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with Mandarin /-u/ which Huang incorrectly compares to English /-u/ as in fool. Again this is phonetically misleading since the English vowel has an offglide [-uw] and the Chinese vowel [-u] does not.
In several places Huang compares Chinese r- to English r-. This may work in syllable initial position for many speakers, but Chinese speakers differ and English dialects are so divergent in treatment of this consonant that guidance based on cross-language comparisons must be used with great care. Explanations on pages xxix, 10, 11 and elsewhere should certainly distinguish English »r-« in syllable initial position as contrasted with other positions. Page 54 could well have included the information that the pronunciation of /r-/ varies in North China from something like English r- to something with much more friction approaching a French j- (hence the Wade-Giles j-).
It is not enough to argue as some authors do that these phonetic differences are slight and unimportant. The whole purpose behind a book like this is to give someone all the useable information about the fine points of Mandarin pronunciation. Misinformation, especially erroneous comparisons to English sounds, leave the student exactly where he would be with no help at all, that is, substituting the closest available English sound for the correct Mandarin sound. We do not need special instruction for that type of language learning, but we do need specific guidance in avoiding such problems. This book fails us here so we are still waiting for someone to publish the guide to Mandarin pronunciation. As of this date the best help continues to be found in the brief introductions to texts like Beginning Chinese by John DeFrancis, Speak Mandarin by Henry C. Fenn and M. Gardner Tewksbury, and Mandarin Primer by Y. R. Chao. All these texts give articulatory comparisons in terms of American English pronunciation but add corrective instructions.
Cornell University, 1972.
JOHN MCCOY
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BOOK REVIEWS
with Mandarin/-u/which Huang incorrectly compares to English/ -u/as in fool. Again this is phonetically misleading since the English vowel has an offglide [-uw] and the Chinese vowel [-u] does not.
In several places Huang compares Chinese - to English -. This may work in syllable initial position for many speakers, but Chinese speakers differ and English dialects are so divergent in treatment of this consonant that guidance based on cross-language compari- sons much be used with great care. Explanations on pages xxix, 10, 11 and elsewhere should certainly distinguish English » in syllable initial position as contrasted with other positions. Page 54 could well have included the information that the pronunciation of/z/ varies in North China from something like English - to something with much more friction approaching a French j- (hence the Wade- Giles j-).
It is not enough to argue as some authors do that these phonetic differences are slight and unimportant. The whole purpose behind a book like this is to give someone all the useable information about the fine points of Mandarin pronunciation. Misinformation, espec- ially erroneous comparisons to English sounds, leave the student exactly where he would be with no help at all, that is, substituting the closest available English sound for the correct Mandarin sound. We do not need special instruction for that type of language learn- ing, but we do need specific guidance in avoiding such problems. This book fails us here so we are still waiting for someone to pub- lish the guide to Mandarin pronunciation. As of this date the best help continues to be found in the brief introductions to texts like Beginning Chinese by John DeFrancis, Speak Mandarin by Henry C. Fenn and M. Gardner Tewksbury, and Mandarin Primer by Y. R. Chao. All these texts give articulatory comparisons in terms of American English pronunciation but add corrective instructions.
Cornell University, 1972.
JOHN MCCOY
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