3 ms·

Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. The more important thing is that you and I both agree that "mh" canno

Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. The more important thing is that you and I both agree that "mh" cannot be used by itself. In Chinese numbers are also prefixed to measure words or classifier. eg; "How many brothers do you have?" No one will answer "m" but "m'go". So, I don't believe in colloquial Chinese that a pure number is a word. You are welcome to disagree. By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. Unless you were talking about Shanghainese, but then is "n". "ng" is a common starting consonant in Cantonese, like "ngao" (cow) or "ngo" (I). but it doesn't have a standard meaning.

SeanLuke 4y ago
> Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. Reasonable people can disagree, but I think it's safe to say that mh would be broadly considered a word by most. And anyway, languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken. Indeed many languages have no formal written form (heck, in cantonese there are major grammatical words with no written form at all.) > By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese
- derekzhouzhen 4y ago
  > It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. There is no official romanization of Cantonese. Both the negative prefix `mh` and 5 are bilabial nasal, not velar nasal. They are of different tones though. Ans also as I pointed out earlier, there are velar nasals in Cantonese. to use your own logic: > languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken So here is my understanding: one nasal that is never used in isolation is not a word.
  - inkyoto 4y ago
    > There is no official romanization of Cantonese. There is, it is called 粵拼 or Jyutping (https://www.lshk.org/jyutping https://www.lshk.org/jyutping). However, its use is not enforced, and the original British colonial era romanisation remains frequently used in HK. There is also the Yale system that predates Jyutping and is still also in wide use in teaching materials and dictionaries. Therefore, 唔 is romanised as «m4» in Jyuping and as «m̀ h» in Yale. «4» in Jyutping and the backtick over «m» indicate the low falling tone.

SeanLuke 4y ago

> Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. Reasonable people can disagree, but I think it's safe to say that mh would be broadly considered a word by most. And anyway, languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken. Indeed many languages have no formal written form (heck, in cantonese there are major grammatical words with no written form at all.) > By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese

derekzhouzhen 4y ago
> It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. There is no official romanization of Cantonese. Both the negative prefix `mh` and 5 are bilabial nasal, not velar nasal. They are of different tones though. Ans also as I pointed out earlier, there are velar nasals in Cantonese. to use your own logic: > languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken So here is my understanding: one nasal that is never used in isolation is not a word.
- inkyoto 4y ago
  > There is no official romanization of Cantonese. There is, it is called 粵拼 or Jyutping (https://www.lshk.org/jyutping https://www.lshk.org/jyutping). However, its use is not enforced, and the original British colonial era romanisation remains frequently used in HK. There is also the Yale system that predates Jyutping and is still also in wide use in teaching materials and dictionaries. Therefore, 唔 is romanised as «m4» in Jyuping and as «m̀ h» in Yale. «4» in Jyutping and the backtick over «m» indicate the low falling tone.