Monthly Archives: September 2009

Five years of Pinyin News

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I can’t believe I’ve been doing this so long….

And even at the age of five this blog is considerably younger than most of the rest of Pinyin.info, which I built largely by hand using a text editor. Oh, those were the days. Fortunately, I now have a paid staff of dozens to handle most of the work you see here and a lot more that goes on behind the scenes.

Well, OK, I made that up. It’s still just me, though I really am often busy behind the scenes on Pinyin-related projects or pestering government officials. But it’s a living hobby.

-r endings, their pronunciation, and Pinyin spelling

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cover of Chinese Romanization: Pronunciation and OrthographyArrr! In recognition of International Talk Like a Beijinger Pirate Day, here are the rules for how to spell those -r endings in Hanyu Pinyin and how those endings affect the pronunciation of syllables. In many cases, it’s more complicated than just adding an -r sound at the end of the standard syllable.

This information is from Yin Binyong’s Chinese Romanization: Pronunciation and Orthography. The full section from this book is available in PDF form: r- Suffixed Syllables.

Written form Actual pronunciation
-ar (mǎr, horse) -ar (mǎr)
-air (gàir, lid) -ar (gàr)
-anr (pánr, plate) -ar (pár)
-aor (bāor, bundle) -aor (bāor)
-angr (gāngr, jar) -ãr (gãr)
-or (mòr, dust) -or (mòr)
-our (hóur, monkey) -our (hóur)
-ongr (chóngr, insect) -õr (chõr)
-er (gēr, song) -er (gēr)
-eir (bèir, back) -er (bèr)
-enr (ménr, door) -er (mér)
-engr (dēngr, lamp) -ẽr (dẽr)
-ir* (zìr, Chinese character) -er (zèr)
-ir (mǐr, rice) -ier (mǐer)
-iar (xiár, box) -iar (xiár)
-ier (diér, saucer) -ier (diér)
-iaor (niǎor, bird) -iaor (niǎor)
-iur (qiúr, ball) -iour (qióur)
-ianr (diǎnr, bit) -iar (diǎr)
-iangr (qiāngr, tune) -iãr (qiãr)
-inr (xīnr, core) -ier (xīer)
-ingr (língr, bell) -iẽr (liẽr)
-iongr (xióngr, bear) -iõr (xiõr)
-ur (tùr, rabbit) -ur (tùr)
-uar (huār, flower) -uar (huār)
-uor (huór, work) -uor (huór)
-uair (kuàir, piece) -uar (kuàr)
-uir (shuǐr, water) -uer (shuěr)
-uanr (wánr, to play) -uar (wár)
-uangr (kuāngr, basket) -uãr (kuãr)
-unr (lúnr, wheel) -uer (luér)
-ür (qǔr, song) -üer (qǔer)
-üer (juér, peg) -üer (juér)
-üanr (quānr, loop) -üar (quār)
-ünr (qúnr, skirt) -üer (quér)

Notes:

  • ã, õ, ẽ indicate nasalized a, o, e.
  • The -i marked with an asterisk indicates either of the apical vowels that follow zh, ch, sh, r and z, c, s.