Page:An alphabetic dictionary of the Chinese language in the Foochow dialect.djvu/15

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ORTHOGRAPHY.

The system of orthography adopted in this Dictionary is essentially that known as the system of Sir William Jones. It was used in Romanizing the languages of India and the Pacific Islands, and the dialects of the North American Indians.

	Vowels.
1.	a,	as in	far, father.
2.	á,	„ „	care, fair, or as e in there.
3.	ă,	„ „	hat, sat, fathom.
4.	e,	„ „	they, prey, or as a in name.
5.	é,	„ „	met, seven, error.
6.	ë,	„ „	her, or as i in bird.
7.	i,	„ „	machine.
8.	í,	„ „	pin, or as the second i in infinite.
9.	o,	„ „	no, note, report.
10.	ó,	„ „	for, lord, or as in a in fall.
11.	u,	„ „	bull, but oftener as o in move, or oo in school.
12.	ü,	„ „	the French l’une, jeune.
	Diphthongs in the first tone.
1.	ai,	as aisle, aye, while.
2.	au,	„ ow in now, howl.
3.	eu,	$\left.{\begin{matrix}\\\\\\\\\end{matrix}}\right\}$ have the sound of the component vowels.
4.	iă,
5.	ié,
6.	io,
7.	iu,	as ew in pew, chew.
8.	oi,	has the sound of the component vowels.
	Triphthong in the first tone.
1.	ieu,	has the sound of the component vowels.
	Consonants.
1.	ch,	as in church.
2.	chʻ,	the aspirate ch, or the same as ch with an additional h, which is always represented by the Greek spiritus asper, or mark of rough breathing.
3.	h,	as in hand at the beginning of words, while at the end it is not fully enunciated, but marks an abrupt closing of the vocal organs.