True. Once you remind me, I can recall the slight pronounciation difference heard from different Cantonese speakers.
But are you sure the N pronounciation is the correct pronounciation? You try to figure the reasons why these terms are pronounce differently. I don't find any of it particularly convincing (you might be right), but here I suggest one more reason: The influence of japanese "cute" culture. I read about this culture just very recently and think that this might be responsible for our behaviour.
The theme embodied by the japanese comics, drama etc is always related to the cuteness, pureness, innocence. So to pronounce L instead of N will make the person sound more "die1" and "sa3 jiao1". Slowly N-words are replced by "L-words".
But this is just my speculation, not to say the "cute" culture is wrong or bad.
Eng Wai
[%sig%]
Hong Kong's version
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Dylan Sung
Re: Hong Kong's version
The initial [n-] is recorded in western transcriptions of Cantonese pre-WW2. Since then, there has been a gradual change from [n-] to [l-], probably due to the influence of HK media. If you listen carefully to black and white Hong Kong movies of the fifties and sixties, you'll notice that the older actors certainly retain more [n-] initials than actors later.
Why is [n-] the correct pronunciation? It is historical, in that characters which have [n-] initials are listed in special rhyming dictionaries of the past, like Qieyun of 601 AD from the Sui dynasty. [n-] initialed characters are kept in other Chinese dialects too.
Dyl.
Why is [n-] the correct pronunciation? It is historical, in that characters which have [n-] initials are listed in special rhyming dictionaries of the past, like Qieyun of 601 AD from the Sui dynasty. [n-] initialed characters are kept in other Chinese dialects too.
Dyl.