Pronunciation Help

[only1blitz]

Hi Guys

I've been learning chinese by FSI Chinese audio tapes and I'm gettin a bit confused about positioning my tongue to pronounce properly. I understand intial pronunciation like palatal postion for "x", "j", "q" but am getting confused when finals come in.

An example like "yuan": For this I believe you use palatal position since the "u" is actual a "umlaut u" then move to a normal like position for the "an" sound. Is this correct?

Another example is "wei": For this I believe that you need to end on the palatal position for the i. A similar case is like "li" where "l" is the initial sound where it is alveolar position then you move into the palatal position for the "i" as a final sound. Is this also correct?

Are pinyin finals as important as the intials? Since before found FSI audio tapes I just kept my tongue in the initial sound position i.e "xiong" - I kept my tongue in the palatal postion.

Sorry for so many questions but the tongue positions has been bothering me alot for a while now. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Hofmann]

An example like "yuan": For this I believe you use palatal position since the "u" is actual a "umlaut u" then move to a normal like position for the "an" sound. Is this correct?

The position of your tongue for [y] should be no different than it is for [ɛ]. [y] is closed, front, and rounded; [ɛ] open-mid, front, and unrounded.

Another example is "wei": For this I believe that you need to end on the palatal position for the i. A similar case is like "li" where "l" is the initial sound where it is alveolar position then you move into the palatal position for the "i" as a final sound. Is this also correct?

Right about [l], but if the tongue moves to the palate for , you'll restrict airflow too much and make a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ] or something. It should be as it is in [ɛ] and [y].

Are pinyin finals as important as the intials? Since before found FSI audio tapes I just kept my tongue in the initial sound position i.e "xiong" - I kept my tongue in the palatal postion.

I think finals might even be more important than initials. I don't think it's possible to say "xiong" like that. Note that it's [ɕyʊŋ], not [ɕiʊŋ] as the Pinyin would imply.

[only1blitz]

Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry but I don't understand the symbols you are using. All I know is "retroflex", "alveolars", "labials", "velars", "dentals" and "palatals" from the FSI audio tapes.

[Hofmann]

The terms you list are used to describe consonants. The things in brackets in my post is IPA.

[only1blitz]

Thanks I think I'm getting somewhere. So basically I should almost say the finals like in english instead of like it says in this website "http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/pinyin-finals.html" especially for the "i" part

[Hofmann]

Wow...I've had my fill of BS for one day (but I'm used to reading BS, especially about Chinese. Chinese just attracts BS that way). www.learn-chinese-language-online.com describes the finals wrong.

All the vowels mentioned in post 2, except [y] are in English. is normally seen as "ee" as in "feet." [ɛ] is normally seen as "e" as in "ten."