The symbols and sounds of the Ahmao scrpt Ths key to the Ahmao (Pollard) scrpt has been set out usng non-techncal terms, n order that the reader, unfamlar wth the Internatonal Phonetc Scrpt may be able to use the Glossary. The student seekng a detaled apprasal of the scrpt, together wth an account of ts development and an analyss of the tonal system of the language s referred to "A Myth Become Realty. Hstory and Development of the Mao Wrtten Language." Volume 1, by Joakm Enwall. Publshed by the Insttute of Orental Languages, Stockholm Unversty. The Mao language s monosyllabc, each syllable beng made up of an ntal and a fnal. In the scrpt the ntals are wrtten wth large symbols and the fnals wth small symbols. The fnal may be wrtten n any one of four postons relatve to the ntal, thus, Y Y Y Y and ths poston gves an ndcaton of the tone n whch the word s to be pronounced. Tones The seven tones as defned by Wang Mng-j have the followng values 1 s 45 2 s 55 3 s 53 4 s 33 5 s 13 6 s 11 7 s 21 The tones are ndcated on a fve level scale, wth 5 as the hghest, and 1 as the lowest level. Thus 55, 44 and 22 are all even tones at the hgh, medum and low levels respectvely, whle 24 begns low and rses, whle 53 begns hgh and falls etc. The seven tones are spread over the four postons of the Ahmao scrpt as follows, Poston 1 ( Y ) Poston 2 ( Y ) Poston 3 ( Y ) Poston 4 ( Y ) Tone 1 Tones 2, 3, and 4 Tone 5 Tone 6 and 7 The eght tone markers n the Pnyn when appled to Ahmao have the followng tone values. Pnyn d b t x k s l f Ahmao tone 45, 55 55, 54 33 24 11 21 11 21
Intals Mao Sound Pnyn P b as n bat b P p as n pen p T d as n do d T t as n ten t X dz as n suds z X ts as n lets c E j as n jug zh or j E ch as n chum ch or q D d(r) Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the letter "d" pronounced wth the tp of the tongue curled toward the roof of the mouth gvng the "d" a fent "r" qualty D t(r) As above but wth the letter "t" tr K g as n go g K k as n kll k A gl as n glass dl A cl as n class tl W Guttural g. Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s smlar to the letter "g" but pronounced at the back of the throat. W Guttural k. As the foregong but wth the letter "k" kh M m as n me m M Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s an "m", preceded by a short exhalaton of breath through the nose C n as n nght n C Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s an "n", wth nasal breathng as explaned above G ng as n sng ngg G Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s an "ng", wth a nasal breathng as explaned above L l as n lfe l F Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the Welsh "ll" hl Y Ths symbol has no pronuncaton. It s used as a measure wth words whch are purely vowel sounds,.e. fnals only, so that ther tonal postons can be properly shown H h as n hgh h V v as n vew v dr gh hm hn hngg Not used n Pnyn
Mao Sound Pnyn B f as n fun f Z z as n zoo r S s as n sun s Q y as n you. j as n the French word for "I" je Some words are always pronounced one way, some always the other, but there are many where there s some ambvalence between the two J sh as n show sh or x I Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. The voced vowel that follows t s pronounced at the very back of the throat but there s no glottal stop. I Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s pronounced as the foregong but s accompaned by the expellng of breath. It s akn to the "ch" n Scottsh pronuncaton of "loch" Ths symbol s occasonally used n Chnese loan words for the sound "w" as n U wang" Note. The frst sxteen of the ntals, P to W, may all be preceded by the letter C, e.g. CP, CP, CT, CT etc. [In Pnyn wrtten nb, np, nd, nt etc.] In all but two cases the pronuncaton of these compound ntals s exactly as would be expected, e.g. CT s "nd" as n land, CX s "nts" as n ants. The exceptons are CP and CP whch are pronounced "mb" as n tmber, and "mp" as n temper respectvely. In the case of the ntals E, E, CE, CE and J, the normal equvalents n Pnyn are zh, c, nzh, nc, and sh. However, when the fnal that follows s or any dphthong begnnng wth ncludng the dphthong, the Pnyn equvalents become j, q, nj, nq, and x, respectvely. y y hx hx w
Fnals Mao Sound Pnyn ee as n see as n t a as n father a ou as n ought o ˇ oo as n too u Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "u" of "une" n French, and s formed by pronouncng "ee" wth the lps pursed e as n the yu e ˆ Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "e" of "the" but pronounced wth the teeth together and the tp of the tongue close behnd the teeth Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "e" of "the" but pronounced through the nose, smlar to the "un" n "uncton" Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s smlar to the "r" n "shrt", or the "ur" n "church" but wth the "r" pronounced very lghtly Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s pronounced n the same way as the foregong but wth the lps pursed w ang yu ye as n yet e ea as n beattude a «yo as n York o ª ew as n hew u eu as n deu n French Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "e" as n "the" followed by the "u" of the French word "une". It s the sound "ow" n "cow" as t s pronounced n the Devonshre dalect Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "ee" of "see" followed by the "" e eu eu Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "ee" of "see " followed by the " " Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "ee" of "see " followed by the " w ang ay as n say a
Mao Sound Pnyn» e as n de a fl ee as n see, followed by e as n de a Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "o" as n "hot" followed by "oo" as n "too " ao Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "ee" of "see " followed by "" as descrbed above Ths sound does not occur n Englsh. It s the "u" of " une" n French followed by the "e" as n "let". N.B. many speakers do not dstngush between ths sound and " " Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound "un" as n shun º Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound "a" as n "father" followed by "ng" as n "hang ". Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound "ng" as n "lng " ao e en ang ng Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound "ou" as n " ought" followed by "ng" as n "hang " Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound "way" as n "away ". ong u ß Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound wa as n wag ua _ Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound wa as n water uo Ths symbol s used n Chnese loan words for the sound w as n wne ua