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62-534: Wu is the atonal romanization of several Chinese river names, chiefly 烏江 ( Wū or Wù Jiāng ), meaning "Raven", "Crow", or "Black River". It may refer to: Chinese tones The phonology of Standard Chinese has historically derived from the Beijing dialect of Mandarin . However, pronunciation varies widely among speakers, who may introduce elements of their local varieties . Television and radio announcers are chosen for their ability to affect

124-518: A five-level scale is used, visualized with Chao tone letters . The values of the pitch for each tone described by Chao are traditionally considered standard, however slight regional and idiolectal variations in tone pronunciation also occur. The Chinese names of the main four tones are respectively 阴平 ; 陰平 ; yīnpíng ; 'dark level', 阳平 ; 陽平 ; yángpíng ; 'light level', 上 ; shǎng or shàng ('rising'), and 去 ; qù ; 'departing'. As descriptions, they apply rather to

186-428: A flat or concave shape, with no associated palatalization, and no groove running down the tongue. The term "retroflex", in fact, literally means "bent back" (concave), although consonants with a flat tongue shape are commonly considered retroflex as well. The velar bunched approximant found in northern varieties of Dutch and some varieties of American English is acoustically similar to the retroflex approximant. It

248-413: A general rule, vowels in open syllables (those which have no coda following the main vowel) are pronounced long , while others are pronounced short. This does not apply to weak syllables, in which all vowels are short. In Standard Chinese, the vowels [a] and [ə] harmonize in backness with the coda. For [a] , it is fronted [a̟] before /i, n/ and backed [a̠] before /u, ŋ/ . For [ə] , it

310-399: A glide is followed by the vowel of which that glide is considered an allophone, the glide may be regarded as epenthetic (automatically inserted), and not as a separate realization of the phoneme. Hence the syllable yi , pronounced [ji] , may be analyzed as consisting of the single phoneme /i/ , and similarly yin may be analyzed as /in/ , yu as /y/ , and wu as /u/ . It

372-502: A language such as English. Since Chinese syllables usually constitute whole words, or at least morphemes , the smallness of the syllable inventory results in large numbers of homophones . However, in Standard Chinese, the average word length is actually almost exactly two syllables, practically eliminating most homophony issues even when tone is disregarded, especially when context is taken into account as well. (Still, due to

434-410: A retroflex articulation. The greatest variety of combinations occurs with sibilants, because for them, small changes in tongue shape and position cause significant changes in the resulting sound. Retroflex sounds generally have a duller, lower-pitched sound than other alveolar or postalveolar consonants, especially the grooved alveolar sibilants. The farther back the point of contact with the roof of

496-421: A sequence of r and a coronal consonant may be replaced by the coronal's retroflex equivalent: the name Martin is pronounced [ˈmǎʈːɪn] (Swedish) or [ˈmɑ̀ʈːɪn] (Norwegian), and nord ("north") is pronounced [ˈnuːɖ] in (Standard) Swedish and [ˈnuːɽ] in many varieties of Norwegian. That is sometimes done for several consonants in a row after an r : Hornstull

558-401: A sibilant consonant ( z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r in pinyin) followed by a syllabic consonant (also known as apical vowel in classic literature): Alternatively, the nucleus may be described not as a syllabic consonant, but as a vowel: Phonologically, these syllables may be analyzed as having their own vowel phoneme, /ɨ/ . However, it is possible to merge this with the phoneme /i/ (to which it

620-411: A similar place of articulation without such extreme curling of the tongue; these may be articulated with the tongue tip ( apical ) or the tongue blade ( laminal ). Retroflex consonants, like other coronal consonants , come in several varieties, depending on the shape of the tongue. The tongue may be either flat or concave, or even with the tip curled back. The point of contact on the tongue may be with

682-402: A special phoneme, or as an instance of the phoneme /ŋ/ , although it can also be treated as no phoneme (absence of onset). By contrast, in the case of the particle 啊 a , which is a weak onset-less syllable, linking occurs with the previous syllable (as described under § Syllable reduction , below). When a stressed vowel-initial Chinese syllable follows a consonant-final syllable,

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744-693: A standard accent . Elements of the sound system include not only the segments —e.g. vowels and consonants —of the language, but also the tones applied to each syllable. In addition to its four main tones, Standard Chinese has a neutral tone that appears on weak syllables. This article uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to compare the phonetic values corresponding to syllables romanized with pinyin . The sounds shown in parentheses are sometimes not analyzed as separate phonemes ; for more on these, see § Alveolo-palatal series below. Excluding these, and excluding

