A Study on the Pronunciation of Chinese Pinyin ‘wen/-un’ -Based on the Experimental Phonetic Analysis-

This study analyzed the compound vowel “wen/-un” in the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet. Zhuyin, derived from traditional Chinese phonology, represents the compound vowel “ㄨㄣ” the same regardless of the presence or absence of an initial consonant. In contrast, Hanyu Pinyin uses the triphthong “uen(wen),” which folows the structure of “medial vowel + nucleus + nasal coda.” When “uen” is combined with an initial consonant, the nucleus vowel “e” is omi ted and it is writen as “un.”Through survey and phonetic experiments, this study found that learners who studied Chinese using Zhuyin were beter able to recognize Chinese sylable structures accurately and exhibited more stable and precise pronunciation. In contrast, learners who studied Chinese using Hanyu Pinyin often failed to recognize di ferences in vowel notation depending on the presence of an initial consonant. As a result, they tended to perceive and pronounce “wen[uen]” and “un[un]” as separate sounds. Furthermore, many native speakers also do not fuly understand the speling rules of Hanyu Pinyin and struggle to clearly distinguish vowel sounds such as “wen[uen]” and “un[un].