Standard Chinese a modular approach, resource module on pronunciation and romanization, Tape 4.
This tape introduces the sounds and spellings of three new consonants and two new vowels.
On the last tape we took up three pairs of affricate consonants.
You can see them in the first two columns of display 1.
Now we're going to take up three fricative consonants,
i.e.continent sounds which consist entirely of friction like s.
They're in the third column of display 1.
Notice that they line up with three tongue positions you learned for the affricates.
Retroflicks with the tongue in the R position,
Palatal with the tongue in the E position,
and dental with the tongue in the S position.
Listen to the speaker read across the rows of display 1.
張,唱,上,
江,牆,香,
藏,藏,藏.
Now listen to the speaker read down the columns of display 1.
張,江,藏,
唱,牆,
藏,上,香,藏.
Listen to the surnames in the third column again.
The ones with the fricative sounds we're going to work on.
上,香,藏.
Again.
上,香,藏.
The first of these fricative sounds,
the one spelled SH,
is rather like our SH sound,
except that the tongue is curled back in the R position.
Listen.
上,上,上.
Try repeating it.
上,上,上.
It's worth noticing that all three retroflex consonants here
are spelled with an H.
ZH,CH, and SH.
Try repeating the first row names after the speaker,
getting your tongue in the R position for each.
張,唱,上.
Again.
張,唱,上.
Now let's move on to the second new consonant.
The fricative is spelled with an X.
Don't be thrown off by the X.
Ears will tell you that it's something like our SH sound again.
It's not quite the same of course.
The tongue is held in a tight E position.
Listen.
上,上,上.
Try repeating it,
spreading your lips wide in a tight grin as you start the syllable.
上,上,上.
It's worth noticing that all three palette of consonants here
come before the semivall spelled I.
In other words,their tongue position anticipates
the tongue position of the semivall.
Try repeating the second row names after the speaker,
getting your tongue into the E position and grinning.
張,唱,上.
Again.
張,唱,上.
Now try repeating the first two names
in the third column after the speaker.
You'll have to shift gears
from retroflex to palatal tongue positions.
Here we go.
上,上.
Again.
上,上.
Now try repeating them in the other order.
E position, R position.
上,上.
Again.
上,上.
Before we go any further,let's run a quick check
on whether you can hear the difference between
the retroflex fricative spelled SH
and the palatal fricative spelled X.
Circle the appropriate romanization
for each name in exercise 1.
Repeating as you do so.
1,上.
Retroflex.
2,上.
Palatal.
3,上.
Palatal.
4,上.
Palatal.
5,上.
Retroflex.
6,上.
Retroflex.
7,上.
Palatal.
8,上.
Retroflex.
9,上.
Palatal.
10,上.
Retroflex.
The last name in the third column of display 1
starts with an honest S.
You may notice that Chinese S
is slightly stronger than English S.
Listen.
上,上,上.
Try repeating it.
上,上,上.
Now try repeating the names across the bottom row.
上,上,上.
Again.
上,上,上.
Now try repeating the names down the third column.
Shifting gears appropriately.
上,上,上.
Again.
上,上,上.
Let's make sure you can tell the three names apart.
Circle the appropriate Romanization
for each name in exercise 2.
Repeating as you do so.
上,上,上.
Retroflex.
2,上.
Palatal.
3,上.
Dental.
4,上.
Palatal.
5,上.
Dental.
6,上.
Retroflex.
7,上.
Dental.
8,上.
Retroflex.
9,上.
Dental.
10,上.
Palatal.
Now try reading the surnames in exercise 3
and repeat.
1,上.
2,向.
3,上.
4,梳.
5,梳.
6,心.
7,梳.
8,小.
9,送.
10,下.
11,梳.
12,神.
Exercise 4 is the same,
but with the 6 Africans mixed in with the 3 Frickitas.
Read and repeat.
1,朝.
2,小.
3,朝.
4,少.
5,瞧.
6,交.
7,朝.
8,梳.
9,左.
10,菜.
11,出.
12,心.
13,臟.
14,除.
15,金.
16,送.
17,交.
18,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
19,琴.
9,7,10,4,11,7,12,10.
You already know that one of these vowels written with an i can occur by itself.
It's written yi, but you can't always hear the y as a separate sound.
The prolonged r sound can also occur by itself. It's written ri.
The r merely serving to signal the retroflex pronunciation, not standing for a separate sound.
Display 3 consists of one word, the word for Japan.
Listen for the first syllable, which is nothing but the prolonged r sound.
日本,日本,日本.
Try repeating it.
日本,日本,日本.
The third vowel sound written i, the one in 次, is never pronounced alone,
but always follows a dental affricate or fricative, z, c, or s.
Exercise 6 is another read and repeat exercise with the same three sound values for the letter i.
But it's considerably harder than exercise 5 because it isn't restricted to the fricatives s, h, x, and s.
You have to decide for each consonant whether it is pronounced with the tongue in the r position,
in which case the vowel is r, whether it is in the s position, in which case the vowel is r,
or whether it is neither, in which case the vowel is e.
You've just learned that the letter i stands for the sound e after affricate or fricative consonants
pronounced in the e position,namely j, c, and x.
But remember that you've known for some time that i also stands for e after consonants such as l, m, n, d, and t,
which are neither affricate nor fricative.
In other words,the first value you learned for the letter i,the sound e, is the basic value.
The values after the r position consonants and the s position consonants are exceptions.
By the way,in exercise 6 we use two fake surnames,which we mark with asterisks.
There are such syllables in the language,and they just might be used as abbreviations of foreign surnames.
Now,read and repeat the names in exercise 6.
1 痴 2 痴 3 痴 4 日 5 期 6
7 痴 7 痴 8 痴 9 理 10 痴 11 痴 12
痴 13 期 14 痴 15 痴 16 米 17 痴
痴 18 痴 19 痴 20 理 21 日 22 死 23
痴 24 痴 25 米
Exercise 7 is a dictation exercise,which mixes up the fricatives with the affricates.
Fill in the blanks and repeat as you do so.
張 zh 5 香 x 6 桑 c 7 桑 s 8 桑
腰
CH9
脚
J10
墙
Q11
伤
SH12
脏
Z
8
Vol
I
Vol
U
Z
I
2
Z
U
3
7
I
4
車
E5
SH
I6
JU
U7
Li
I8
車
E9
Z
I10
ZU
U11
吃
I12
吃
I13
足
U14
E
I15
V
I
17
J15
Z
11
J15
J16
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J17
J18
J18