CHAPTER IV : CONCLUSIONS

This is the CHAPTER IV (CONCLUSIONS) of the research entitled " A Comparative Study between Mandarin and English Phonological System.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusions
This research analyzes the difference phonemic system between Mandarin and English. The different speech sounds (phone) between English and Mandarin are in:

1. initial sounds
a) Labial :[b], [p],
b) Alveolar: [d], [t],
c) Velar [g], [k], [h],
d) Palatal: [j], [q], [x],
e) Dental sibilant: [z], [c],
f) Retroflex: [zh], [ch],
g) Other comments on initial letters in Mandarin Chinese: [y].
2. final sounds
a) Simple one vowel
It has some difference with English in the:
1) Mandarin pinyin “e” which is pronounced [ә];
2) Mandarin pinyin “i” which is pronounced [i] or [ә];
3) Mandarin pinyin “o” which is pronounced [w] or [u];
4) Mandarin pinyin “u” which is pronounced [u] or [ü];
b) Compound final sounds (two vowels/diphongs)
1) Mandarin pinyin “iao/yao” which is pronounced /yau/;
2) Mandarin pinyin “you” which is pronounced /you/;
3) Mandarin pinyin “-ou” which is pronounced /ou/
4) Mandarin pinyin “üe” which is pronounced /üe/
5) Mandarin pinyin “ uo” which is pronounced /uo/
c) Nasal final sounds
1) Front nasal
i. Mandarin pinyin “ian” which is pronounced /iәn/
ii. Mandarin pinyin “üan” which is pronounced / üan /
iii. Mandarin pinyin “ün” which is pronounced /ün/
2) Back Nasal
i. Mandarin pinyin “eng” which is pronounced /әŋ/
ii. Mandarin pinyin “ong” which is pronounced /uŋ/

The allophonic variations of Mandarin and English phone are very different. It is known that in English phonetics, an allophone is shown in [p], [t], and [k] phones. But in Mandarin, aspiration is not an allophone because Mandarin speakers treat aspirated sound as different sound.

For Mandarin speaker, an allophone occurs in vowel [o], [a], and [u].
The most contrastive suprasegmental phoneme between Mandarin and English is tone. In Mandarin, tone produces a different meaning when a syllable is produced with a different tone contour. Besides, English uses intonation to express emphasis, contrast, emotion, or other such atmospheres.

Previous chapter :
CHAPTER III