Four hu

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The four hu (

glides before the central vowel of the final. They are[1][2]

  • kāikǒu (開口, "open mouth"), finals without a medial
  • qíchǐ (齊齒, "even teeth"), finals beginning with [i]
  • hékǒu (合口, "closed mouth"), finals beginning with [u]
  • cuōkǒu (撮口, "round mouth"), finals beginning with [y]

The terms kāikǒu and hékǒu come from the Song dynasty

The Qing phonologist Pan Lei divided each of these categories in two based on the absence or presence of palatalization, and named the two new categories.[4]

This traditional classification is reflected in the bopomofo notation for the finals, but less directly in the pinyin:[a]

Four hu table
Kāikǒu Qíchǐ Hékǒu Cuōkǒu
IPA Bopomofo Pinyin IPA Bopomofo Pinyin IPA Bopomofo Pinyin IPA Bopomofo Pinyin
a a ia ㄧㄚ ia ua ㄨㄚ ua
ɤ e ie ㄧㄝ ie uo ㄨㄛ uo[b] ye ㄩㄝ üe[c]
ɨ -i i i u u y ü[c]
ai ai uai ㄨㄞ uai
ei ei uei ㄨㄟ wei/-ui
au ao iau ㄧㄠ iao
ou ou iou ㄧㄡ you/-iu
an an iɛn ㄧㄢ ian uan ㄨㄢ uan yɛn ㄩㄢ üan[c]
ən en in ㄧㄣ in uən ㄨㄣ wen/-un yn ㄩㄣ ün[c]
ang iaŋ ㄧㄤ iang uaŋ ㄨㄤ uang
əŋ eng ㄧㄥ ing uəŋ, ʊŋ ㄨㄥ weng/-ong iʊŋ ㄩㄥ iong
er

Notes

  1. ^ IPA of vowels from Lee & Zee (2003:110–111), Duanmu (2007:55–58) and Lin (2007:65)
  2. ^ uo is spelled as o after b, p, m and f.
  3. ^ a b c d ü is spelled as u after j, q, x and y.

References

Citations
Works cited