nipponman Posted July 26, 2005 at 12:19 AM Report Posted July 26, 2005 at 12:19 AM Quick question, is the pronunciation of sui (雖,隨 etc...) sway or swee? My book says that is is sway, but I sometimes hear swee on tv. which one is it? any help would be appreciated. Quote
studentyoung Posted July 26, 2005 at 02:09 AM Report Posted July 26, 2005 at 02:09 AM 虽/雖：sui1 http://cb.kingsoft.com/search?lang=utf-8&s=%E8%99%BD&d=PWDCCAC 随/隨：sui2 http://cb.kingsoft.com/search?lang=utf-8&s=%E9%9A%8F&d=PWDCCAC Thanks! Quote
carlo Posted July 26, 2005 at 07:26 AM Report Posted July 26, 2005 at 07:26 AM The E vowel in /suEi/ is a three-point glide (a 'triphthong', sp?) and the mid-point of the glide is somewhere close to a mid central unrounded schwa (like 'a' in 'America'). The vowel slightly changes according to tone, so that sui with a third tone (髓) has a 'lower' E sound (more like 'sway') and sui with a first tone (虽) sounds more like 'swee' (but not quite: 'swee' is a diphthong). Wow, 100 posts. Quote
cloudrider Posted July 15, 2014 at 06:09 PM Report Posted July 15, 2014 at 06:09 PM I know this is an old post, but good for new learners googling it. --- In pinyin, "sui" sounds like "sway". The IPA is /sweɪ/ . A common phrase with "sui" is "how old?" or "ji3 sui4?" and it is pronounced "sway". You might have heard "swee" if the speaker had an accent from another dialect OR if he spoke fast and the following word's sound merged in. Quote
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