Transcript Vowels - University of Oxford

The six vowels in Pinyin
pronunciation are listed
in the following slide
show. They will be read
in the first tone, which
sounds like a sustained
sung note. Please listen
and repeat after me.
ā
It sounds like the
noise you might make
when your doctor is
examining the inside
of your mouth. Open
your mouth wide and
say: “aah”.
ō
Push your lips
forward into a small
circle, with your
tongue at the bottom
of your mouth,
leaving a hollow
space above it. Say:
“o”. Your lips should
make the shape they
take when you say
the English word
“law”.
ē
Make a sound as if
you have seen
something really
disgusting: “ergh”.
When e is used with
other vowels it can
also be pronounced
“ê” which is similar to
“e” in the English
word “bed”.
ī
Pull your lips slightly
back and push your
tongue up towards
the hard palate
without touching it. It
is similar to the “ea”
sound in the English
word “squeak”.
ū
Push your lips
forward and make a
narrow gap through
which your breath
can vibrate. Your lips
should take the
shape they make
when you say the
word “fool”.
ǖ
It is similar to the
umlaut “ü” in German
or the French “u”.
Say “ee” through
tightly pursed lips
(form the shape they
make when you say
the “sh” of the
English word fish).
If you read the vowels
in the following order,
you will notice that
the gap between your
lips will gradually get
narrower.
āōēīū
ǖ
When you have learnt
how to pronounce
these vowels
individually, you can
try to read out some
combined vowels. I
will read out the
following groups of
vowels in the first
tone.
āo
āi
uā
NB: if a word begins
with u the written
form is w, so ua
would be written wa
but still pronounced
ua.
iā
NB: if a word begins
with i the written form
is y, so ia would be
written ya but still
pronounced ia.
There are some
irregular features in
Pinyin pronunciation.
When the vowel ē
comes before or after
the vowels ī and ǖ, it
should be
pronounced “e” as in
“bed”. Let's read the
following 3 examples
in the first tone.
ēi
iē
NB: if a word begins
with i the written form
is y, so ie would be
written ye but still
pronounced ie.
üē
NB: if a word begins
with ü the written form
is y, so üe would be
written yue but still
pronounced üe.
When o is followed by
u, the pronunciation
of o is similar to the
English letter "o".
Listen and repeat
after me.
ōu
I am going to read
two groups of
combined vowels that
are written in an
abbreviated form.
Please listen and
repeat carefully after
me.
iū
NB: if a word begins
with i the written form
is y, so the Pinyin for
iu would be written
“you”.
uī
NB: if a word begins
with u the written
form is w, so ui would
be written wei.