Learning Cantonese tones as a second language learner Language Kaleidoscope 語言萬花筒

How hard is it to learn Cantonese and its tones? In this episode, Professor Matthews takes a walk down memory lane as he reflects on his journey as a Cantonese learner and how he and Professor Yip came to write a Cantonese grammar. 


Episode Transcripts
Cheung, Hung-Nin Samuel 張洪年 2007.香港粤語語法的研究  A Grammar of Cantonese as Spoken in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. 增訂版.
Matthews, Stephen and Virginia Yip. 2011. Cantonese: a Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge. 2nd edition [book website]
Yip, Virginia and Stephen Matthews. 2007. The Bilingual Child: Early Development and Language Contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reviews of Yip and Matthews (2007) include the following:

~ Francis, N. 2008.Journal of Child Language 35: 917-922.
~ Myers-Scotton, C. 2008. Journal of Linguistics 44: 791-796.
~ Logan-Terry, A. 2009 Studies in Second Language Acquisition 31: 507-508.
~ Li, A. 2011. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 39: 492-500.
~ Kupisch, Tanja. 2011. First Language 31: 373-376.
~ Field, Fredrick. 2012. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 27: 183-186


Yip, Virginia and Stephen Matthews. 2017a. Basic Cantonese: a Grammar and Workbook. London: Routledge. (eBook is available)
Yip, Virginia and Stephen Matthews. 2017b. Intermediate Cantonese: a Grammar and Workbook. London: Routledge.