hoisan-wa, have these speakers assimilated to the standard Cantonese-speaking community? Are there any signs that Hoisan-wa language backgrounds are still reflected in elementary school students attending schools with a relatively high Cantonese-speaking enrollment? If yes, what are these signs? Because nearly nothing is known about Hoisan-wa maintenance in the United States, the author documents markedly Hoisan-wa lexicon and phonology, and offers evidence of intergenerational language transmission.

Manlleus en cantonès: conflicte entre condicions de fidelitat en rimes VC

This paper focuses on the ways in which English loanwords are brought into line with four phonotactic constraints that restrict the possible combinations of nuclear vowels and coda consonants in Cantonese Chinese. It is found that three of the four constraints are strictly enforced in loans. Repairs change either the vowel or the coda consonant. Parallel to Mandarin, changes in vowel height features ([high], [ATR]) as opposed to changes in vowel backness are employed. Coda consonant changes obey a dorsal > coronal > labial faithfulness hierarchy that mirrors the typology of coda mergers discovered by Chen (1973) for many Chinese dialects. While changes in both the vowel and coda consonant occur, on-line adaptations favor changing the coda and preserving the vowel and suggest that the relative phonetic salience of the nuclear vowel to the coda consonant still plays a role in these adaptations.

Generational Differences in the Orientation of Time in Cantonese Speakers as a Function of Changes in the Direction of Chinese Writing

It has long been argued that spatial aspects of language influence people’s conception of time. However, what spatial aspect of language is the most influential in this regard? To test this, two experiments were conducted in Hong Kong and Macau with literate Cantonese speakers. The results suggest that the crucial factor in literate Cantonese people’s spatial conceptualization of time is their experience with writing and reading Chinese script. In Hong Kong and Macau, Chinese script is written either in the traditional vertical orientation, which is still used, or the newer horizontal orientation, which is more common these days. Before the 1950s, the dominant horizontal direction was right-to-left. However, by the 1970s, the dominant horizontal direction had become left-to-right. In both experiments, the older participants predominately demonstrated time in a right-to-left direction, whereas younger participants predominately demonstrated time in a left-to-right direction, consistent with the horizontal direction that was prevalent when they first became literate.

A Case Study on the Perception of Aging and Participation in Physical Activities of Older Chinese Immigrants in Australia

This qualitative study explores how older Hong Kong ChineseAustralians perceive aging and to what extent this perception affects their participation in physical activities. The main methods used were in-depth interviews with 22 participants ranging in age from 60 to 91 years. Interviews were translated from Chinese (Cantonese) and transcribed into English. Content analysis was used to find recurring themes from the interview data. The main findings indicate that the perception of aging is to some extent influenced by culture. Some participants defined aging as being measured in years, and others defined it by the state of one's physical health, appearance, and capacity to continue fulfilling one's social roles. These perceptions strongly influenced their preferences for and participation in physical activities. Acknowledging the fact that Chinese-speaking people are not culturally homogeneous, this article makes some recommendations to health service providers with regard to the development of appropriate physical activity programs.

Abstract A59: Sociodemographic predictors for poor quality of life among urban minority oncology patients

