Chinese vowel diagram
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vowel diagram A vowel diagram or vowel chart is a schematic arrangement of the vowels. Depending on the particular language being discussed, it can take the form of a triangle or a quadrilateral. Vertical position on the diagram denotes the vowel closeness, ...
or Chinese vowel chart is a schematic arrangement of the vowels of the Chinese language, which usually refers to
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...
. The earliest known Chinese vowel diagrams were made public in 1920 by Chinese linguist
Yi Tso-lin Yi Zuolin (July 19, 1897 – March 29, 1945), aka Yi Jianlou, was a Chinese linguist, educator and philanthropist. He made important pioneering contributions to the studies of modern Chinese phonetics, phonology and grammar. Biography Yi Zuoli ...
with the publication of his ''Lectures on Chinese Phonetics'', three years after Daniel Jones published the famous "cardinal vowel diagram" in 1917. Yi Tso-lin refers to those diagrams as "(simple/compound) rhyme composition charts –®/複韻構æˆåœ–, which are diagrams depicting Chinese monophthongs and
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
s. Unlike the trapezoidal English vowel diagram (right), the Chinese vowel diagram (left) is triangular. The phonetic symbols used in this diagram are known as the "National Phonetic Alphabet ³¨éŸ³å­—æ¯ or "National Phonetic Symbols ³¨éŸ³ç¬¦è™Ÿ or simply "
Bopomofo Bopomofo (), or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, also named Zhuyin (), is a Chinese transliteration system for Mandarin Chinese and other related languages and dialects. More commonly used in Taiwanese Mandarin, it may also be used to transcribe ...
". Six vowels or monophthongs (simple rhyme or 單韻) are depicted in this diagram. They are: *ㄧ (IPA ), as in ㄧˋ (易, easy) *ㄨ (IPA ), as in ㄨˋ (霧, fog) *ㄦ (IPA ), as in ㄦˋ (二, two) *ㄛ (IPA ), as in ㄆㄛˋ (破, broken) *ㄜ (IPA ), as in ㄜˋ (餓, hungry) *ㄚ (IPA ), as in ㄆㄚˋ (怕, fear) Note that this chart utilizes four degrees of vowel height (closed, half-closed, half-open, open), three degrees of vowel backness (front, central, back), and three degrees of
vowel roundedness In phonetics, vowel roundedness is the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. It is labialization of a vowel. When a ''rounded'' vowel is pronounced, the lips form a circular opening, and ''unrounded'' vowels are pro ...
(spread, natural, round). The placement of ㄦ() may be questionable, but all other vowels are generally speaking where they ought to be. The same vowel chart is used to depict diphthongs (compound rhyme or 複韻), with an arrow indicating the starting position and ending position of each diphthong. Six falling diphthongs are depicted in the following diagram. They are: *ã„© (IPA ), as in ã„©Ë‹ (玉, jade) *ã„ (IPA ), as in ㄧã„Ë‹ (夜, night) *ã„Ÿ (IPA ), as in ㄌㄟˋ (ç´¯, tired) *ã„¡ (IPA ), as in ㄉㄡˋ (豆, bean) *ã„ž (IPA ), as in ㄉㄞˋ (帶, belt) *ã„  (IPA ), as in ㄉㄠˋ (é“, way) The reason why apparent monophthongs ã„© and ã„ are included in this chart is purely phonological and historical. According to this theory, those two vowels are really diphthongs, i.e. ㄧㄨ and ㄧㄠ. Even so, those vowels should be considered "rising diphthongs" on a par with those in the next diagram. The next diagram depicts four rising diphthongs, as follows: *ㄧㄛ (IPA ), as in ㄧㄛˋ (å”·, an interjection) *ㄨㄛ (IPA ), as in ㄨㄛˋ (臥, lie) *ㄧㄚ (IPA ), as in ㄧㄚˋ (亞, Asia) *ㄨㄚ (IPA ), as in ㄨㄚˋ (襪, socks)


Symbols of Mandarin vowels

The exact number of vowels in Mandarin may vary depending on the phonological theory and methodology. The major systems for Mandarin (Putonghua) transliteration are listed below The first two vowel columns contain the
syllabic consonant A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''bottle''. To represent it, the understroke diacrit ...
s (also known as "apical vowels"), often represented as and {{IPA, } by sinologists, that appear after apical dental and retroflex fricatives/affricates. Notice that those two IPA symbols are now considered Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet.


References

Yi Tso-lin Yi Zuolin (July 19, 1897 – March 29, 1945), aka Yi Jianlou, was a Chinese linguist, educator and philanthropist. He made important pioneering contributions to the studies of modern Chinese phonetics, phonology and grammar. Biography Yi Zuoli ...
(1920). ''Lectures on Chinese Phonetics œ‹éŸ³å­¸è¬›ç¾©'. Commercial Press. Shanghai. Phonology Phonetics