http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=1065644&postcount=10
Could anyone explain what this grammar term means?vince said:Also, Mandarin, like French, has palatized many initial consonants, g --> j, k --> chi, s --> sh, and simplified others (ng, m --> w), plus Mandarin does the Basque/Castilian initial f --> h shift, again changing the sound relative to Classical Chinese.