806-649: A syllable that in fact ends with a long nasalized vowel. See also § Syllable reduction , below. The consonants listed in the first table above as denti-alveolar are sometimes described as alveolars , and sometimes as dentals . The affricates and the fricative are particularly often described as dentals; these are generally pronounced with the tongue on the lower teeth. The retroflex consonants (like those of Polish ) are actually apical rather than subapical , and so are considered by some authors not to be truly retroflex; they may be more accurately called post-alveolar. Some speakers not from Beijing may lack

868-432: A vowel) are taken to begin [t͡ɕj] , [t͡ɕʰj] , [ɕj] , [t͡ɕɥ] , [t͡ɕʰɥ] , [ɕɥ] . The actual pronunciations are more like [t͡ɕ] , [t͡ɕʰ] , [ɕ] , [t͡ɕʷ] , [t͡ɕʰʷ] , [ɕʷ] (or for speakers using the dental variants, [t͡sʲ] , [t͡sʰʲ] , [sʲ] , [t͡sᶣ] , [t͡sʰᶣ] , [sᶣ] ). This is consistent with the general observation (see under § Glides ) that medial glides are realized as palatalization and/or labialization of

930-488: Is mid whereas /a/ is low (open). The precise realization of each vowel depends on its phonetic environment. In particular, the vowel /ə/ has two broad allophones [ e ] and [ o ] (corresponding respectively to pinyin e and o in most cases). These sounds can be treated as a single underlying phoneme because they are in complementary distribution . The mid vowel phoneme may also be treated as an under-specified vowel, attracting features either from

992-421: Is also a difference in syllable length. Full syllables can be analyzed as having two morae ("heavy"), the vowel being lengthened if there is no coda. Weak syllables, however, have a single mora ("light"), and are pronounced approximately 50% shorter than full syllables. Any weak syllable will usually be an instance of the same morpheme (and written with the same character) as some corresponding strong syllable;

1054-404: Is also possible to hear both from the same speaker, even in the same conversation. For example, one may hear the number "one" 一 ; yī as either [jí] or [í] . The glides can also occur in medial position, that is, after the initial consonant but before the main vowel. Here they are represented in pinyin as vowels: for example, the i in bie represents [j] , and

1116-474: Is articulated with the body of the tongue bunched up at the velum. In the International Phonetic Alphabet , the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the alveolar consonants , but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol. Retroflex consonants are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as follows: Some linguists restrict these symbols for consonants with subapical palatal articulation, in which

1178-399: Is essential for intelligibility because of the vast number of words in the language that only differ by tone (i.e. are minimal pairs with respect to tone). Statistically, tones are as important as vowels in Standard Chinese. The following table shows the four main tones of Standard Chinese, together with the neutral (or fifth) tone. To describe the pitch of the tones, its representation on

1240-554: Is fronted [ə̟] before /n/ and backed [ə̠] before /ŋ/ . Some native Mandarin speakers may pronounce [wei̯] , [jou̯] , and [wən] as [ui] , [iu] , and [un] respectively in the first or second tone . Standard Chinese features syllables that end with a rhotic coda /ɚ/ . This feature, known in Chinese as erhua , is particularly characteristic of the Beijing dialect ; many other dialects do not use it as much, and some not at all. It occurs in two cases: The r final

1302-422: Is historically related), since the two are in complementary distribution – provided that the § Alveolo-palatal series is either left un-merged, or is merged with the velars rather than the retroflex or alveolar series. (That is, [t͡ɕi] , [t͡sɨ] , and [ʈ͡ʂɨ] all exist, but *[ki] and *[kɨ] do not exist, so there is no problem merging both [i]~[ɨ] and [k]~[t͡ɕ] at the same time.) Another approach

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1364-969: Is in the indigenous languages of Australia and the Western Pacific (notably New Caledonia ). Here, most languages have retroflex plosives, nasals and approximants . Retroflex consonants are relatively rare in the European languages but occur in such languages as Swedish and Norwegian in Northern Europe , some Romance languages of Southern Europe ( Sardinian , Sicilian , including Calabrian and Salentino , some Italian dialects such as Lunigianese in Italy , and some Asturian dialects in Spain ), and (sibilants only) Faroese and several Slavic languages ( Polish , Russian , Serbo-Croatian , Slovak and Sorbian ). In Swedish and Norwegian,

