Supplementary 1
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Supplementary 1: Types of Chinese syllables We will examine each of the six categories of possible syllable combinations by listing all the members in that category. Each individual syllable is also illustrated by a (traditional) Chinese character which is one of the most frequently used characters using that syllable. Note that in these tables we have not touched upon the suprasegmental factor of ‘tone’, which is treated by some writers as an integral part of the Chinese syllabic structure. We should therefore bear in mind that, for each syllable listed in the following tables, there may be up to four different ways of saying it (i.e. four tones), each of which will have a different meaning and be associated with a different Chinese character. The first kind of Chinese syllable we will look at consists of the most basic CV structure shown in Table 1 below. Table 1 Consonant-vowel (CV) combinations (88 syllables) a (V only) b p m f d t n l g k h j q x o a 阿 ba 爸 pa 怕 ma 媽 fa 發 da 大 ta 他 na 那 la 拉 ga 尬 ka 卡 ha 哈 u o 喔 bo 博 po 破 mo 模 fo 佛 u (ü) wu 無 bu 不 pu 普 mu 木 fu 富 du 讀 tu 土 nu 努 lu 露 gu 股 ku 褲 hu 胡 yü 雨 e i e 額 me 麼 nü 女 lü 綠 jü 局 qü 去 xü 許 de 的 te 特 ne 呢 le 了 ge 哥 ke 克 he 何 i (ɨ) yi 一 bi 比 pi 批 mi 米 di 地 ti 體 ni 你 li 麗 ji 基 qi 其 xi 細 er er 二 zh ch sh zha 詐 cha 查 sha 砂 zhu 主 chu 出 shu 述 ru 如 zu 組 cu 促 su 速 r z c s y w yu za 雜 ca 擦 sa 薩 ya 鴨 wa 挖 zhe 主 che 車 she 舌 re 熱 ze 則 ce 策 se 色 ye 也 zhi 之 chi 持 shi 實 ri 日 zi 自 ci 刺 si 四 wo 我 yue 月 An obvious fact in Table 1 is the large number of empty slots, which are either CV combinations which are difficult to pronounce or are simply not made use of in Chinese. Many of the gaps are systematic, based on phonological features, for example, the o vowel only comes after labials (consonants that involve the use of the lips: b, p, m, f), ü only appears with some alveolar (n, l) and palatal (j, q, x) sounds, and i, when representing the central vowel (ɨ), only comes after z, c, s and zh, ch, sh, r. Note that the symbols wu and yü (normally written as yu) in Table 1 represent an orthographical convention of Pinyin to add w and y before the u and ü sounds respectively in some circumstances. The w and the y symbols do not have phonological values in these cases. Note also that the symbols ü, ê and ɨ almost never appear in surface Pinyin presentations and are never used when typing due to keyboard restrictions. In printed text, the three symbols are replaced by u, e and i respectively. In typing, v is used instead of ü when both u and ü sounds are possible in that slot (i.e. nu/nü and lu/lü in Table 1). When u is not a possible sound in that slot (i.e. jü, qü and xü in Table 1), u is used to represent the ü sound. In general, Chinese consonants only come before vowels in a given syllable except for the nasals (n and ng) which can also come after certain vowels (a, u, ü, i). Table 2 shows those syllables in Chinese which contain a single vowel between two consonants (CVC) where the second consonant must be a nasal. Table 2 Consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) combinations (130 syllables) an (VC only) b p m f d t n l g k h an 案 ban 般 pan 判 ma 滿 fan 凡 dan 但 tan 譚 nan 男 lan 蘭 gan 感 kan 看 han 悍 ang ang 昂 bang 幫 pang 旁 mang 忙 fang 芳 dang 當 tang 堂 nang 囊 lang 浪 gang 剛 kang 康 hang 行 ong dong 動 tong 童 nong 農 long 龍 gong 公 kong 空 hong 紅 un wen 文 nen 嫩 lun 論 gun 滾 kun 困 hun 婚 x sh r z c s gen 跟 ken 肯 hen 很 eng beng 崩 peng 朋 meng 萌 feng 風 deng 燈 teng 疼 neng 能 leng 冷 geng 更 keng 坑 heng 衡 jun 軍 qun 群 xun 訊 q ch en en 恩 ben 本 pen 噴 men 們 fen 份 dun 頓 tun 吞 j zh ün yun 運 zhan 展 chan 產 shan 山 ran 然 zan 讚 can 參 san 三 zhang 漲 chang 場 shang 上 rang 讓 zang 臟 cang 藏 sang 桑 zhong 中 chong 重 rong 榕 zong 總 cong 從 song 送 zhun 準 chun 純 shun 順 run 潤 zun 尊 cun 村 sun 損 zhen 珍 chen 陳 shen 深 ren 人 zen 怎 cen 岑 sen 森 zheng 正 cheng 成 sheng 聲 reng 仍 zeng 增 ceng 曾 seng 僧 in yin 因 bin 彬 pin 品 min 民 ing ying 贏 bing 並 ping 平 ming 明 nin 您 lin 琳 ding 丁 ting 婷 ning 寧 ling 另 jin 金 qin 親 xin 新 jing 靜 qing 情 xing 幸 y yan 言 yang 羊 w wan 萬 yuan 元 wang 王 yu weng 翁 yong 用 Note that