James Dyer Ball (波乃耶) (4 December 1847 in Canton, China – 22 February 1919 in
London,
England) was a Hong Kong scholar and author born in
Canton. He is noted for his works on Chinese culture and for contributing to the development of the system of Cantonese
Romanisation.
Early life
Ball was the son of the Reverend
Dyer Ball of
Massachusetts, United States, and his much younger second wife, Scottish missionary Isabella Robertson. Apart from preaching, his father ran a dispensary and opened a school in Canton, Guangzhou. At age 7, Ball's family began three years of travel in Britain and the United States, returning to Canton in November 1858 where he received his secondary education before going on to King's College, London, and University College, Liverpool.[1]
Hong Kong career
Ball began his career in Hong Kong with a brief stint as a school teacher at the Government Central School. In March 1875, he took up the post of assistant Chinese interpreter and clerk at the Magistrates' Courts. Six years later, he had risen to First Interpreter at the Supreme Court, Sheriff and Marshall of the Vice-Admiralty Court. He retired in 1909 and died in 1919 in
Enfield,
Middlesex,
England[1]
Writing
Ball was considered the most capable and knowledgeable European speaker of Cantonese of his time.
Mr Ball is one of the most accomplished linguists in Hongkong ... and no more able pen could be found
for the work of simplifying and popularizing the Chinese tongue.[2]
An English-Cantonese Pocket Vocabulary, Containing Common Words and Phrases (1888)
How to Speak Cantonese (1889)
The Tung-Kwún Dialect: A Comparative Syllabary of the Tung-Kwún and Cantonese Pronunciations, with Observations of the Variations in the Use of the Classifiers, Finals, and Other Words, and a Description of the Tones (1890)
The Höng Shán Or Macao Dialect: A Comparative Syllabary of the Höng Shán and Cantonese Pronunciations, with Observations on the Variations in the Use of the Classifiers, Finals and Other Words, and a Description of the Tones (1897)
— (1905). The Pith of the Classics: The Chinese Classics in Everyday Life; or, lessons from the Chinese classics in colloquial use. Hong Kong.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)