Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

===Finals===
Most Mandarin dialects have three medial glides, {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/ɥ/}} (spelled ''i'', ''u'' and ''ü'' in pinyin), though their incidence varies.
The medial {{IPA|/w/}}, is lost after apical initials in several areas.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=193}}
Thus Southwestern Mandarin has {{IPA|/tei/}} "correct" where the standard language has ''dui'' {{IPA|/twei/}}.
Southwestern Mandarin also has {{IPA|/kai kʰai xai/}} in some words where the standard has ''jie qie xie'' {{IPA|/tɕjɛ tɕʰjɛ ɕjɛ/}}. This is a stereotypical feature of southwestern Mandarin, since it is so easily noticeable. E.g. ''hai'' "shoe" for standard ''xie'', ''gai'' "street" for standard ''jie''.

Mandarin dialects typically have relatively few vowels. [[Syllabic fricative]]s, as in standard ''zi'' and ''zhi'', are common in Mandarin dialects, though they also occur elsewhere.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=194}}
The Middle Chinese off-glides {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} are generally preserved in Mandarin dialects, yielding several [[diphthong]]s and [[triphthong]]s in contrast to the larger sets of monophthongs common in other dialect groups (and some widely scattered Mandarin dialects).{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=194}}

The Middle Chinese coda {{IPA|/m/}} was still present in [[Old Mandarin]], but has merged with {{IPA|/n/}} in the modern dialects.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=193}} In some areas (especially the southwest) final {{IPA|/ŋ/}} has also merged with {{IPA|/n/}}. This is especially prevalent in the rhyme pairs ''-en/-eng'' {{IPA|/ən əŋ/}} and ''-in/-ing'' {{IPA|/in iŋ/}}. As a result, {{tlit|zh|jīn}} "gold" and {{tlit|zh|jīng}} "capital" merge in those dialects.

The Middle Chinese final stops have undergone a variety of developments in different Mandarin dialects (see [[#Tones|Tones]] below). In [[Lower Yangtze Mandarin|Lower Yangtze dialects]] and some north-western dialects they have merged as a final [[glottal stop]]. In other dialects they have been lost, with varying effects on the vowel.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=193}} As a result, Beijing Mandarin and Northeastern Mandarin underwent more vowel mergers than many other varieties of Mandarin. For example:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto"
!rowspan=2| Character !!rowspan=2| Meaning !!colspan=2| Standard<br/>(Beijing) !!rowspan=2| Beijing, Harbin<br/>Colloquial!!rowspan=2| Jinan<br/>(Ji–Lu)!!rowspan=2| Xi'an<br/>(Central Plains)!!rowspan=2| Chengdu<br/>(Southwestern)!!rowspan=2| Yangzhou<br/>(Lower Yangtze)!!rowspan=2| Middle Chinese<br/>Reconstructed
|-
!Pinyin!!IPA
|-
|{{lang|zh|课}}||'lesson'||rowspan=2|{{zhi|p=kè}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|kʰɤ}}||{{IPA|kʰɤ}}||{{IPA|kʰə}}||{{IPA|kʰwo}}||{{IPA|kʰo}}||{{IPA|kʰo}}||{{IPA|kʰɑ}}
|-
|{{lang|zh|客}}||'guest'||{{IPA|tɕʰie}}{{efn|The development is purely due to the preservation of an early glide which later became {{IPA|/j/}} and triggered palatalization, and does not indicate the absence of a vowel merger.}}||{{IPA|kʰei}}||{{IPA|kʰei}}||{{IPA|kʰe}}||{{IPA|kʰəʔ}}||{{IPA|kʰɰak}}
|-
|{{lang|zh|果}}||'fruit'||{{zhi|p=guǒ}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|kwo}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|kwo}}||rowspan=2|{{IPA|kwə}}||{{IPA|kwo}}||{{IPA|ko}}||{{IPA|ko}}||{{IPA|kwɑ}}
|-
|{{lang|zh|国}}||'country'||{{zhi|p=guó}}||{{IPA|kwei}}||{{IPA|kwe}}||{{IPA|kɔʔ}}||{{IPA|kwək}}
|}

[[R-colored vowel|R-coloring]], a characteristic feature of Mandarin, works quite differently in the southwest. Whereas Beijing dialect generally removes only a final {{IPA|/j/}} or {{IPA|/n/}} when adding the rhotic final ''-r'' {{IPA|/ɻ/}}, in the southwest the ''-r'' replaces nearly the entire rhyme.