All Questions
14 questions
11
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Does Mandarin Chinese have phonetically voiced plosives, fricatives, or affricates (besides "r" = [ʐ] / [ɻ])?
The various Wikipedia articles covering Standard Chinese all seem to agree that Mandarin does not have voiced plosives, fricatives, or affricates except for [ʐ] / [ɻ], written in Pinyin as "r".
But ...
- 14.8k
9
votes
0
answers
302
views
Phonological development of Middle Chinese 學 /hæwk/ to Mandarin xue /ɕye/
學 was /hæwk/ according to Baxter-Sagart transcription of Qieyun, and according to this wikipedia page, -æwk became /Jye/ in modern Mandarin, where J is a palatalized initial consonant.
What I'm ...
- 537
7
votes
1
answer
330
views
Sociolinguistics of pre-handover Hong Kong cinema and dialogue in non-Cantonese Chinese “dialects”
I have always heard that mutual intelligibility between the Sinitic languages of China is low. However, I am confused by the sociolinguistics of Hong Kong cinema in 1980s and 1990s. Films from that ...
user21126
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Could the Mandarin word "要" (yāo) and the Thai word "เอา" (ao), both meaning "to want" be related?
After a couple of weeks in Thailand and learning how to say "I don't want it" I've just realized the word for "want" is very similar to the word for "want" in Mandarin Chinese.
I know the coincidence ...
- 14.8k
5
votes
0
answers
81
views
Where can I find auditory records of Chinese Mandarin within 1930-1970?
I am doing research on pure Chinese and I need a auditory recording made between 1930-1970. I searched for subject of anthropology in Hong Kong local library and found nothing material in auditory ...
- 51
4
votes
1
answer
405
views
Differences between Hong Kong Mandarin and southern Mandarin generally?
With Mandarin making more and more in-roads into Cantonese speaking Hong Kong, I'm wondering what characteristics set it apart from Standard Mandarin or other regional Mandarin dialects and/or accents ...
- 14.8k
3
votes
1
answer
303
views
Could certain adjectives or adverbs be analysed to function as a type of copula in Mandarin Chinese?
Chinese (I've only had experience with Mandarin so far) has at least one or two equivalents to English to be, such as "在" (zài) and "是" (shì).
Now I know that Chinese adjectives are actually verbs so ...
- 14.8k
3
votes
3
answers
471
views
Is there re-syllabification in Chinese?
I'm reading prosodic phonology, and wondering if there is any re-syllabification process happening in Mandarin Chinese?
- 99
2
votes
2
answers
322
views
Chinese 3rd tone: cross-linguistic comparison
I'm wondering about the rate of occurence of complex tone contours like the Mandarin Chinese third tone, the falling-rising tone. By "complex" I mean that its contour isn't simply a rising, falling, ...
- 402
2
votes
2
answers
138
views
Besides lexicon and phonology, what are the biggest differences in Mandarin that are hard for Westerners to learn?
I'm dabbling in Chinese lately and of course most of the vocabulary is new and the phonology is difficult, including tones, tone sandhi, unstressed syllables, and even some aspects of the vowels and ...
- 14.8k
2
votes
1
answer
200
views
Is Mandarin understandable by Taiwanese in written context if simplified characters are mapped to traditional ones?
According to Wikipedia entry on Taiwanese Mandarin:
The official Guoyu is almost identical to the official language of the People's Republic of China, called Pǔtōnghuà, with the exception of their ...
- 553
2
votes
1
answer
126
views
Transcriptions of Mandarin Chinese into writing systems other than Latin, Arabic and Cyrillic?
I was wondering if Standard Chinese has been transliterated (either officially or unofficially) into writing systems other than the Latin (Pinyin, Wade-Giles), Arabic (Xiao'erjing) or Cyrillic (Dungan ...
- 49
1
vote
2
answers
133
views
Mandarin Chinese phonology: on the issue of p/b, t/d, k/g distinction and older romanization systems
Like many people, I've found it intriguing that older Chinese romanization systems such as Wade-Giles and postal romanization seem to "confuse" certain sounds, such as p/b, k/g, and t/d. I ...
- 729
0
votes
1
answer
351
views
Which Chinese Romanisation system is most intelligible to English speakers?
This may be a difficult question, because I've heard that pronunciation can vary greatly even within Chinese-speaking countries. I'm also not really aware of when Mandarin or Cantonese would be used; ...
- 761