11
votes
Accepted
Are `sh` and `x` really different phonemes, or just different realizations of the same phoneme?
This is a classic problem with defining phonemes. Looking for "complementary distribution" of sounds does not uniquely determine a phonological analysis. In Mandarin (I'll use pinyin here), ...
- 6,806
8
votes
Accepted
Help with pronouncing 道 precisely
As a Mandarin native speaker I pronounce 道 exactly same as 到，稻。 I pronounce the initial d exactly same as in dog or dad.
I also pronounce t exactly in the same way for stop. The native English ...
- 4,079
8
votes
What is the right spelling, 乌兹别克 or 乌孜别克?
1934年，盛世才召開新疆第二次民眾大會，確定烏孜別克族為正式族名，把國外的烏孜別克族依然寫作烏茲別克。
In 1934, 盛世才 held the second public meeting in Xinjiang, determining 乌孜别克 (wū zī bié kè) as the official ethnic name, and the foreign Uzbek still ...
- 5,886
7
votes
Is Cantonese a better choice in studying classic of poetry (詩經)?
Cantonese might preserve more sound distinctions than Mandarin, but they're both derived (as are most, though not all, modern dialects) from Middle Chinese.
The current consensus, arrived at slowly ...
- 381
7
votes
Accepted
Why does Mandarin Chinese have a smaller inventory of unique syllables?
From San Duanmu, The Phonology of Standard Chinese:
While Middle Chinese (about AD 600) had over 3,000 syllables (including tonal
distinctions), modern Standard Chinese (SC) has just over 1,300. Thus,...
- 2,142
7
votes
Accepted
Reconstruction of Old Chinese "少"
Baxter–Sagart's (2014:135) view on *s.t-:
Preinitial *s- had a range of effects on unaspirated stops and affricates . . . Old Chinese *s.t-, but not *s.tʕ-, evolves to MC sy- (plausibly [ɕ]), ...
- 5,595
6
votes
Accepted
How to read these vowel diagrams?
In pronouncing any given vowel, the recorded frequency spectrum will show distinct amplitude peaks (of the frequency spectrum). These peaks are called formants, and it is commonly accepted that the ...
- 22.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Pronunciation of 什么
Zhang and Yang (2007:157–165) classifies consonantal assimilation (輔音同化) in Mandarin into three types:
Progressive assimilation (前化後, lit. prior converts latter)
Regressive assimilation (後化前, lit. ...
- 5,595
6
votes
Accepted
jiu3 pronounced as jiu4 ; linked speech feature or slip of the tongue?
jiu3 pronounced as jiu4
It is very prominently pronounced with a descending glissando. It is a distinct 4th tone, phonetically.
This is not true. Tone 4 is high and descending. It has no turning up, ...
- 4,485
5
votes
Accepted
Can Chinese words start with a vowel?
The only cases I can think about are:
安 an
饿 e
耳 er
啊 a
o 哦
ou 欧
ai 爱
ao 奥
en 恩
All examples may have multiple cases under different tones
- 2,679
5
votes
Can Chinese words start with a vowel?
There are some Mandarin Chinese Pinyin sequences which consistently start with a vowel. As mentioned in the comments, these have a Pinyin representation which starts with y or w:
義, Pinyin yì, IPA /i⁵...
- 22.2k
5
votes
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Does Cantonese or Mandarin contain the voiced or voiceless velar fricative?
Voiceless: Pinyin h is standardly the voiceless velar fricative [x], although it is often written [χ] for some reason — Chinese IPA developed its own transcriptional traditions, for instance the use ...
- 526
4
votes
Are there any pre-modern/non-romanization examples of attempts to alphabetize Chinese?
Yes, there was such an attempt during the Yuan dynasty. The 'Phags-pa script was created for writing languages that were under control of Yuan, including Chinese:
The 'Phags-pa script (Mongolian: ...
- 1,660
4
votes
Accepted
What is this “XX” 開 “#” “上/平/入/去” “XX” method for describing character pronunciation?
these're codified verse, each character represent a "value" of particular "property", 廣韻 is the origin.
