Initial consonants[]
There are 19 to 23 initials consonants (or onsets) in Taishanese, which is shown in the chart below in IPA:
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | plain | ||||||
| Nasal | m1 | n1 | ɲ1 | ŋ1 | ||||
| Stop | prenasalized voiced | ᵐb1 | ⁿd1 | ᵑɡ1 | ||||
| voiced | b | d | d͡z2 | d͡ʒ2 | ɟ | ɡ | ||
| plain | p | t | t͡s2 | t͡ɕ2 | c | k | ʔ | |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡sʰ2 | t͡ɕʰ2 | cʰ | kʰ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | ɬ | s2 | ɕ2 | ç | x | h |
| voiced | v | ɮ | z | ʒ3 | ʝ | ɣ | ɦ | |
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j3,4 | w5 | ||||
- The respective nasal onsets (/m/, /n/, and /ŋ/) are allophones of the pre-nasalized voiced stop onsets (/ᵐb/, /ⁿd/, and /ᵑɡ/).
- The palatal sibilants (/t͡ɕ/, /t͡ɕʰ/, and /ɕ/) are allophones of the respective alveolar sibilants (/t͡s/, /t͡sʰ/, and /s/) when the first vowel of the final consonant is high (/i/ and /u/).
- The palatal approximate (/j/) is an allophone of the voiced fricative sibilant initial (/ʒ/).
- The palatal approximate (/j/) can be a semivowel of the vowel /i/ when used as a glide.
- The labio-velar approximate (/w/) can be a semivowel of the vowel /u/ when used as a glide.
Vowels[]
There are about seven different vowels in Taishanese:
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||
| Close | /i/1 | /y/ | /ʉ/ | /u/2 |
| Close-Mid | /e/ | /ø/ | /ɵ/3 | /o/ |
| Mid | /ə/3 | |||
| Open-Mid | /ɛ/ | /œ/ | /ɞ/ | /ɔ/ |
| Open | /a/ | /ɶ/ | /ä/ | /ɑ/ |
- The closed front vowel (/i/) can be a palatal approximant (/j/) as a semivowel.
- The closed back vowel (/u/) can be a labiovelar approximant (/w/) as a semivowel.
- The closed-mid central vowel (/ɵ/) is an allophone of the mid vowel central vowel (/ə/).
Final consonants[]
The final consonant (or rime) occurs after the initial sound, which consists of a medial, a nucleus, and a coda. There are three medial (or glides) in Taishanese that occur after the initial sound: null or no medial, /i/, or /u/. There are five main vowels after the medial: /a/, /e/, /i/, /u/, and null or no vowel. There are nine main codas at the end of the final: null or no coda, /i/, /u/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /p/, /t/, and /k/.
| Nucleus | -a- | -e- | -i- | -u- | -∅- | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medial | ∅- | i- | u- | ∅- | u- | ∅- | ∅- | i- | ∅- | |
| Coda | -∅ | [a] | [iɛ] | [uɔ] | [i] | [u] | ||||
| -i | [ai] | [uɔi] | [ei] | [ui] | ||||||
| -u | [au] | [iau] | [eu] | [iu] | ||||||
| -m | [am] | [iam] | [em] | [im] | [m] | |||||
| -n | [an] | [uɔn] | [en] | [un] | [in] | |||||
| -ŋ | [aŋ] | [iaŋ] | [ɔŋ] | [ɵŋ] ~ [əŋ] | ||||||
| -p | [ap] | [iap] | [ep] | [ip] | ||||||
| -t | [at] | [uɔt] | [et] | [ut] | [it] | [ɵt] ~ [ət] | ||||
| -k | [ak] | [iak] | [ɔk] | [ɵk] ~ [ək] | ||||||