from Table 2 onwards, I no longer use the symbol ü but follow the normal practice of using u instead for surface representation of the underlying ü sound. Note also that w and y are added to the un and ün sounds respectively on Table 2 when there is no preceding consonant, following the Pinyin orthographical convention. Pinyin also changes the representation of the sound [un] to wen instead of *wun for some reason. Apart from the above 206 syllables (i.e. Table 1 and Table 2 together) each consisting of a single vowel, there are also syllables consisting of diphthongs (two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable). Table 3 list this type of syllable. Table 3 Consonant-diphthong (CVV) combinations (70 syllables) ai (VV only) b p m ao ou ai 哎 bai 百 pai 排 mai 賣 ao 奧 bao 保 pao 跑 mao 貌 dai 代 tai 太 nai 奈 lai 來 gai 該 kai 開 hai 還 dao 到 tao 淘 nao 腦 lao 老 gao 高 kao 考 hao 好 f d t n l g k h ei ou 歐 pou 剖 mou 某 fou 否 dou 都 tou 頭 nou 耨 lou 樓 gou 購 kou 口 hou 後 ei ㄟ bei 杯 pei 配 mei 美 fei 非 dei 得 nei 內 lei 類 gei 給 hei 黑 zh zhai 債 chai 拆 shai 曬 zai 再 cai 蔡 sai 賽 zhao 著 chao 超 shao 少 rao 擾 zao 造 cao 槽 sao 掃 zhou 周 chou 抽 shou 手 rou 肉 zou 走 cou 湊 sou 搜 y yai 崖 yao 要 you 友 w wai 外 ch sh r z c s shei 誰 zei 賊 wei 維 While Table 3 lists the CVV combinations (including the diphthong-only variety in the first row), Table 4 below lists a similar structure except that a medial (semivowel) is involved as a medial instead of a full vowel which is counted as a C rather than a V. Table 4 Consonant-consonant-vowel (CCV) combinations (39 syllables) wa wo yue ya ye b p m d t n l g k h gua 掛 kua 跨 hua duo 多 tuo 脫 nuo 諾 luo 落 guo 國 kuo 括 huo dia 嗲 nue 虐 lue 略 lia 倆 bie 別 pie 撇 mie 滅 die 跌 tie 鐵 nie 捏 lie 列 話 貨 j jue 決 que 卻 xue 學 q x zh zhua 抓 jie 潔 qie 且 xie 謝 zhuo 卓 chuo 綽 shuo 說 ruo 弱 zuo 做 cuo 錯 suo 所 ch sh jia 佳 qia 洽 xia 下 shua 刷 r z c s Table 5 lists more complicated syllable structures which include a dispensable initial (C), a medial (C), a nucleus (V) and an ending consonant (C) which is either an n or an ng. Table 5 Consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant (CCVC) combinations (41 syllables) wan wang b p m f d t n l g duan 段 tuan 團 nuan 暖 luan 亂 guan yan bian 變 pian 片 mian 面 dian 電 tian 天 nian 年 lian 連 guang yang niang 娘 liang 兩 yuong yuan k h 官 kuan 款 huan 環 光 kuang 況 huang 皇 j jian 見 qian 前 xian 現 q x zh ch sh r z c s zhuan 專 chuan 傳 shuan 栓 ruan 軟 zuan 鑽 cuan 竄 suan 算 jiang 將 qiang 強 xiang 像 jiong 窘 qiong 窮 xiong 雄 juan 捐 quan 全 xuan 選 zhuang 裝 chuang 創 shuang 雙 Finally, Table 6 lists another kind of full range syllables which may include an initial (C) and definitely include a medial (C), a nucleus (V) and an ending (V) which must be an i, o, or u. Note for the uei and iou sounds, the Pinyin system has simplified the representation to ui and iu respectively when they follow a consonant (wei and you respectively when standing alone). Table 6 Consonant-consonant-diphthong (CCVV) (35 syllables) wai wei yao b p m f d dui 對 you biao 表 piao 票 miao 苗 miu 謬 diao 調 diu 丟 t tui 推 n l g k h guai 怪 kuai 快 huai 懷 q x ch sh r z c s zhuai 跩 chuai 揣 shuai 帥 niu 牛 liu 劉 jiao 較 qiao 橋 xiao 小 jiu 就 qiu 球 xiu 修 gui 歸 kui 虧 hui 會 j zh tiao 條 niao 鳥 liao 料 zhui 追 chui 吹 shui 水 rui 瑞 zui 最 cui 催 sui 歲 Altogether, there are slightly over 400 syllables used in Mandarin Chinese (i.e. 403 within Tables 1-6). Recall that each syllable in Chinese can represent a meaning (or in some cases, a grammatical function) and to represent hundreds of thousands of meanings, 400 units sounds a bit short-handed. One possibility for expansion is to combine syllables to form larger units of meaning and this is the topic of chapter 3. There is another way, however, which is to add tones to each syllable, with different tones representing different meanings. Since there are 4 tones in Mandarin, as will be explained in the next section, this increases the repertoire of building blocks of meaning to 400 x 4 = 1,600 units. This is still far from enough, so there end up being plenty of homophones in Chinese (i.e. syllables pronounced in exactly the same way but with different meanings).
