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THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 244
Language name Carrier �k�r�ə
Language name Cantonese k�ntə�ni�z
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family Na-Dene Athabaskan
Language family Sino-Tibetan South-Sinitic
Spoken in British Columbia (Canada)
Spoken in Southern China, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.
Approximate number of speakers 2,200
Approximate number of speakers 55m
Writing system
Writing system Chinese characters
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress
Stress
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 23
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 11�11 diphthongs
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types front rounded
Tone tonal accent
Tone contour
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony none
Vowel harmony none
Morphology polysynthetic stem-based and
word-based
Morphology isolating word-based
Particular formation types prefix
Particular formation types dvandva; prefix; suffix; infix; partial prefixed reduplication,
full reduplication; tone used morphologically
Syntax
Word order SOV NA postpositions
PossN
Syntax
Word order SVO VSX AN prepositions and
PossN postpositions
Particular syntactic phenomena
Particular syntactic phenomena classifiers
Points of interest five sets of numerals, usage depending on what is being
counted
Points of interest no tense, but many aspectual markers
Sources Katzner (1977), Mithun (1999), Morice (1932), Yip (2002)
Sources Bauer & Matthews (2003), Campbell (1991),
Matthews & Yip (1994), Ruhlen (1976), Yip (2002)