10 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



corresponds to the Chinese aspirate and is indicated by the mark '. In the httle 

 aspirate the entire word is pronounced with a strong emphasis as with italicized 

 words in Enghsh and is indicated here by underscoring and in Pollard's Miao 

 script by the sign '. 



The tones are very important, for the same sound in a different tone is an entirely 

 different word with a different meaning. While the Chinese in I-Pin have five 

 tones, the Ch'uan Miao have nine tones. The range of the tones is about an 

 octave, and the first five tones correspond to those found in I-Pin. The sixth tone 

 begins at five and goes downward. The seventh tone is halfway between one and 

 five and, like one, five, and two, is "level." The eighth begins at five and goes 

 upward, and the ninth tone is halfway between five and two and is level. Thus — 



PHONETIC TABLE 



Consonants 

 b as in bite, 

 d as in dig, 



d3 as in judge, but without aspiration, 

 d^ is d plus a slight z sound. 

 £ as in fat. 

 g as in go. 

 G is an uvular g. 



is ng as in king. 

 h as in hat. 



X is rough h as in the Scotch word loch and the 



German word nach. 

 j is y as in young, 

 k as in kind. 



1 as in law. 



\\ is Welch voiced 11 plus voiced 1. 



m as in man. 



n as in new. 



ji as ni in onion, uttered as one word. 



p as in pin. 



r which in strict phonetic script is J, the ordi- 

 nary fricative (untrilled), the initial r of 

 southern English and American speech. 



s as in sit. 



J as in shut, but nearer the ordinary s except 

 before i and j. 



t as in tin. 



T is a dental t sometimes written t. 



ts as in hats. ~ 



tj as ch in child, weakly aspirated. 



tj' as ch in child, strong aspirated. 



V as in vow. 



3 is the French j bordering on the English 

 fricative r (for which r is used in this table 

 of sounds). Sometimes there is a slight uvu- 

 lar r sound following this 3. 



D 

 u 



ao 



au 



ou 

 AU 



is a strong palatalized French j. 

 as in wit. 



is used to indicate a strong aspirate, 

 •indicates the weak aspirate, which in 

 Pollard script is indicated by ' . 



Vowels 



the 



as m pique, 

 as in imp. 

 as in end. 

 as in hat. 

 as in shah or ah. 

 as in hot. 

 as in haul, 

 as in put. 

 as in pool, 

 as pure close long o. 

 as in nut. 



is umlaut u (u) as in the German language, 

 inverted e, very slightiy resembles the French 

 mute e. It is pronounced with the teeth of 

 the two jaws very close together to produce a 

 feeble sibilation. The lips are not rounded 

 but remain neutral. The tongue is more 

 advanced than in the French. It is some- 

 times written i in the romanization of Chi- 

 nese sounds, 

 is nasal a. 

 is nasal o. 

 as i in bite. 



as ow in how with a pure o ending, 

 as ow in how with an open u ending, 

 as in eight. 



as o in go with a u ending, 

 as the Chinese ou (Wade) or eo (China 

 Inland Mission). 



