Level 4 Special initials and special rules
1. Special initials "y" and "w"
What's special about "y" and "w" isn't how they are pronounced, but why they exist.
The pronunciation of "y" is the same to the simple final "i".
The pronunciation of "w" is the same to the simple final "u".
Attention: "yi" still pronounces as "y", and "wu" still pronounces as "w" because you won't pronounce the same sound twice in a syllable.
The question is why pinyin needs two extra "y" and "w" when there are already the same sounds represented by "i" and "u". That sounds a bit repetitive. But there are reasons: A Chinese syllable consists of one initial and one final. Finals can't stand alone to form a syllable/character ("er" is the only exception)."y" and "i" have the same pronunciation, but their roles are different. "y" serves as an initial while "i" is a final (same thing for "w" and "u"). Without "y" and "w" as initials, pinyin could be very ambiguous. See the example below.
kanyisheng
看 医 生
This is a phrase (go to the doctor). It consists of 3 characters as well as three syllables: "kan", "yi" and "sheng".
Now let's take "y" out. So it becomes
kanisheng
看 医 生
Phonetically, it should sound the same because the "i" sound is still there. However, it becomes very confusing because it could be interpreted in two ways. Readers won't be able to tell the meaning just by looking at pinyin. That's why these two special initials exist.
kanisheng
看 医 生
kanisheng
卡 你 生
？？？
o r
2. Special rules
1. The villain rule
We have a new member to the "villain family" - "y". Just like "j""q""x", the initial "y" is also a "villain", who would take "ü"'s eyes out. So if you see "yu", you should know it's just written as "yu". It's actually "yü". You should keep the original pronunciation "yü" as well. This completes pinyin "villain family".
2. The special 7 rule
The special 7 refers to the seven initials we learned at level 3.
Long story short, the rule is: when these seven initials are combined with the final "i" to form a syllable, "i" is muted.
For example: "zi" is still pronounced as "z", and "zhi" is still pronouced as "zh". Ignore the "i" sound in these seven cases.
Summary
In this lesson, you have learned how to pronounce all initials correctly, including 21 regular initials and 2 special initials.
We have also included one special final "er". It's the only final that doesn't need an initial to form a syllable.
We have learned two special pinyin rules so far: the 4-villain rule and the special 7 rule. Don't forget to apply these special rules.