1426-776: Is known as the "round-sharp" distinction  [ zh ] . The change took place in the last two or three centuries at different times in different areas. This explains why some European transcriptions of Chinese names (especially in postal romanization ) contain ⟨ki-⟩ , ⟨hi-⟩ , ⟨tsi-⟩ , ⟨si-⟩ where an alveolo-palatal might be expected in modern Chinese. Examples are Pe k ing for Bei j ing ( [kiŋ] → [tɕiŋ] ), Chung k ing for Chong q ing ( [kʰiŋ] → [tɕʰiŋ] ), Fu k ien for Fu j ian (cf. Hokkien ), Tien ts in for Tian j in ( [tsin] → [tɕin] ); S in k iang for X in j iang ( [sinkiaŋ] → [ɕintɕiaŋ] , and S ian for X i'an ( [si] → [ɕi] ). The complementary distribution with

1488-481: Is pronounced [huːɳʂˈʈɵlː] ). The retroflex approximant [ɻ] is in free variation with the postalveolar approximant /ɹ/ in many dialects of American English , particularly in the Midwestern United States . Polish and Russian possess retroflex sibilants , but no stops or liquids at this place of articulation. Retroflex consonants are largely absent from indigenous languages of

1550-450: Is pronounced with a relatively lax tongue, and has been described as a "retroflex vowel". In dialects that do not make use of the rhotic coda, it may be omitted in pronunciation, or in some cases a different word may be selected: for example, Beijing 这儿 ; 這兒 ; zhèr ; 'here' and 那儿 ; 那兒 ; nàr ; 'there' may be replaced by the synonyms 这里 ; 這裡 ; zhèlǐ and 那里 ; 那裡 ; nàlǐ . Syllables in Standard Chinese have

1612-454: Is that of the sentence-final exclamatory particle 啊 a , a weak syllable, which has different characters for its assimilated forms: Standard Chinese, like all varieties of Chinese , is tonal . This means that in addition to consonants and vowels, the pitch contour of a syllable is used to distinguish words from each other. Many non-native Chinese speakers have difficulties mastering the tones of each character, but correct tonal pronunciation

1674-402: Is to regard the syllables assigned above to /ɨ/ as having an (underlying) empty nuclear slot ("empty rhyme", Chinese 空韵 ; kōngyùn ), i.e. as not containing a vowel phoneme at all. This is more consistent with the syllabic consonant description of these syllables, and is consistent with the view that phonological representations are minimal (underspecified). When this is the case, sometimes

1736-745: The International Phonetic Association . In their Handbook , they give the example of [ᶑ] , a retroflex implosive, but when they requested an expansion of coverage of the International Phonetic Alphabet by Unicode in 2020, they supported the addition superscript variants of not just [ᶑ] but of the retroflex lateral fricatives [ꞎ] and [𝼅] , of the retroflex lateral flap [𝼈] , and of the retroflex click release [𝼊] . (See Latin Extended-F .) The lateral fricatives are explicitly provided for by extIPA . Most of these sounds are not common, but they all occur. For example,

1798-767: The Iwaidja language of northern Australia has a retroflex lateral flap [𝼈] ( [ɺ̢] ) as well as a retroflex tap [ɽ] and retroflex lateral approximant [ɭ] ; and the Dravidian language Toda has a subapical retroflex lateral fricative [ꞎ] ( [ɭ̊˔] ) and a retroflexed trill [ɽr] . The Ngad'a language of Flores has been reported to have a retroflex implosive [ᶑ] . Subapical retroflex clicks occur in Central !Kung , and possibly in Damin . Most languages with retroflex sounds typically have only one retroflex sound with

1860-474: The final element in some syllables. These are commonly analyzed as diphthongs rather than vowel-glide sequences. For example, the syllable bai is assigned the underlying representation /pai̯/ . (In pinyin, the second element is generally written ⟨-i⟩ or ⟨-u⟩ , but /au̯/ is written as ⟨-ao⟩ .) The syllables written in pinyin as zi , ci , si , zhi , chi , shi , ri may be described as

1922-663: The glides [ j ] , [ ɥ ] , and [ w ] , there are 19 consonant phonemes in the inventory. Between pairs of plosives or affricates having the same place of articulation and manner of articulation , the primary distinction is not voiced vs. voiceless (as in French or Russian ), but unaspirated vs. aspirated (as in Scottish Gaelic or Icelandic ). The unaspirated plosives and affricates may however become voiced in weak syllables (see § Syllable reduction below). Such pairs are represented in