Abstract Introduction: This study investigates sociodemographic predictors of low quality of life among a cohort of predominately underserved, minority oncology patients. Given the positive effects of a higher quality of life on patients’ survival rates, as well as the growing body of data supporting the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in improving both quality of life and survival rates, the ability to quickly identify patients at risk for lower quality of life is critical. Establishing specific risk factors has the potential to help providers connect patients for whom psychosocial interventions may be especially beneficial to support services early in the course of their treatment. Methods: We analyzed demographic, sociocultural, and quality of life data – measured with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale (General) (FACT-G) – from a consecutive sample of 265 oncology patients participating in an individualized patient-navigation program at the Center for Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Data was collected in-person during enrollment interviews by bilingual program staff. Results: The majority of the patients were female (68%); were born in Latin America (47%), the Caribbean (21%), the U.S. (16%), or Asia (9%); and preferred to speak English (43%), Spanish (38%), or Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, or Fujianese) (8%) in the healthcare setting. More than a third of patients had less than a high school education (39%) and 22% were unemployed before their diagnosis. The most common cancer diagnoses were breast (32%), colorectal (12%), gynecological (cervical, uterine, ovarian, or vulvar) (12%), lymphoma (6%), lung (5%), and prostate (5%). Patients who were foreign-born and who preferred to speak a language other than English in the healthcare setting were more likely to report lower quality of life (p = .015, p = .002, respectively). Similarly, patients who said they spoke English well, very well, or fluently had a higher quality of life than those who spoke it not well or not at all (p = .004). Patients who were employed at the time of interview and/or reported higher monthly incomes also had a significantly higher quality of life (p = .040, p = <.001, respectively). Among patients who knew their cancer stage, stage III or IV was associated with a lower quality of life than a diagnosis of stage I or II, as was reporting one or more comorbidities (p = .059, p = .017, respectively). Finally, patients with lower household food security as determined by the USDA's U.S. Household Food Security Module had a lower quality of life than those from food secure households (p = <.001). Conclusions: These results highlight the fact that low-income immigrant oncology patients are at a higher risk for lower quality of life than their higher-income and U.S.-born peers, which may potentially put them at risk for poorer outcomes. While there has been significant progress in developing psychosocial interventions such as support groups and counseling tailored to oncology patients, much less has been done to target the specific and significant psychosocial needs of immigrant and minority patients. Given the fact that lower-income and minority patients continue to experience both lower quality of life and poorer outcomes than their higher-income and white counterparts, more research and interventions are needed to address the interrelationship between quality of life and outcomes, particularly the effect that targeted improvements in quality of life may have on the survival rates of low-income, immigrant, and minority patients. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A59.

P1-S2.19 Unprotected fellatio and pharyngeal gonorrhoea in Sydney sex workers

BackgroundSex workers are a priority population in the WHO sexually transmitted infection (STI) global strategy. In Australia, condom use for vaginal sex has remained high over the past decade rates...

XRCC1 and hOGG1 genes and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in North African countries

Although genetic susceptibility to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has been recognized for a long time, little is known about the responsible genes. X-Ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) and human 8-oxo-guanine glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) genes are involved in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair and were found associated with NPC risk in three Asian case-control studies. The objective of the present study was to test these genes in a sample from North Africa, one of the major NPC endemic regions in the world. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the XRCC1 gene and one SNP in the hOGG1 gene were genotyped in 598 NPC cases from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia and 545 controls frequency matched by recruitment center, age, sex, and urban/rural household. The genotype and allelic distributions for the hOGG1 (326)Ser/Cys SNP and for the XRCC1 (399)Arg/Trp, (280)Arg/His, and (194)Arg/Trp SNPs did not differ significantly among NPC cases and controls. The XRCC1 (194)Trp allele frequency was significantly lower in the North African population than in Asian population (f = 0.04 vs. 0.31 in Cantonese Chinese and 0.21 Han Chinese). The hOGG1 (326)Ser allele frequency was significantly higher in the North African population (f = 0.73) than in Asian populations (f = 0.39 in Taiwanese). The results of the present study obtained from a large sample indicate that the XRCC1 and hOGG1 genes are unlikely to play a role in the susceptibility to NPC in North Africans. Our results do not corroborate those found in Asian population on smaller samples.

