Bulletin No. 1, 2016

42   Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2016 The 29th Ch’ien Mu Lecture in History and Culture ‘Reconstructing Cantonese: Grammatical Changes as Recorded in Early Missionary Texts’ (1 April) Combing through language learning materials, e.g., A Chinese and English Phrase Book and How to Speak Cantonese , compiled by 19th-century missionaries who came to China, Professor Cheung Hung-nin Samuel examined the rules of phrase formation and syntax of early Cantonese. He also traced the grammatical transformation by comparing language materials of different ages, and tried to explain the reasons behind. ‘What a Map Tells: Language of the 19th Century Hong Kong’ (2 April) The ‘Map of the San-On District’ produced by the Italian Fr. Simeone Volonteri in 1866 is the earliest bilingual map which includes Hong Kong. The transliteration of place names on it gave Professor Cheung hints to Cantonese pronunciation back then. By comparing these with their current counterparts, he also traced how the Cantonese phonological system has evolved over the past century. Photo courtesy of New Asia College