Four hu

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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

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. 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.

This traditional classification is reflected in the bopomofo notation for the finals, but less directly in the pinyin:

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	ye	ㄩㄝ	üe
ɨ	ㄭ	-i	i	ㄧ	i	u	ㄨ	u	y	ㄩ	ü
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
ən	ㄣ	en	in	ㄧㄣ	in	uən	ㄨㄣ	wen/-un	yn	ㄩㄣ	ün
aŋ	ㄤ	ang	iaŋ	ㄧㄤ	iang	uaŋ	ㄨㄤ	uang
əŋ	ㄥ	eng	iŋ	ㄧㄥ	ing	uəŋ, ʊŋ	ㄨㄥ	weng/-ong	iʊŋ	ㄩㄥ	iong
aɚ	ㄦ	er

Notes

↑ IPA of vowels from Lee & Zee (2003:110–111), Duanmu (2007:55–58) and Lin (2007:65)
↑ uo is spelled as o after b, p, m and f.
1 2 3 4 ü is spelled as u after j, q, x and y.

References

Citations

↑ Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3.
↑ 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.
↑ Norman (1988), p. 32.
↑ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1999). "Traditional Chinese phonology" (PDF). Asia Major. Third series. 12 (2): 101–137. JSTOR 41645549. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-23. Retrieved 2015-11-15. 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.

[5] IPA of vowels from Lee & Zee (2003:110–111), Duanmu (2007:55–58) and Lin (2007:65)

[6] uo is spelled as o after b, p, m and f.

[ü-7] 1 2 3 4 ü is spelled as u after j, q, x and y.

[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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-23. Retrieved 2015-11-15. pp 128–129.