Phonetic aspects of Chinese Shaanxi Xi'an dialect

Abstract

Purpose of this study is to create articulation features for visual speech synthesis. Phonetic alphabet of Shaanxi Xi'an dialect has been created based on the Chinese Pinyin Scheme, which is the official Romanization system for Mandarin. It shares the common phonemes with Mandarin and supplements some special phonemes and Tone-Contour patterns. Firstly, this paper illustrates the corresponding relationship of phonemes comparing this dialect with Mandarin. Then a series of SAMPA code for Shaanxi Xi'an dialect has been developed. A detailed description of the Tone-Contour patterns of Shaanxi Xi'an dialect is given and contrasted with that of Mandarin. The correspondent regularities on consonants, vowels in the whole syllable pronunciation are also expressed between Mandarin and Shaanxi Xi'an dialect.