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Re: Fricative vowels

From:nicole perrin <nicole.eap@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 7, 1999, 1:00
Clinton Moreland-Stringham wrote:
> > 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".
FWIW, my Mandarin book characterizes these as "blade palatal vowels" Nicole -- nicole.eap@snet.net http://nicole.conlang.org