329 Limited English Proficiency and Acute Health Care Utilization Among Patients With CKD

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AND ACUTE HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION AMONG PATIENTS WITH CKD Delphine Tuot, Laura Plantinga, Vanessa Grubbs, and Neil Powe Center for Vulnerable Populations, San Francisco General Hospital, and University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. Language barriers are associated with decreased access to health care. Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) may hesitate to access services due to anticipated communication difficulties. We examined the effect of LEP on acute health care utilization among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We examined the impact of LEP status on rates of hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) visits among a cohort of 2249 adult (>20 years) patients with CKD and at least two primary care visits within the San Francisco Department of Public Health Community Health Network (a network of >30 public health clinics) between 2005 and 2010. LEP was defined by preferentially speaking a non-English language. CKD was defined by average estimated glomerular filtrate rate <60 ml/ min/1.73m on two or more creatinine measurements ≥3 months apart. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated with negative binomial regression, adjusting for sociodemographic variables and co-morbid conditions. Nearly a third of the cohort (32%) had LEP; 11% spoke Spanish and 13% spoke Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin). LEP patients had higher rates of hospital admission than English-speaking patients [IRR=1.2, (95%CI, 1.0-1.4)]. This association was similar among Chinese speakers [1.3 (1.0, 1.8)] but not statistically significant among Spanish speakers [1.0 (0.78, 1.4)], relative to English speakers. LEP patients had lower rates of ED visits than English-speaking patients [0.82, (0.67, 1.0)]. This association was similar among Chinese [0.7 (0.5, 0.99)] and Spanish [0.77 (0.55, 1.1)] speakers. Among patients with CKD within a safety net system, LEP was associated with lower ED visit rates but higher hospital admission rates. LEP patients -particularly those speaking languages uncommon among providers— may anticipate communication barriers, thus delaying ED presentations and increasing likelihood of hospital admission.

Poly-functionality of the preverbal “acquire” in the Nanning Yue dialect of Chinese: an areal perspective

AbstractThis paper aims to explore the origin and to reconstruct the path of the development of a preverbal element, glossed as ACQ here, in the Nanning Yue dialect (NY) spoken in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south-western China. Apart from being a full verb meaning “acquire”, this morpheme can also appear in preverbal and post-verbal positions, expressing different modalities. It is argued that the preverbal ACQ in Early Cantonese (i.e. the ancestral language of modern Cantonese spoken in the Pearl River Delta as well as NY) is relatively non-productive, and this leads us to consider that the emergence of this peculiar grammatical element in modern NY might involve external factors. One possible such factor is language contact. Specifically, we argue that the new readings derived from the preverbal ACQ in NY were transferred from Zhuang, the most common non-Sinitic language of the Tai-Kadai family in Guangxi, by contact-induced interference.

Language or dialect, topolect or regiolect? A comparative study of language attitudes towards the status of Cantonese in Hong Kong

Past research has tended to ignore the emergence or existence of ‘middle zone’ varieties such as topolects or regiolects. In addition, attitudinal dynamics have received little attention, including their contribution towards the re-evaluation of the status of language varieties. Regarding the status of Cantonese, linguistic, political and cultural considerations are contradictory; the speakers themselves are widely held to believe that it is a dialect, but no objective surveys have ever been undertaken. This study reports on a comparative study of attitudes towards the status of Hong Kong Cantonese held by three groups of Chinese: 53 Hong Kong Cantonese speakers; 18 Mainland Chinese Cantonese speakers; and 72 Mainland Chinese Putonghua speakers. Bell's Sociolinguistic Typology was used as the framework for an open-ended questionnaire, supplemented by a Magnitude Continuum (an unmarked language–dialect scale). The varied perspectives held by each group can be traced to their different political and linguistic situations, which touch issues of identity. Results confirm that Cantonese would more accurately be classified as an emerging mid-zone variety. This has implications for short-term language planning, especially in the education system, and the long-term autonomy and survival of Cantonese.

