alt Hacker NewsWhat else would they use?
Of course they could pronounce the words in any modern Chinese language, but why not pick the largest and most standardized one?
What else would they use?
Of course they could pronounce the words in any modern Chinese language, but why not pick the largest and most standardized one?
For starters, a Chinese language which preserves final stops (-p, -t, -k) would be a better choice (e.g. Cantonese). These disappear completely in Mandarin, leaving rhymes (the vowel + final consonant) underspecified or ambiguous in many cases.