| Vowels.— | A, a pronounced as u in fun; ȧ as a in father; final a is always heard as a in father.
E, e pronounced as e in men; final e as a in gale. I, i pronounced as i in pin, or as i in marine; final i almost always has the latter sound. O, o pronounced as o in for; ȯ as o in no. U, u pronounced as u in pull, or as oo in pool; ü as the French u in une, or the German ü in früh. AI, ai pronounced as ai in aisle; ȧi has a broader sound; it may be imitated by pronouncing rapidly the two words, ah, ill. AU, au pronounced as ou in bough; ȧu has a broader sound, similar to that heard in the Italian word causa. EU, eu pronounced like the vowel sounds in person, but with no stress on the first one, and very rapidly so that the two sounds almost blend into one. OI, oi pronounced like oi in oil. UI, ui pronounced according to the rules given; IU, the same is true of iu. In both cases each vowel is pronounced distinctly, yet rapidly, so as almost to blend. The vowels ȯ and u and the diphthongs oi and ui, are often interchangeable: a word having the ȯ sound in one village being pronounced u in another village, and one in with the diphthongal sound oi being heard as ui. The same is true of i and e. |
| Consonants.— | NG, ng initial or final is pronounced as ng in singing. The initial sound may be acquired by repeating this word, leaving off the initial si.
CH, ch, when unaspirated, is pronounced more softly than in English, approaching closely the sound of j in joint. S, Instead of the hard sound of s, heard in the word so, some Cantonese give an aspirated sound to many of the words here written with |
