only1blitz Posted July 24, 2009 at 07:59 PM Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 at 07:59 PM Hi Guys I've been learning chinese by FSI Chinese audio tapes and I'm gettin a bit confused about positioning my tongue to pronounce properly. I understand intial pronunciation like palatal postion for "x", "j", "q" but am getting confused when finals come in. An example like "yuan": For this I believe you use palatal position since the "u" is actual a "umlaut u" then move to a normal like position for the "an" sound. Is this correct? Another example is "wei": For this I believe that you need to end on the palatal position for the i. A similar case is like "li" where "l" is the initial sound where it is alveolar position then you move into the palatal position for the "i" as a final sound. Is this also correct? Are pinyin finals as important as the intials? Since before found FSI audio tapes I just kept my tongue in the initial sound position i.e "xiong" - I kept my tongue in the palatal postion. Sorry for so many questions but the tongue positions has been bothering me alot for a while now. Any help would be greatly appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted July 24, 2009 at 08:55 PM Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 at 08:55 PM An example like "yuan": For this I believe you use palatal position since the "u" is actual a "umlaut u" then move to a normal like position for the "an" sound. Is this correct? The position of your tongue for [y] should be no different than it is for [ɛ]. [y] is closed, front, and rounded; [ɛ] open-mid, front, and unrounded. Another example is "wei": For this I believe that you need to end on the palatal position for the i. A similar case is like "li" where "l" is the initial sound where it is alveolar position then you move into the palatal position for the "i" as a final sound. Is this also correct? Right about [l], but if the tongue moves to the palate for , you'll restrict airflow too much and make a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ] or something. It should be as it is in [ɛ] and [y]. Are pinyin finals as important as the intials? Since before found FSI audio tapes I just kept my tongue in the initial sound position i.e "xiong" - I kept my tongue in the palatal postion. I think finals might even be more important than initials. I don't think it's possible to say "xiong" like that. Note that it's [ɕyʊŋ], not [ɕiʊŋ] as the Pinyin would imply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
only1blitz Posted July 24, 2009 at 09:20 PM Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 at 09:20 PM Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry but I don't understand the symbols you are using. All I know is "retroflex", "alveolars", "labials", "velars", "dentals" and "palatals" from the FSI audio tapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted July 25, 2009 at 02:44 AM Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 at 02:44 AM The terms you list are used to describe consonants. The things in brackets in my post is IPA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
only1blitz Posted July 25, 2009 at 09:24 AM Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 at 09:24 AM Thanks I think I'm getting somewhere. So basically I should almost say the finals like in english instead of like it says in this website "http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/pinyin-finals.html" especially for the "i" part Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted July 25, 2009 at 02:26 PM Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 at 02:26 PM Wow...I've had my fill of BS for one day (but I'm used to reading BS, especially about Chinese. Chinese just attracts BS that way). www.learn-chinese-language-online.com describes the finals wrong. All the vowels mentioned in post 2, except [y] are in English. is normally seen as "ee" as in "feet." [ɛ] is normally seen as "e" as in "ten." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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