Page:A Chinese and English vocabulary, in the Tie-chiu dialect.djvu/12

iv

The third sound of a occurs in all those cases and those only in which it is preceded by i and followed by ng as liàng.

Tlhe sound of e in they and in men is usually regarded as the same in nature, differing only in length; it is not therefore marked in this work but is ascertained by its position.

The i shortened before a consonant is intermediate between its longest sound in machine and its shortest in pin, seldom becoming as short as in the latter.

The sound of o in not which has commonly been represented by the unmarked o never occurs in this dialect; the unmarked o is therefore used for the sound in note.

The termination ou, which has been employed by some, is not used in this work, as the sound which it represents does not seem to differ from the sound of o in no; if it has any u sound it is only the necessary turn of the voice in pronouncing the final o.

The i in iu has a more distinct sound than the e in new, and the u has the same sound as in muse.

The w retains both the consonant and vowel power. Its consonant power, however, is often very weak, sometimes scarely perceptible.

Y is used in but few words, and even concerning these it may be doubtful whether i would not be equally proper. It may also be remarked that many of the words under the initial i are sometimes spoken as if they commenced with y, especially in rapid pronunciation; as iong like yong.

It is to be observed that no attempt is made to mark the length of the vowels, but only the nature of their sounds; their length will vary in the same word according to the tone; and therefore if the word is pronounced correctly acocording to its tone, the length of the