The allele frequencies of HPA 1-16 determined by PCR-SSP in Chinese Cantonese donors

Typing of human platelet antigens (HPA) has proven to be useful in some clinical situations related to platelet alloimmunization. The objective of this study was to investigate HPA 1-16 and to determine genotype and allele frequencies by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) in apheresis platelet donors in Guangzhou Blood Center. A total of 200 random samples from donors were involved in the study. Genotype and allele frequencies of HPA 1 to 16 were detected by PCR-SSP method. The frequencies obtained from these donors were 99·50 and 0·50% for HPA-1a and -1b; 96·25 and 3·75% for HPA-2a and -2b; 54·25 and 45·75% for HPA-3a and -3b; 99·50 and 0·50% for HPA-4a and -4b; 99·00 and 1·00% for HPA-5a and -5b; 97·00 and 3·00% for HPA-6a and -6b and 42·25 and 57·75% for HPA-15a and -15b. There is only a/a homozygosis detected in HPA-7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, -13, -14 and -16. In this study, none of HPA-1b/ 1b, -2b/2b, -5b/5b homozygosis were detected which were found in other racial groups. One homozygosis of HPA-6b/6b in 200 individuals was detected which was not found in a study involving 1000 Chinese (Feng et al., 2006). The HPA-3 and -15 appear to the highest priority and HPA-2, -6, -5 -1 and -4 to be the second priority in Chinese Cantonese when it comes to the diagnosis of neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia and to provide the HPA-matched platelet for patients with platelet transfusion refractoriness. The PCR-SSP method makes it possible to detect genotype of HPA-1 to -16 in less than 4 h and to establish a donor database for HPA genotype in a blood bank.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes of TLR6 gene in Chinese Cantonese population

Sequence polymorphisms in the coding region of Toll-like receptor 6 gene were investigated in Chinese Cantonese population. By amplifying and sequencing a 2787 bp segment containing the entire coding region of TLR6 gene of 191 individuals in Chinese Cantonese population, a total of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) along with their frequencies were detected. Comparing these data with SNP published in dbSNP database of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), two SNP (+176T/C and +1408G/T) were firstly reported, and five SNP caused amino-acid substitution. Sixteen haplotypes and their distributions were reconstructed. Linkage disequilibrium analysis and neutrality test were also performed. Comparing with other ethnic populations, Chinese Cantonese displayed obvious differences in TLR6 polymorphism. It may in part reflect the ethnic diversity of pathogen susceptibility and facilitate to develop the disease-association studies as well as population genetics and evolutionary research.