逼 曾開三入職幫
逼 the character looked up
曾 one of sixteen 韻攝
開 開口音 (開 for 開口音, or 合 for ...
- 15.1k
4
votes
Which is the most frequently used tone?
Even more useful than learning the individual tones is their learning their combinations.
One combination many English-speakers seem to have trouble with is 3 + 2, as in
Měiguó 'America'
hěn máng '...
- 526
4
votes
Are `sh` and `x` really different phonemes, or just different realizations of the same phoneme?
Here is another input. I learnt some Chinese linguistics in a course in university.
In my opinion, with historical evidence, they could be different phonemes.
In my following text, IPA is used in ...
- 1,163
4
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between voiced and "unaspirated" consonants and how can I check if I got it correct?
Voice-Onset Time
As you probably already know, the distinction between voiced vs unvoiced-unaspirated vs unvoiced-aspirated is the relative timing of articulation and voicing (called voice-onset time ...
- 6,806
4
votes
Accepted
Taiwanese Guoyu vs. Putonghua 阴平/阳平 tone split?
In this case, all of the characters were not even 平声 at all in Middle Chinese, but were all 入声 instead [Wiktionary's IPA]:
夹 (夾) /kˠɛp̚/
扎 /t͡ʃˠɛt̚/
击 (擊) /kek̚/
息 /sɨk̚/
All of ...
- 6,388
4
votes
How do Chinese call the sound "i"
In phonology, the "clean i" sound, IPA /i/, is called "close front unrounded vowel", which, in Chinese is called:
闭前不圆唇元音
The "dirty i" instead, as I learned it, should ...
- 5,452
4
votes
Accepted
How to create a Chinese sentence using multiple different meanings of the same sounding word?
Yes you are right. Chinese is a high context language. Chinese has much more homophones than English and a lot of other language.
However, most of the homophones don't need context to understand. ...
- 1,242
4
votes
What’s the deal with the xing-type readings for 行?
to start-- there is no official answer, because we don't actually know how middle chinese sounded. we have educated guesses, but its always good to keep in mind that at least some of the world's ...
- 1,586
4
votes
Accepted
What’s the deal with the xing-type readings for 行?
TL;DR: vowel shift + possible colloquial-literary split.
行 has the reading 戸庚切 relevant to this meaning of "to walk", reconstructed as /ɦaɨjŋ/ by Pulleybank and /ɦˠæŋ/ by Zhengzhang. The ...
- 6,388
3
votes
Accepted
Can a neutral tone appear on a non-final syllable?
Taking the definition of "word" as "an entry in CC-CEDICT", the answer to the first question is Yes.
I have a little script (I could share it if there's any interest) that I adapt to go through CC-...
- 1,530
3
votes
Chinese views on Erhua
I would like to add that there are some words in which 儿化 (erhua) optional and other words in which it is necessary. For example, earlier today I heard a Chinese person tell his friend that he had to ...
3
votes
Is there a chart of all possible Chinese syllables using Hanzi?
I have put together an eleven-page Excel spreadsheet listing all Mandarin syllables. If there is any interest, I'll speed up my proofreading and make it generally available. Comments are welcome.
My ...
3
votes
Why does Mandarin Chinese have a smaller inventory of unique syllables?
I think this is a result of the underlying assumptions made in a language.
Case: if you assume case is necessary, you need to differentiate each noun and adjective for case, that is declension. If you ...
- 17.4k
3
votes
Accepted
What does the inital /dⁿ/ stand for?
It's the IPA diacritic for the nasal release from a stopped consonant:
Quoting right from that Wikipedia page:
That is, the /d/ is released directly into the /n/: [ˈsʌdⁿn̩].
Where [ˈsʌdⁿn̩] is the ...
- 5,452
3
votes
What's the exact realization of Chinese glides (in medial position)?
The distinction between [pʲu] пю and [pju] пью for a Russian speaker may be very salient, but for the majority of Mandarin learners of Russian, it is a very difficult one to pick up.
That is because ...
- 6,388
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