Lessons in the Shanghai Dialect

by F. L. Hawks Pott

FINALS

1. The Vowel Endings are—a, e, i, au, o, oo, eu, u, ui, ia, iau, ieu, and ie.
2. The Nasal Endings are—(a) an, en, ien and oen, in which the n is not sounded, but lengthens out and imparts a nasal quality to the preceding vowel; (b) ang, aung, oong, ung and iang, in which ng has the value of ng in song; (c) uin, in which n is sonant and has a value varying between n and ng.
3. The Abrupt Vowel Endings are—ak, ah, eh, ih, auh, ok, oeh, uh, and iak, in which h and k are the signs of the zeh-sung (人聲), and the vowel is pronounced in a short, abrupt manner.

• The sounds of the vowels are—
• a as in far, except when followed by n or h, when it has the sound of a is man or mat.
• e as in prey; before h it has the sound of e as in met.
• i as in caprice; before h or ng it is shortened to i as in mit or sing.
• au as in August.
• o as in so.
• oo as in oo in too.
• oe as in œ Goethe (German ö).
• eu as in French Monsieur.
• u as in oo in foot (always preceded by an s sound).
• ui as in fruit (or rather, French ü).

In ia, iau, ieu and ie, we have short i followed closely by a, au, eu, and e, as described above.

Of course it is understood that the Chinese sounds in a majority of cases vary somewhat from the English sounds which are given as the nearest equivalent. The true pronunciation of Chinese sounds should be learned from a Chinese teacher, and the student should always bear it in mind that any Romanization used does not represent English sounds, but Chinese sounds. This fact can not be too strongly emphasized.

The Dok-yoong Z-moo—“Initials used alone,” i.e., without vowels, are—ts, tsh, dz, s, z, m, ng, and r. The first five are followed by the vowel sound in the second syllable of able—prolonged. Mateer and Baller use ï for this sound and the new Mandarin Romanized uses i [C0]. It is not written, but understood in the Shanghai system. m has the sound of m in chasm and ng the sound of ng in hanger. r is a sound between final r and l.

TONES

The tones are four in number, each occurring in the upper and lower series. As has been stated, the upper and lower series can be distinguished by the initials. Sounds in the upper series are of higher pitch and those in the lower series of a lower pitch.

The names of the tones are:—

Bing sung	＝ Even sound 平聲.
Zang sung	＝ Rising sound 上聲.
Chui-sung	＝ Going sound 去聲.
Zeh-sung	＝ Entering sound 人聲.