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1984-551: The high vowels : [i̯, y̯, u̯] . This is possible because there is no ambiguity in interpreting a sequence like yao/-iao as /iau/ , and potentially problematic sequences such as */iu/ do not occur. The glides may occur in initial position in a syllable. This occurs with [ɥ] in the syllables written yu , yuan , yue , and yun in pinyin; with [j] in other syllables written with initial y in pinyin ( ya , yi , etc.); and with [w] in syllables written with initial w in pinyin ( wa , wu , etc.). When

2046-413: The tip ( apical ), with the blade ( laminal ), or with the underside of the tongue ( subapical ). The point of contact on the roof of the mouth may be with the alveolar ridge ( alveolar ), the area behind the alveolar ridge ( postalveolar ), or the hard palate ( palatal ). Finally, both sibilant ( fricative or affricate ) and nonsibilant ( stop , nasal , lateral , rhotic ) consonants can have

2108-423: The u in duan represents [w] . There are some restrictions on the possible consonant-glide combinations: [w] does not occur after labials (except for some speakers in bo , po , mo , fo ); [j] does not occur after retroflexes and velars (or after [f] ); and [ɥ] occurs medially only in lüe and nüe and after alveolar-palatals (for which see above ). A consonant-glide combination at

2170-1109: The Americas with the exception of the extreme south of South America, an area in the Southwestern United States as in Hopi and O'odham , and in Alaska and the Yukon Territory as in the Athabaskan languages Gwich’in and Hän . In African languages retroflex consonants are also rare but reportedly occur in a few Nilo-Saharan languages , as well as in the Bantu language Makhuwa and some other varieties. In southwest Ethiopia, phonemically distinctive retroflex consonants are found in Bench and Sheko , two contiguous, but not closely related, Omotic languages. There are several retroflex consonants that are implied by

2232-491: The Beijing dialect. In phonological analysis, it is often assumed that, when not followed by one of the high front vowels [i] or [y] , the alveolar-palatals consist of a consonant followed by a palatal glide ( [j] or [ɥ] ). That is, syllables represented in pinyin as beginning ⟨ji-⟩ , ⟨qi-⟩ , ⟨xi-⟩ , ⟨ju-⟩ , ⟨qu-⟩ , ⟨xu-⟩ (followed by

2294-430: The adjacent sounds or from default rules resulting in /ə/ . (Apparent counterexamples are provided by certain interjections , such as [ɔ] , [ɛ] , [jɔ] , and [lɔ] , but these are normally treated as special cases operating outside the normal phonemic system. ) Transcriptions of the vowels' allophones (the ways they are pronounced in particular phonetic environments) differ somewhat between sources. More details about

2356-411: The consonant does not directly link with the vowel. Instead, the zero onset seems to intervene in between. 棉袄 ; mián'ǎo ("cotton jacket") becomes [mjɛnʔau] , [mjɛnɣau] . However, in connected speech none of these output forms is natural. Instead, when the words are spoken together the most natural pronunciation is rather similar to [mjɛ̃ːau] , in which there is no nasal closure or any version of

2418-506: The expense of including underlying glides in their systems). Edwin G. Pulleyblank has proposed a system which includes underlying glides, but no vowels at all. More common are systems with two vowels; for example, in Mantaro Hashimoto 's system, there are just two vowel nuclei, /ə, a/ . In this analysis, the high vowels [i, u, y] are analyzed as glides /j, w, ɥ/ which surface as vowels before ∅ or /ən, əŋ/ . * ㄧㄞ As

2480-593: The four main tones , and some degree of stress . Weak syllables are unstressed , and have neutral tone . The contrast between full and weak syllables is distinctive; there are many minimal pairs such as 要事 yàoshì "important matter" and 钥匙 yàoshi "key", or 大意 dàyì "main idea" and (with the same characters) dàyi "careless", the second word in each case having a weak second syllable. Some linguists consider this contrast to be primarily one of stress, while others regard it as one of tone. For further discussion, see under Neutral tone and Stress , below. There

2542-530: The individual consonant sounds are given in the following table. All of the consonants may occur as the initial sound of a syllable, with the exception of /ŋ/ (unless the zero initial is assigned to this phoneme; see below ). Excepting the rhotic coda , the only consonants that can appear in syllable coda (final) position are /n/ and /ŋ/ (although [m] may occur as an allophone of /n/ before labial consonants in fast speech). Final /n/ , /ŋ/ may be pronounced without complete oral closure, resulting in

