1[ts] and [tsʰ] is uncommonly palatalized before certain finals as [tɕ] and [tɕʰ], though these are not represented in writing.
2The traditional Mandarin [ɕ], as in 心 (/ɕin/), is vocalized as [ʃ] by the vast majority of speakers. While x was initially supposed to purely represent the [ʂ] phoneme, many speakers in southern China pronounce it as [ʃ]. Dialectal speakers of Cantonese may completely substitute [ʃ] with the phoneme [s].
3Several casual speakers in Cantonese-majority areas merge the initial /n/ with /l/. Some speakers in southwestern China merge the initial /l/ into /n/ as well. However, this practice is officially discouraged, and formal speakers retain a clear distinction between /n/ and /l/.
Finals chart
Finals chart
OTL
IPA
Oral
Nasal
-1
-i
-u
-m
-n
-ng
aa
[a]
aa2
aa 呀
aai 挨
aau 拗
aam 監
aan 晏
aang 罌
a
[ɐ]
a
ai 矮
au 歐
am 痷
an 恩
ang 鶯
e
[ɛ~e]
e4
e 誒
ei 非
eu 掉
em 舐
eng 鏡
i
[i]
i
i 衣
iu 妖
im 淹
in 煙
ing 英
o
[ɔ~o]
o
o 柯
oi 哀
ou 奧
on 安
ong 康
u
[u~ʊ]
u5
u 烏
ui 煨
un 碗
ung 甕
oe
[œ]
eu
eu 靴
eung 香
y
[y]
ju6
ju 於
jun 冤
-
m 唔
ng 五
Finals with medials
ia
[ia]
ia
ia 倆
iau 表
ian 眼
iang 羊
ie
[ie]
ie
ie 別
io
[io]
io
iou 謬
iong 用
ua
[wɐ]
wa
wa 哇
wai 威
wan 灣
wang 汪
ue
[we]
we
wei 為
wen 問
weng 翁
Notes
1In finals without final stop codas, they may be followed by an h in writing. For example, o (柯) may be written as oh.
2When it is not necessary to use tone markers, aa is usually shortened to a, or a macron is added to indicate vowel length (ā). This is typical when transcribing place names or common personal names.
4/e/ may be pronounced as [ə] or [ɤ] by some northern Chinese speakers.
5/u/ is also transcribed as oe in accordance with Dutch orthography, particularly in the Batavosphere.
5/ɵ/ is collapsed into /u/.
6The digraph ju is also transcribed as joe. For example, the character 粵 (lit. Cantonese) is almost always transcribed as Joet.
The Mandarin syllable uo is merged into o. For example, 多 would be pronounced /to/ instead of /twɔ/.
