Challenging issues in Cantonese-English lexicography
Authors: Bauer Robert S. 
Published: July 2023

ABSTRACT: At the outset of writing a bilingual Cantonese-English dictionary that is comprehensive in scope, the lexicographer confronts a series of challenging issues that are fundamental to the successful creation of such an ambitious dictionary. Among the crucial questions to be satisfactorily resolved are at least the following eight: 1) What are the principal criteria that guide the lexicographer's selection of the Cantonese lexical items that form the contents of the bilingual dictionary? Further, what is the scope of the lexical contents? Broad, by encompassing all lexical items that occur in the speech of Hong Kong Cantonese speakers, even those items that overlap with standard Chinese? Or, narrow, by focusing only on the uniquely Hong Kong Cantonese lexicon? 2) What categories of information about the lexical items should form the structural contents of lexical entries? These could include parts of speech, speech registers, cross-referencing of related lexical items, synonyms, alternative pronunciations and variant written forms, example sentences, etc. 3) How detailed should the equivalent English translations of the Cantonese lexical items be? 4) Should lexical entries include information on their social, cultural, historical, and political associations, usage, etymology (origin and historical development), etc.? 5) What is the organizing principle by which the Cantonese lexical entries are listed in the dictionary, as there are at least four? 6) As for Cantonese pronunciation, which register of the language should be romanized? The conservative, literary, standard pronunciation? The colloquial, informal, commonly-used 懶 音 laan5 jam1 "lazy" pronunciation? Or both of these? 7) Several Cantonese romanization systems are currently in use, so which one is best for representing Hong Kong's contemporary Cantonese pronunciation? 8) Given that the written form of the Cantonese language has never been formally or officially standardized, so that some lexical items are typically written in two or more different ways, what criteria should guide the lexicographer in deciding how Cantonese words are graphically transcribed in a Cantonese-English dictionary? In writing his ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary 粵語英語大詞典 (Bauer 2020) over the past decade and a half, the author had to face and then answer appropriately each of these important questions. This article has described how he addressed and practically resolved these and other related problems. 摘要: 编写范围广泛的粤英双语词典之初，词典编撰者面临一系列甚具挑战 性的问题，这些问题对于成功创构这样一部耗时费力的词典至关重要。 要圆满解决的关键问题至少有以下八个：1)主要以什么标准指导词典 编撰者选择构成双语词典内容的粤语词项？此外，词汇内容的范围是 什么？是广泛的，包括所有除现在说香港粤语人士口语的词项，甚至 那些与标准汉语重叠的词项？或者，狭义的，只关注独特的香港粤语 词汇？2)关于词项的哪些类别的信息应该构成词条的结构内容？这些 可能包括词性、语域、相关词项的相互参照、同义词、替代或变异发 音和书面形式、例句等。3)粤语词项对应的英译应该有多详细？4)词 条应否包括有关其社会、文化、历史和政治关联、用法、词源（起源 和历史发展）等方面的信息？5)在词典中列出粤语词条的组织原则至 少有四个，而那些组织原则是什么？6)关于粤语发音，哪个语域发音 应该用拼音？保守的、文学的、标准的发音？还是口语化的、非正式 的、常用的懒音？或者这两种发音都应该用拼音？7)目前使用粤语的 拼音系统有好几种，那么哪一种最能代表当代香港粤语发音？8)鉴于 粤语的书面形式从未正式或官式标准化，因此一些词项通常以两种或 多种不同方式书写，应該以什么标准指导词典编撰者决定如何以图形 方式将粤语字词转录于粤英词典？作者在过去十五年编写他的《ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary 粵語英語大詞典》(Bauer 2020)的过程中必须面对这些重要问题，并且就每一个问题恰当地予 以解答。本文描述了他如何处理并实际解决以上和其他相关疑难问题。