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2604-458: The individual vowel allophones are given in the following table (not including the values that occur with the rhotic coda ). Zhuyin represents vowels differently from normal romanisation schemes, and as such is not displayed in the above table. The vowel nuclei may be preceded by a glide /j, w, ɥ/ , and may be followed by a coda /i, u, n, ŋ/ . The various combinations of glide, vowel, and coda have different surface manifestations, as shown in

2666-449: The laminal post-alveolar sounds "flat post-alveolar". Retroflex sounds must be distinguished from other consonants made in the same parts of the mouth: The first three types of sounds above have a convex tongue shape, which gives them an additional secondary articulation of palatalization . The last type has a groove running down the center line of the tongue, which gives it a strong hissing quality. The retroflex sounds, however, have

2728-653: The limited phonetic inventory, homophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese are very common and important in Chinese culture . ) For a list of all Standard Chinese syllables (excluding tone and rhotic coda) see the pinyin table or zhuyin table . Syllables can be classified as full (or strong ), and weak . Weak syllables are usually grammatical markers such as 了 le , or the second syllables of some compound words (although many other compounds consist of two or more full syllables). A full syllable carries one of

2790-466: The maximal form (CG)V(X) , traditionally analysed as an "initial" consonant C, a "final", and a tone T. The final consists of a "medial" G (which may be one of the glides [j, w, ɥ] ), a vowel V, and a coda X, which may be one of [n, ŋ, ɚ̯, i̯, u̯] . The vowel and coda may also be grouped as the " rhyme ", sometimes spelled " rime ". Any of C, G, and X (and V, in some analyses) may be absent. However, in some analyses, C cannot be absent, due to

2852-409: The mouth, the more concave is the shape of the tongue, and the duller (lower pitched) is the sound, with subapical consonants being the most extreme. The main combinations normally observed are: Subapical sounds are sometimes called "true retroflex" because of the curled-back shape of the tongue, and the other sounds sometimes go by other names. For example, Ladefoged and Maddieson prefer to call

2914-412: The other three series. The existence of the above-mentioned dental variants inclines some to prefer to identify the alveolo-palatals with the dentals, but identification with any of the three series is possible (unless the empty rime / ɨ / is identified with /i/ , in which case the velars become the only candidate). The Yale and Wade–Giles systems mostly treat the alveolo-palatals as allophones of

2976-507: The phoneme is described as shifting from voiceless to voiced, e.g. sī becoming /sź̩/ . Syllabic consonants may also arise as a result of weak syllable reduction; see below . Syllabic nasal consonants are also heard in certain interjections ; pronunciations of such words include [m] , [n] , [ŋ] , [hm] , [hŋ] . Standard Chinese can be analyzed as having between two and six vowel phonemes. /i, u, y/ (which may also be analyzed as underlying glides) are high (close) vowels, /ə/

3038-542: The pinyin system mostly using letters which in Romance languages generally denote voiceless/voiced pairs (for example [p] and [b] ), or in Germanic languages often denotes fortis/lenis pairs (for example initial aspirated voiceless/unaspirated voiced pairs such as [pʰ] and [b] ). However, aspirated/unaspirated pairs such as /pʰ/ and /p/ are represented with p and b respectively in pinyin. More details about

3100-568: The preceding consonant (palatalization already being inherent in the case of the palatals). On the above analysis, the alveolar-palatals are in complementary distribution with the dentals [t͡s, t͡sʰ, s] , with the velars [k, kʰ, x] , and with the retroflexes [ʈ͡ʂ, ʈ͡ʂʰ, ʂ] , as none of these can occur before high front vowels or palatal glides, whereas the alveolo-palatals occur only before high front vowels or palatal glides. Therefore, linguists often prefer to classify [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ] not as independent phonemes, but as allophones of one of

3162-445: The predecessor Middle Chinese tones than to the modern tones. Retroflex consonant The Latin -derived word retroflex means "bent back"; some retroflex consonants are pronounced with the tongue fully curled back so that articulation involves the underside of the tongue tip ( subapical ). These sounds are sometimes described as "true" retroflex consonants. However, retroflexes are commonly taken to include other consonants having

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3224-831: The rest having both stops and continuants. Retroflex consonants are concentrated in the Indian subcontinent , particularly in the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages , but are found in other languages of the region as well, such as the Munda languages and Burushaski . The Nuristani languages of eastern Afghanistan also have retroflex consonants. Among Eastern Iranian languages , they are common in Pashto , Wakhi , Sanglechi- Ishkashimi , and Munji - Yidgha . They also occur in some other Asian languages such as Mandarin Chinese , Javanese and Vietnamese . The other major concentration

