Re: Fricative vowels

nicole perrin wrote:

> FFlores wrote:
>  Vibrant/approximant vowels, if I got it
> > > correctly [...]
> > > In other words, they were pronounced, I think, like with an r-ish, or z-ish
> > > sound to them; perhaps simultaneously pronounced with r or z, or perhaps
> > > just pronounced with a vibrating tongue.
> > I told him there are also such vowels in Mandarin, IIRC.
>
> Really?  How are they written in pinyin?  (Doesn't sound familiar - not
> denying it, just curious)
    The word "to be" is _shi_ pronounced like a fast, tense form of English "sure",
Is that what you mean? Or the "zi" in Laozi, To eat, written "chi" (that energy
stuff is spelled qi in pinyin) and pronounced like the "chur" or "church".

    Clint