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During the course of Chinese history the restriction of intercourse due to mountain-chains or other natural obstacles between various tribes or divisions of the Chinese people led to the birth of a number of families of languages, which again became the parents of numerous local dialects. These dialects have in most cases restricted ranges, so that that of one district may be partially or wholly unintelligible to the natives of another situated at a distance of only a hundred miles or less.

The Court or Government language is that spoken in Peking and the metropolitan district, and is the language of official communication throughout the country. Though neither the oldest nor the purest Chinese dialect, it seems destined more than any other to come into universal use in China. The natives of each province or district will of course continue to speak to each other in their own particular dialect, and foreign missionaries or merchants, for example, whose special duties or transactions are connected with special districts will naturally learn and use the dialects of those districts; but as a means of intercommunication generally between natives of different provinces, or between natives and foreigners, the Court language seems likely to continue in use and to spread more and more over the whole country. It is to this that the following remarks apply.

The essentials of correct pronunciation of Chinese are accuracy of sound, tone, and rhythm.

Sound

Vowels and Diphthongs

a as in father.

ai as in Italian amai.

ao. Italian ao in Aosta: sometimes a-oo, the au in cauto.

e in eh, en, as in yet, lens.

ei. Nearly ey in grey, but more as in Italian lei, contei.

e. The vowel-sound in lurk.

ei. The foregoing e followed enclitically by y. Money without the n = mei.

erh. The urr in purr.

i. As a single or final syllable the vowel-sound in ease, tree; in ih, in, ing, as in chick, thing.

ia generally as in the Italian Maria.

iai. The iai in the Italian vecchiaia.

iao as in ia and ao, with the terminal peculiarity of the latter.

ie as in the Italian siesta.

io. The French io in pioche.

iu as a final, longer than the English ew. In liu, niu, almost leyew, neyew. In chiung, hsiung, iung, is eeyong (o in roll).

o. Between vowel-sound in awe and that in roll.

ou. Really eo; ou in round.

ue. The vowel-sound in the French tu, eut.

uea. Only in uean, which in some tones is ueen. The u as above; the an as in antic.

uee. The vowel-sounds in the French tu es.

ueo. A disputed sound, used, if at all, interchangeably with io in certain syllables.

u. The oo in too; in un and ung as in the Italian punto.

ua. Nearly ooa, in many instances contracting to wa.

uai as in the Italian guai.

uei. The vowel-sounds in the French jouer.

ue. Only in final uen = u-un; frequently wen or wun.

ui. The vowel-sounds in screwy; in some tones uei.

uo. The Italian uo in fuori; often wo, and at times nearly oo.

u. Between the i in bit and the u in shut.

Consonants

ch as in chair; but before ih softened to dj.

ch'. A strong breathing. Much-harm without the italicized letters = ch'a.

f as in farm.

h as ch in Scotch loch.

hs. A slight aspirate preceding and modifying the sibilant, which is, however, the stronger of the two consonants; e.g. hsing = hissing without the first i,

j. Nearly the French j in jaune; the English s in fusion.

k. c in car, k in king; but when following other sounds often softened to g in go, gate.

k'. The aspirate as in ch'. Kick-hard without the italicized letters = k'a; and kick-her == k'e.

l as in English.

m as in English.

n as in English.

ng. The italicized letters in the French mon galant = nga; mon gaillard = ngai; son gosier = ngo.

p as in English.

p' The Irish pronunciation of party, parliament. Slap-hard without the italicized letters = p'a.

s as in English.

sh as in English.

ss. Only in ssu. The object of employing ss is to fix attention on the peculiar vowel-sound u (see above).

t as in English.

t' The Irish t in torment. Hit-hard without the italicized letters = t'a.

ts as in jetsam; after another word softened to ds in gladsome.

ts'. The aspirate intervening, as in ch', etc. Bets-hard without the italicized letters = ts'a.

tz. Employed to mark the peculiarity of the final u; hardly of greater power than ts.

tz' like ts'. This, tz, and ss used only before u.

w as in English; but very faint, or even non-existent, before ue.

y as in English; but very faint before i or ue.