Comparative Study on Chinese character pronunciations in Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin

I. The Checked Tone feature of ancient Chinese pronunciation

Chinese character pronunciations in Korean, Japanese, and Cantonese retain some important features of ancient Chinese that are lost in Mandarin. One of these features is the Checked Tone (入聲).

For example, the pronunciations of Chinese character ‘目’ in different languages are :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
目	mok	mok	moku	mu

‘目’ is pronounced ‘mok’ in both Cantonese and Korean. The ending ‘k’ in ‘mok’ is called a Checked Tone or an Entering Tone (入聲), which is an important feature of ancient Chinese.

The Japanese pronunciation of ‘目’ is ‘moku’. The second syllable ‘ku’ is a simulation of the Checked Tone ‘k’.

Why ‘k’ becomes ‘ku’ in Japanese ? Because Japanese uses Kana(仮名)s to simulate foreign language pronunciations. A Kana is either a vowel or a consonant+vowel combination. ( The only one exception is ‘ん’ / ‘ン’ pronounced ‘n’. ) There is no Kana for a single consonant ‘k’, so the only solution is to choose a Kana of [ ‘k’ + vowel ] pronunciation to simulate the consonant-only ‘k’. In this case, Kana ‘く’ / ‘ク’, pronounced ‘ku’, is chosen.

If we say ‘moku’ in Japanese quickly, the vowel ‘u’ can be pronounced lightly or omitted, so it will sound like ‘mok’, same as the Cantonese and Korean pronunciation.

The Mandarin pronunciation of ‘目’ is ‘mu’. It also starts with the consonant ‘m’, but the following vowel changes to ‘u’, and the Checked Tone ‘k’ is lost.

Both Japan and Korea learnt ancient Chinese pronunciations from ancient China. The pronunciations of ‘目’ in Cantonese, Korean and Japanese all have the Checked Tone ‘k’, this is a proof that the ancient Chinese pronunciation of ‘目’ has a Checked Tone ‘k’, which is lost in Mandarin.

( Some dictionaries indicate that ‘目’ is pronounced ‘mog’ in Korean. Actually the ending Checked Tone can be written as ‘k’ or ‘g’, it is just a glottal stop that does not utter an actual sound. )

Another example, Chinese character ‘白’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
白	baak	baek	byaku	bai

We can see that all the pronunciations have a common starting consonant ‘b’, followed by similar sounds ‘aa’, ‘ae’, ‘ya’, and ‘ai’, and then the Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciations all end with Checked Tones, which are ‘k’ in Cantonese and Korean, and ‘ku’ in Japanese. The Mandarin pronunciation is the only one that does not have a Checked Tone.

( The ending Checked Tone ‘k’ can also be written as ‘g’. )

Another example, Chinese character ‘國’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
國	gwok	guk	goku	guo

All the pronunciations of ‘國’ have a common starting consonant ‘g’, followed by various sounds ‘wo’, ‘u’, ‘o’, and ‘uo’, and then the Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciations all end with Checked Tones, which are ‘k’ in Cantonese and Korean, and ‘ku’ in Japanese. The Mandarin pronunciation is the only one that does not have a Checked Tone.

( ‘國’ in Japanese is pronounced ‘goku’ when it is in a term constructed by two or more Chinese characters. e.g. ‘中國’, ‘外國’, ‘全國’, etc. )

( The ending Checked Tone ‘k’ can also be written as ‘g’. )

More examples :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin	Checked Tone
僕	bok	bok	boku	pu	k
肅	suk	suk	suku	su	k
擊	gik	gyeok	geki	ji	k
樸	pok	pak	boku	pu	k
宿	suk	suk	shuku	su	k
曲	kok	kok	kyoku	qu	k
角	gok	gak	kaku	jiao	k
易	yik	yeok	eki	yi	k
六	lok	lyuk	loku	liu	k
甲	gaap	gaap	ko	jia	p
合	haap	haap	go	he	p
及	kaap	keup	kyu	ji	p

II. The Changed Starting Consonants

Another noteworthy change from ancient Chinese pronunciation to Mandarin is that, in the pronunciations of many Chinese characters, the starting consonants are significantly changed.

