Updates to the Learn Teochew website
The Learn Teochew website has been updated!
We have made the following changes to the language guide:
- All usage examples have citation tones along with changed tones in brackets if applicable.
- Our own “flattened” IPA has been replaced with standard IPA notation (using superscript numbers instead of tone level marks for legibility at small font sizes).
Previously, the website used both the standard Guangdong Pêng’im and our own “flattened” version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which we made because it was easier to type.
However, we did not consistently mark citation and sandhi tones (original and changed tones). Using our own idiosyncratic phonetic spelling was potentially confusing for learners, because it is only used on this website. There are already several different phonetic spelling systems for Teochew used historically, in modern publications, and on the Internet. We are personally aware of at least six (!) different phonetic spelling systems for Teochew, in addition to Pêng’im and the IPA. (That will be the subject of a post for another day.)
If you are interested in the technical details behind the project, we have been using the IPA keyboard input for Mac OS X developed by SIL International, which is a Christian non-profit devoted to linguistics, especially minority and endangered languages.
This update has been completed for the main language guide section of the website. Redoing the Readings and Wiktionary Index section will take much more time (mostly spent cross-checking the correct tone numbers), so that section will be updated as and when individual texts are ready. We also will slowly add more quotations from other sources as usage examples to the main guide.
We hope that the website will remain a useful resource for you. Please feel free to share it with people who you think might find it useful, and do let us know if you find any errors or omissions.
We are grateful for your support!
Posted on 2021-03-11 00:00:00 +0000