The Cantonese Culture and the Hakka Culture in Shenzhen

Since the moment of establishment the special economical zone in 1979, Shenzhen had already passed 25 years. Due to lacking of relevant and correct propaganda and introduction of Shenzhen, many people have understood this city just as a special economical zone. In addition, Shenzhen is a newly borne city with a mass of migrations of people from all of China. That is why Shenzhen is the only city in Guangdong Province which uses the putonghua as the common language. The present population of Shenzhen is 12,000,000, but in the beginning of establishment of the special economical zone the local population was 270,000. As a matter of fact, the present intellectual layer is not native to the locality, therefore, their understanding of Shenzhen local culture is very poor. And that is why some years ago the expression of “a city built within one night” was frequently appeared in articles of the press, and in reports of city leaders, in order to praised that Shenzhen was a new city with rapid development. The expression and the understanding of Shenzhen, “a city built within one night”, is incorrect, and is not accord with the real historical truth of Shenzhen either. It is very pity, that because of the historical reasons, the Shenzhen local chronicles were merely recorded in two Xin’an Xianzhi (Xin’an County Annals) in the periods of Kangxi (1662-1722) and Jiaqing (1796-1820). The author after coming to Shenzhen University in 1984, has been interested in studying Shenzhen local culture and history, and has carried through a mass of fieldworks in the districts of Bao’an and Longgang (the local culture is mainly concentrated in these two districts). The author wants to use the materials collected in the Cantonese villages of the Bao’an district, and in the Hakka ones of the Longgang one; to intend to discuss the origins of Cantonese and Hakka clans; to analyze the differences between these two clans, and their interrelations; and also to explain the functions and roles of these two cultures in the cultural establishments of nowadays Shenzhen special economical zone. Keywords: Guangdong, Shenzhen special economical zone, Cantonese culture, Hakka culture, interaction Resume Depuis la fondation de Zone economique speciale de Shenzhen en 1979 apres la reforme et l’ouverture , 25 ans se sont ecoules . A cause de l’insuffisance de la propagande et de la presentation , ShenZhen n’est qu’une Zone economique speciale dans l’esprit des gens du monde exterieur . En plus , c’est aussi une nouvelle ville d’immigration , dont les habitants viennent du quatre coins du pays . Pour cette raison , Shenzhen est la seule ville de la province du Guangtong ou le mandarin l’emporte sur le dialecte local . Sa papulation actuelle est de 12 ,000,000 mais a l’epoque de la fondation de Zone economique speciale , on ne comptait que 270 , 000 d’habitants locaux . Donc , la plupart des intellectuels actuels de cette ville sont des immigres , et ils manquent de connaissance sur l’histoire de cette ville . A la presse ou dans les rapports de certains dirigeants il y a quelques ans , on considerait ShenZhen comme “une ville du jour au lendemain ”pour faire l’eloge de sa vitesse du developpement . Cela ne correspond pas du tout au fait et a la verite de l’histoire de ShenZhen. Pour des raisons historiques , on n’a que deux livres d’histoire locale sur Shenzhen qui date respectivement de1662 jusqu’en 1722 , et de 1796 jusqu’en 1870 . L’auteur , travaille depuis 1984 a l’Universite de Shenzhen , s’est engage a faire de nombreuses enquetes a pleine campagne dans les endroits ou se concentre la culture aborigene . En mettant a profit ces documents recueillis au cours des enquetes , l’auteur s’efforce de degager les origines de ces deux grandes branches de la culture locale , la distinction ainsi que la relation interactive sur le plan culturel . L’auteur tente egalement de demontrer le role que jouent ces deux cultures pour la construction de la culture de Zone economique speciale de Shenzhen . Mots-cles: Guangdong, Zone economique speciale de Shenzhen, culture de GuangFu, culture de KeJia , interaction 摘 要 深圳，自中國改革開放後於 1979年建立特區以來，至今已有 25個年頭。因缺乏相關的宣傳、介紹，外界對深圳的瞭解一般也就只停留在“是個經濟特區”的概念上。另外，深圳是個新興的移民城市，移民來自全國各地，深圳成為了廣東省內唯一講普通話的城市。它現有人口 12,000,000，但建特區時，它的本土居民只有 270,000人。所以，深圳現有的智知階層多是外來人員，大部分人對深圳的歷史缺乏瞭解與認識，所以前幾年在報刊雜誌和某些領導人的報告中，為讚揚深圳的發展速度而不斷出現“深圳是一夜城”的提法。將深圳的歷史定位在“一夜城”上，是不符合深圳真實的歷史事實的。由於歷史原因，深圳的地方史僅有康熙（1662-1722）、嘉慶（ 1796-1870）年間的兩部《新安縣誌》，實屬可憐。本人 1984年從北京應聘到深圳大學後，對深圳的寶安、龍崗兩區（本土文化集中區域）進行了大量的田野調查。筆者即利用對寶安廣府、龍崗客家的村落所作的田野調查資料，企圖在本文討論深圳本土文化中的廣府與客家這兩大族群的源流，以及在文化上存在的差異與互動關係，並試圖說明這兩種文化在今日深圳特區的文化建設中所應具有的作用。 關鍵詞：廣東；深圳特區；廣府文化；客家文化；互動

Construction of Cantonese Popular Bourgeois Bohemians (Canton-pop bobos) in Hong Kong

Construction of Cantonese Popular Bourgeois Bohemians (Canton-pop bobos) in Hong Kong

