(The symbols, used by sinologists, are not recognized by the IPA.) After discussion, we have finally decided to transcribe them as you see here. )Ĭheung Kwan-hin has been advising me how best to write them in IPA, for a possible future revised edition of LPD.

(Unlike these, the syllables written xi, ji, qi have an ordinary sort of. The other is found in those written si, zi, ci. One is found in the syllables that in Hanyu Pinyin are written shi, zhi, chi. We touched on them when considering the question of shih tzus (26-27 Jan).īoth of these vowels involve the tip or blade of the tongue, as well as the body, and can therefore be called apical or apicalized vowels.

Mandarin Chinese has two very unusual vowels. I recommend Firefox (free) or, if you prefer, Opera (also free). To see the phonetic symbols in the text, please ensure that you have installed a Unicode font that includes all the IPA symbols, for example Charis SIL (free download).īrowsers: Some versions of Internet Explorer and Safari have bugs that prevent the proper display of certain phonetic symbols.

How to you pronounce phlebotomist