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pronunciation of sui


nipponman

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The E vowel in /suEi/ is a three-point glide (a 'triphthong', sp?) and the mid-point of the glide is somewhere close to a mid central unrounded schwa (like 'a' in 'America'). The vowel slightly changes according to tone, so that sui with a third tone (髓) has a 'lower' E sound (more like 'sway') and sui with a first tone (虽) sounds more like 'swee' (but not quite: 'swee' is a diphthong).

Wow, 100 posts.

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  • 8 years later...

I know this is an old post, but good for new learners googling it. 

 

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In pinyin, "sui" sounds like "sway".  The IPA is /sweɪ/ . 

 

A common phrase with "sui" is "how old?" or "ji3 sui4?" and it is pronounced "sway".

 

You might have heard "swee" if the speaker had an accent from another dialect OR if he spoke fast and the following word's sound merged in.

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