CHIN 380 Introduction to Chinese
Unit 3 Phonology Homework
Readings
Norman: Ch. 6 pp. 138-148 (6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6)
Ramsey: Ch. 4 pp.41-47
Review questions
1. Is the distinction of consonants and vowels as same that of initials and finals?
2. How to classify the sounds? What are initials, finals, medials, main vowel and syllabic
ending in
Chinese phonology?
2. Are b, d, g in Pinyin voiced sounds?
3. What makes tones different? The change of pitch? Itensity or Duration?
4. In what way the four tones are represented?
5. How many sounds at most does a syllable have in Putonghua?
6. What is tone sandhi? Can you give some examples?
7. What is the major difference between Pinyin and BoPoMoFo?
8. Which is better? Pinyin or BoPoMoFo?
9. In the old times, how did people to represent the sounds of characters?
10. Why some old poems do not rhyme when it is read in modern Chinese?
Do the following exercises: (Submit this part)
I. Using Pinyin to place the Chinese consonants and vowels in the proper position:
Chinese Consonants
Stops
Unaspirated
Aspirated
Labials
Nasals
Fricatives
Laterals
Bilabials
LabialDentals
Alveolars
Dentals
Retroflexes
Palatals
Gutturals
Chinese Vowels
Front
Unrounded
Rounded
High
Mid
Low
Central
Unrounded
Rounded
Back
Unrounded
Rounded
II. Analyze the following syllables and decompose them into initials, medials, main
vowels, syllabic endings and tones:
Syllable
Initial
Medial
mā
nín
dǒng
yā
tiān
máo
niè
nuǎn
lí
jiāng
à
wáng
wǒ
m
Final
Main
vowel
a
Tone
Syllabic
ending
1
III. How are the following characters pronounced based on fǎnqiè? Use Pinyin to
represent their sounds.
Character
瓬
郛
竻
轗
戽
Fǎqiè description
Actual
Sound
分兩切 fēn liǎng qiè
芳無切 fāng wú qiè
歷德切 lì de qiè (德: entering tone dek)
苦感切 kǔ gǎn qiè
候古切 hóu gǔ qiè
IV. Briefly answer the following questions:
1. Do you think that alphabetizing Chinese is possible? Why?
2. If you are asked to choose between BoPoMoFo and Romanized system, which
one you will choose? List your arguments.
3. Do you think that Hanyu Pinyin is the best system? Why or why not?