3286-528: The retroflex series arose when syllables that had a retroflex consonant followed by a medial glide lost the medial glide. A full syllable such as ai , in which the vowel is not preceded by any of the standard initial consonants or glides, is said to have a null initial or zero onset . This may be realized as a consonant sound: [ ʔ ] and [ ɣ ] are possibilities, as are [ŋ] and [ ɦ ] in some non-standard varieties. It has been suggested by San Duanmu that such an onset be regarded as

3348-420: The retroflexes in their native dialects, and may thus replace them with dentals. The alveolo-palatal consonants (pinyin j , q , x ) have standard pronunciations of [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ] . Some speakers realize them as palatalized dentals [t͡sʲ] , [t͡sʰʲ] , [sʲ] ; this is claimed to be especially common among children and women, although officially it is regarded as substandard and as a feature specific to

3410-542: The retroflexes; Tongyong Pinyin mostly treats them as allophones of the dentals; and Mainland Chinese Braille treats them as allophones of the velars. In standard pinyin and bopomofo , however, they are represented as a separate sequence. The alveolo-palatals arose historically from a merger of the dentals [t͡s, t͡sʰ, s] and velars [k, kʰ, x] before high front vowels and glides. Previously, some instances of modern [t͡ɕ(ʰ)i] were instead [k(ʰ)i] , and others were [t͡s(ʰ)i] ; distinguishing these two sources of [t͡ɕ(ʰ)i]

3472-585: The start of a syllable is articulated as a single sound – the glide is not in fact pronounced after the consonant, but is realized as palatalization [ʲ] , labialization [ʷ] , or both [ᶣ] , of the consonant. (The same modifications of initial consonants occur in syllables where they are followed by a high vowel, although normally no glide is considered to be present there. Hence a consonant is generally palatalized [ʲ] when followed by /i/ , labialized [ʷ] when followed by /u/ , and both [ᶣ] when followed by /y/ .) The glides [j] and [w] are also found as

3534-418: The tables below. Any of the three positions may be empty, i.e. occupied by a null meta-phoneme ∅ . The following table provides a typical five vowel analysis according to Duanmu (2000 , p. 37) and Lin (2007) . In this analysis, the high vowels /i, u, y/ are fully phonemic and may form sequences with the nasal codas /n, ŋ/ . Some linguists prefer to reduce the number of vowel phonemes drastically (at

3596-605: The tongue is curled back and contacts the hard palate, and use the alveolar symbols with the obsolete IPA underdot symbol for an apical post-alveolar articulation: ⟨ ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ẓ, ḷ, ɾ̣, ɹ̣ ⟩, and use ⟨ ᶘ, ᶚ ⟩ for laminal retroflex, as in Polish and Russian. The latter are also often transcribed with a retraction diacritic, as ⟨ s̠ ⟩. Otherwise they are typically but inaccurately transcribed as if they were palato-alveolar, as ⟨ ʃ ⟩. Consonants with more forward articulation, in which

3658-529: The tongue touches the alveolar or postalveolar region rather than the hard palate, can be indicated with the retracted diacritic ( minus sign below ). This occurs especially for [s̠ ẕ] ; other sounds indicated this way, such as ⟨ ṉ ḻ ḏ ⟩, tend to refer to alveolo-palatal rather than retroflex consonants. Although data are not precise, about 20 percent of the world's languages contain retroflex consonants of one sort or another. About half of these possess only retroflex continuants , with most of

3720-452: The weak form will often have a modified pronunciation, however, as detailed in the following section. Apart from differences in tone, length, and stress, weak syllables are subject to certain other pronunciation changes (reduction). The example of shénme → shém also involves assimilation , which is heard even in unreduced syllables in quick speech (for example, in guǎmbō for 广播 guǎngbō "broadcast"). A particular case of assimilation

3782-399: The zero initial being considered a consonant. Many of the possible combinations under the above scheme do not actually occur. There are only some 35 final combinations (medial+rime) in actual syllables (see pinyin finals ). In all, there are only about 400 different syllables when tone is ignored, and about 1300 when tone is included. This is a far smaller number of distinct syllables than in

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3844-519: The zero onset, and instead nasalization of the vowel occurs. The glides [ j ] , [ ɥ ] , and [ w ] sound respectively like the y in English yes , the (h)u in French huit , and the w in English we . ( Beijing speakers often replace initial [w] with a labiodental [ʋ] , except when it is followed by [o] or [u] . ) The glides are commonly analyzed not as independent phonemes, but as consonantal allophones of

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