Values of vowels, consonants, diphthongs, aspirates and nasals, adopted in this Work.
The Mandarin dialect lacks the initial letters b, d, g, q, r, v, x and z; and all words end by a vowel, semi-vowel, n or ng.
Vowels and diphthongs.
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a. — as in father. ai. — as in aye. ao. — (final) as ow in how, but prolonged. e. — as in men, yet. ê. — as the vowel sound in earth. eh. — short and abrupt. ei. — as in height, or i in sigh (many English writers confound ai and ei). eu. — as ou in souse (some write it ou or ow). eul. — as ll in hull or skull, with an approximation to rl as in hurl. (English and American writers have transliterated this sound in the most bewildering manner, thus :
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i. — as in pin. ia. — as ya in yard. iao. — i and ao sounded, but slightly coalescing into one second. ie. — as in the Italian word siesta. ieh. — shorter than ie. ih. — short and abrupt, as the voewl sound in chick. in. — as the vowel sound in chin, pin. ing. — as in king, sing. io. — i as y in yawn. ioh. — short and abrupt. iu. — as ew, in pew, yew. o. — as o in long. oh. — short and abrupt. ow. — as ow in how (see eu). u. — as oo in too, fool. ü. — as u in abuse. uh. — short and abrupt. ui. — u as in too; i as in height, both slightly coalescing into one. |
Consonants, aspirates and nasals.
The aspirate is about the same sound as initial h in English, but often somewhat stronger. In English, the aspirate after a surd is a neglected sound, while in Chinese it is a substitute for the lack of the sonants b, d, g hard and g soft. The Mandarin dialect has 9 aspirates : the initial simple consonants k, p and t, and the compound consonants ch, chw, kw, shw, ts and tz.
A nasal sound is performed by closing the lips and causing the voice to pass into the nose.
