Four hu

The four hu (Chinese: 四呼; pinyin: sì hū) are a traditional way of classifying syllable finals of Mandarin dialects, including Standard Chinese, based on different glides before the central vowel of the final. They are^[1][2]

• kāikǒu (開口, "open mouth"), finals without a medial
• qíchǐ (齊齒, "even teeth"), finals beginning with [i]
• hékǒu (合口, "closed mouth"), finals beginning with [u]
• cuōkǒu (撮口, "round mouth"), finals beginning with [y]

The terms kāikǒu and hékǒu come from the Song dynasty rime tables describing Middle Chinese.^[3] The Qing phonologist Pan Lei divided each of these categories in two based on the absence or presence of palatalization, and named the two new categories.^[4]

This traditional classification is reflected in the bopomofo notation for the finals, but less directly in the pinyin:^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Four hu table

Kāikǒu				Qíchǐ				Hékǒu				Cuōkǒu
IPA	Bopomofo	Pinyin		IPA	Bopomofo	Pinyin		IPA	Bopomofo	Pinyin		IPA	Bopomofo	Pinyin
a	ㄚ	a		ia	ㄧㄚ	ia		ua	ㄨㄚ	ua
ɤ	ㄜ	e		ie	ㄧㄝ	ie		uo	ㄨㄛ	uo[lower-alpha 2]		ye	ㄩㄝ	üe[lower-alpha 3]
ɨ	ㄭ	-i		i	ㄧ	i		u	ㄨ	u		y	ㄩ	ü[lower-alpha 3]
ai	ㄞ	ai						uai	ㄨㄞ	uai
ei	ㄟ	ei						uei	ㄨㄟ	wei/-ui
au	ㄠ	ao		iau	ㄧㄠ	iao
ou	ㄡ	ou		iou	ㄧㄡ	you/-iu
an	ㄢ	an		iɛn	ㄧㄢ	ian		uan	ㄨㄢ	uan		yɛn	ㄩㄢ	üan[lower-alpha 3]
ən	ㄣ	en		in	ㄧㄣ	in		uən	ㄨㄣ	wen/-un		yn	ㄩㄣ	ün[lower-alpha 3]
aŋ	ㄤ	ang		iaŋ	ㄧㄤ	iang		uaŋ	ㄨㄤ	uang
əŋ	ㄥ	eng		iŋ	ㄧㄥ	ing		uəŋ	ㄨㄥ	weng
ʊŋ	ㄨㄥ	-ong		iʊŋ	ㄩㄥ	iong
aɚ	ㄦ	er

Notes

1. IPA of vowels from Lee & Zee (2003:110–111), Duanmu (2007:55–58) and Lin (2007:65)
2. uo is spelled as o after b, p, m and f.
3. ü is spelled as u after j, q, x and y.

References

Citations

1. Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3.
2. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1984). Middle Chinese: a study in historical phonology. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-7748-0192-8.
3. Norman (1988), p. 32.
4. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1999). "Traditional Chinese phonology" (PDF). Asia Major. Third series. 12 (2): 101–137. JSTOR 41645549. pp 128–129.

Works cited

• Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric (2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001208.
• Duanmu, San (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lin, Yen-Hwei (2007). The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.