A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

→‎How to make a syllable: lead w/ "starting consonant, vowel, and ending consonant"
(→‎Special vowels: y, yn, kym, titw, zhwn)
(→‎How to make a syllable: lead w/ "starting consonant, vowel, and ending consonant")
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== How to make a syllable ==
== How to make a syllable ==
We will first introduce all of the phonetic sounds of Taiwanese, using the [[MTL alphabet]]. Some sounds have an approximation in English, while others may be less familiar. In the examples, we underline indicators (mainly ''f'', ''r'', ''x'', ''v'') that are silent, which we will explain later.
Here are the three important parts of a syllable we will look at first: starting consonant, vowel, and ending consonant. We will talk about tones later.  


=== Initial consonants ===
=== Initial consonants ===
A syllable can start with one of the [[List of all initial consonants in MTL|18 initial consonants in MTL]]:
A syllable can start with one of [[List of all initial consonants in MTL|18 initial consonants]]. Some sounds have an approximation in English, while others may be more exotic. For now, you can just ignore the silent indicators (mainly ''f'', ''r'', ''x'', ''v'').


[[File:Initial_consonants.mp3|thumb|none|Consonants]]
[[File:Initial_consonants.mp3|thumb|none|Consonants]]
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* [consonant] + '''vowel''' + [nasal final consonant]
* [consonant] + '''vowel''' + [nasal final consonant]


Syllables never have the nasal indicator (''v'') and a nasal final consonant (''m'', ''n'', ''ng'') at the same time. The only times you will see more than one nasal part are with ''[[ng]]'' as the vowel, as in ''{{x|mng}}'' (to ask) and ''[[nng]]'' (egg or pair).
Syllables never have the nasal indicator (''v'') and a nasal final consonant (''m'', ''n'', ''ng'') at the same time. You will not find ''min'' or ''ming'', which start and end with nasals. The only times you will see more than one nasal part are with ''[[ng]]'' as the vowel, as in ''{{x|mng}}'' (to ask) and ''[[nng]]'' (egg or pair).  


A word can be formed with one or more syllables, but two syllables is most typical. We will explain below how every syllable has a distinct tone.
A word can be formed with one or more syllables, but two syllables is most typical. We will explain below how every syllable has a distinct tone.
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