Multilingual education in Macao

This paper focuses on the current use of the three written languages (Chinese, Portuguese and English) and the four spoken languages (Chinese–Cantonese, Chinese–Putonghua, Portuguese and English) in Macao, a former Portuguese colony (1557–1999) which is now a Special Administrative Region of China. Chinese and Portuguese are official languages, and the former plays an increasingly important role in the Macao education system. This paper also reports on the results of a questionnaire-based study on Macao students’ language use, language attitudes and language preferences, which revealed their preference of multilingual education and positive attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua and English. When asked their views on the changes of language use in post-colonial Macao, most surveyed students thought that Putonghua and English were more frequently used than before. As the students were less satisfied with their communication skills in English, the challenge in the future is to enhance students’ communicative competence to meet the needs of the economic boom.

A Unified Framework for Multilingual Text-to-Speech Synthesis with SSML Specification as Interface

This paper describes the design of a unified framework for a multilingual text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis engine – Crystal. The unified framework defines the common TTS modules for different languages and/or dialects. The interfaces between consecutive modules conform to the speech synthesis markup language (SSML) specification for standardization, interoperability, multilinguality, and extensibility. Detailed module divisions and implementation technologies for the unified framework are introduced, together with possible extensions for the algorithm research and evaluation of the TTS synthesis. Implementation of a mixed-language TTS system for Chinese Putonghua, Chinese Cantonese, and English demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed unified framework.

The use of main concept analysis to measure discourse production in Cantonese-speaking persons with aphasia: A preliminary report

Discourse produced by speakers with aphasia contains rich and valuable information for researchers to understand the manifestation of aphasia as well as for clinicians to plan specific treatment components for their clients. Various approaches to investigate aphasic discourse have been proposed in the English literature. However, this is not the case in Chinese. As a result, clinical evaluations of aphasic discourse have not been a common practice. This problem is further compounded by the lack of validated stimuli that are culturally appropriate for language elicitation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to develop and validate four sequential pictorial stimuli for elicitation of language samples in Cantonese speakers with aphasia, and (b) to investigate the use of a main concept measurement, a clinically oriented quantitative system, to analyze the elicited language samples. Twenty speakers with aphasia and ten normal speakers were invited to participate in this study. The aphasic group produced significantly less key information than the normal group. More importantly, a strong relationship was also found between aphasia severity and production of main concepts. While the results of the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability suggested the scoring system to be reliable, the test–retest results yielded strong and significant correlations across two testing sessions one to three weeks apart. Learning outcomes: Readers will demonstrate better understanding of (1) the development and validation of newly devised sequential pictorial stimuli to elicit oral language production, and (2) the use of a main concept measurement to quantify aphasic connected speech in Cantonese Chinese.

Gei constructions in Mandarin Chinese and bei constructions in Cantonese

This paper examines the use of gei constructions in Mandarin Chinese and bei constructions in Cantonese within three corpora (of spoken and written Chinese and Hong Kong Cantonese). There are seven structural patterns in which gei/VLgei takes two objects. The order of these objects is determined by the principle of end-weight. Another four structural patterns see the co-occurrence of verb phrases with gei/V-gei. About four percent of gei constructions are used to mark a passivised verb. The study also reveals that the fronting of direct object marked by the preposition ba is a rather formal style. In the contrast between Mandarin gei constructions and Cantonese bei constructions, it was found that (i) the order of indirect object followed by direct object as in Mandarin Chinese reverses in Cantonese; (ii) when compared with Mandarin gei, Cantonese bei is more commonly used as a passive marker and as a verb meaning ‘allow’.

Promising Approaches for the Analysis of Sentence-final Particles in Cantonese: the Case of [aa3

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the meanings and moods of the most frequently used particle [aa3] in various types of modern Cantonese sentences. Promising and feasible approaches of ‘Minimal Pair’ and ‘Maximal Common Induction’ are introduced to depict the pattern of the use of Cantonese particles microscopically and macroscopically so as to establish a better grammatical description of the language. The possibilities that may occur when a sentence ends with a final particle are also discussed in this work.