For example, Chinese character ‘萬’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
萬	maan	maan	maan	wan

‘萬’ is pronounced ‘maan’ in Cantonese, Korean and Japanese, but ‘wan’ in Mandarin. The starting consonant changes from ‘m’ to ‘w’ in the Mandarin pronunciation.

Another example, Chinese character ‘文’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
文	man	mun	mon	wen

The Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciations of ‘文’ have a common starting consonant ‘m’, which becomes ‘w’ in the Mandarin pronunciation.

Another example, Chinese character ‘武’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
武	mou	mu	mu	wu

The Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciations of ‘武’ have a common starting consonant ‘m’, which becomes ‘w’ in the Mandarin pronunciation.

More examples :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
喬	kyu	kyu	kyo	qiao
強	koeng	kang	kyo	qiang
未	mei	mi	mi	wei
奇	kei	ki	ki	qi
技	gei	gi	gi	ji
伽	gaa	ga	ga	qie
無	mou	mu	mu	wu
聞	man	mun	mon	wen
舞	mou	mu	mu	wu
船	syun	seon	sen	chuan
舶	pak	pak	paku (in ‘船舶’)	bo
企	kei	ki	ki	qi

III. Significant Difference between Mandarin and Ancient Chinese Pronunciation

There are a lot more Chinese characters that sound similar in Cantonese, Korean and Japanese, but significantly different in Mandarin.

In some cases, Mandarin pronunciations are very different from the ancient pronunciations not only because of changed consonants or vowels, but also because of other factors.

For example, Chinese character ‘而’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
而	yi	i	ni	er

The Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciations of ‘而’ have a common vowel ‘i’, which is changed to ‘e’ in the Mandarin pronunciation. Furthermore, in the Mandarin pronunciation an ending ‘r’ is added, making the sound even more different from the ancient Chinese pronunciations.

Another example, Chinese character ‘禪’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
禪	sim	seon	sen	chan

The pronunciations of ‘禪’ in Cantonese, Korean and Japanese have a common starting consonant ‘s’, which becomes ‘ch’ in the Mandarin pronunciation. The Mandarin pronunciation is significantly different because the starting consonant is changed to a retroflex consonant.

( A well-known pronunciation of ‘禪’ in Japanese is ‘zen’, which is a Go-On (吳音). The pronunciation ‘sen’, actually sounds a little bit like ‘sem’, is a Kan-On (漢音). )

Another example, Chinese character ‘覺’ :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
覺	gok	gak	kaku	jue

Firstly, the Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciation start with similarly sounding consonants ‘g’, ‘k’, while the Mandarin pronunciation starts with a significantly different consonant ‘j’.

( Actually the starting consonant in the Cantonese and Korean pronunciation can also be written as ‘k’, and the starting consonant in the Japanese pronunciation sometimes sounds like ‘g’. )

Secondly, the Checked Tone ‘k’ is retained in the Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciation, but lost in the Mandarin pronunciation.

( The Checked Tone ‘k’ can also be written as ‘g’. )

Because of these two factors, the Mandarin pronunciation is significantly different from the Cantonese, Korean and Japanese pronunciation.

More examples :

Chinese character	Cantonese	Korean	Japanese	Mandarin
解	gai	gae	kai	jie
簡	gaan	gaan	kaan	jian
家	gaa	gaa	ka	jia
江	gong	gang	ko	jiang
弱	yoek	yak	nyaku	ruo
屋	ok / ngok	ok	oku	wu
堅	gin	gyeon	ken	jian
見	gin	gyeon	ken	jian
泊	paak	paak	baku	bo
講	gong	gang	ko	jiang
二	yi	i	ni	er
脚	goek	gak	kyaku	jiao