Re: Ê in Pinyin?

On Monday, February 21, 2005, at 03:08 , Philip Newton wrote:

> On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 14:22:34 +0100, Jean-François Colson
> <fa597525@...> wrote:
>> On
>> http://www.eki.ee/letter/chardata.cgi?lang=zh_r+Chinese&script=romanization
>> I read that the letter E with circumflex is used in Pinyin.
>> Is that a mistake?
>> If that's true, what's its use?
>
> I believe it's used for the "e" sound in "ye" (as opposed to the "e"
> sound in "ke, le, ne").
i.e. Pinyin ê = [e]. But only in the very rare occasions when the sound is
not preceded by [j], [i] or [y] (after which sounds [e] is written  _e_
without the circumflex). I have come across it only in the names of
letters of the alphabet - bê, cê, dê etc - which are clearly western
borrowings.

Ray
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