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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 17
Rules for Pronunciation
Rules for Pronunciation.
(´) The acute denotes the rising inflection.
(`) The grave denotes the falling inflection.
Each Chinese character corresponds to the Chinese word above it. in English letters.
a as in pan.
aa as in fawn.
e as in they,
i as in machine,
o final, as in go.
oh as in horn.
oo as in food.
ue as in oeil (French.)
ai as y in fly.
au as ow in how.
eu as in peu (French.)
iu as ee with ou in see-you.,
oi as oy in boy.
ooi as in cooing.
sz a buzzing sound.
m as the elementary sound in the English letter.
ng as n in no.
ngo a protracted full nasal sound of no.
h in the words shap, shut, sheung, etc., is soft.
The Verb.—Moods and tenses. as such, are quite unknown to the Chinese. No distinction is made between active and passive verbs; nor are the persons or numbers noticed at all by them. The context and the circumstances under which any thing is said are the chief guides to the exact sense of any passage. Time and mode are very clearly shown by the meaning of the whole sentence, or by the conditions under which it has been uttered.
"To-morrow I shall go" would be expressed in Chinese by "to-morrow I go;" "yesterday I came" would be expressed by "yesterday I come."
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