📌 資料來源：hokkien-writing/dataset 專案。內容經過校勘處理。
CONSONANTS.
Most of the consonants are pronounced as in English, or very nearly so.
ch—always as in cheese.
g—is always hard.
h—is always pronounced, except when final.
j—always as in judge.
ng—as in king, cut off ki will leave the exact nasal sound of ng.
s—as in song, never as in choose, lose.
z—always as ds or dz; never as in zeal, zone.
k, p, and t,—as final consonants are pronounced without the slightest emission of vocal breath as there usually is in pronouncing English.
m and ng—will be found written without any vowel (e. g. n̂g, m̃, ḿ); often also preceded by a consonant (e. g. sng, hñg, kng) “The nature of these syllables without a distinct vowel becomes at once unmistakable in singing, as at such a word all clear vocal sound at once ceases, and nothing is heard but a dull nasal murmur.
“The Aspirated Consonants are a very remarkable feature in all the languages of China, and require very special attention. They are kh, ph, th, chh, and tsh. The sounds are the same as those indicated by the same notation in the languages of India, being formed by a real distinct aspiration pronounced after the respective consonants………………The sounds are almost the same as those often used by Irishmen when pronouncing with a strong brogue such words as come, pig, &c.; they are also often heard in the mouths of the Scottish Highlanders.
“kh—may be thus described:—Pronounce……………look here! rapidly and clearly, cut off loo- and -re, and you have the Chinese “khi.”
“ph—might be illustrated in a similar manner;—e. g. say loophole very rapidly and sharply, cut off loo- and -le from the two ends, and there remains the Chinese “pho.”
“th—must not be confounded with the English th, which is really a simple sound. The Chinese th is a clear distinct t followed by the aspirate. Thus the Chinese “thau” may be carved out of out-house or hot-house.
“chh—is formed in a similar way from the ch of church. Take such a word as watch-house or coach-house, remove the wa- or coa- from the beginning and the -se from the end, and something very near the Chinese “chhau” remains.[1]
tsh—is almost the same as chh, the slight difference it has is that there is not so much sound of h as in chh.
ch—is not an aspirated consonant as explained above, it is always pronounced as in cheese.
A small ⁿ written above the line at the end of a syllable indicates that the whole syllable becomes nasal.
From the various dialects in the Swatow region that of the Departmental city known as Ch’ao-chow-foo, (or Tie-chiu-hu in this dialect,) has been chosen, although that of the department of Theng Hai is more extensively spoken in Singapore and perhaps in Swatow also. This work makes no pretence of being more than introductory, and the sentences are such as may be heard from the lips of the native in every day use, while the little dictionary attached to it will undoubtedly be found useful. For many English words there are several Chinese colloquial equivalents, and in the little dictionary two or more of these are frequently given. But there are, no doubt, others which have been inadvertently omitted, and in case of doubt as to any word which does not appear, the student will have no difficulty in ascertaining whether the word that is omitted is in common use, as he can enquire from any one who speaks the dialect, however uneducated he may be.
In conclusion the author has to thank the Rev. J. A. B. Cook for aid in bringing out the work.
LIM HIONG SENG.
Singapore, February, 1886.