Re: THEORY: Expanding in translation?

Much the same is true here; police statements and court records are
taken verbatim.  However, it would not be accessible for the officer
taking the statement to preface the witness's words with "The witness
was all like". ;)


On 3/12/08, Eugene Oh <un.doing@...> wrote:
> On 13/03/2008, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> wrote:
> >
> > In this case we might be talking about different things; the written
> >  Cantonese I've heard uses a fair number of ad-hoc characters (often
> >  with the "mouth" radical to indicate a "dialect" word) which, as I
> >  understand, are not common to other dialects. Especially for particles
> >  of various kinds.
> >
>
> Ah, that would be written _colloquial_ Cantonese. Like any other
> language, Cantonese has its acrolectal and basilectal registers, as
> well as everything in between. Yes, the one you're referring to would
> be the equivalent of Yorkshire and Valley-girl then. Just with the
> added distinction of writing. (: Though whereas I believe Yorkshire
> and Valley-girl are not admissible written as, say, a police
> statement, Hong Kong Police regulations actually require written
> colloquial Cantonese if the witness gave his/her statement in such.
>
> Eugene
>

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

Replies