| |
Chinese Phonetic Transcription(Pinyin) |
|
| |
1.formula for the Chinese Phonetic Transcription(Pinyin). |
|
| initials |
b p m f
g k h
zh ch sh r |
d t n l
j p x
z c s
|
|
| |
|
|
| finals |
simple finals |
a |
o |
e |
i |
u |
ü |
|
|
ou |
ei |
|
|
üe |
|
|
ong |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| 2.Tones . |
Chinese is a tone language. It has four basic tones, which are indicated respectively by the tone graphs ˉ (the first tone) , ˊ (the second tone), ˇ (the third tone), ˋ (the fourth tone).The tones are used to distinguish meanings of a syllable. Different tones have different meanings,eg.m ā (mother),m á (hemp),m ǎ (horse),m à (to curse). |
| |
| 3.A Chinese syllable is made up of initials, finals and a tone.For example: |
initials |
finals |
tones |
syllables |
n |
i |
ˇ |
nǐ |
h |
ao |
ˇ |
hǎo |
|
| |
| 4.Neutral tone |
In common speech, some syllables are pronounced both light and short.Such a tone is called the neural tone,which lacks a tone-graph representation in writing,eg.b à ba(father),t ā men(they). |
| |
| 5.Change of tones |
When two 3 rd tones come together ,the first ton changes into the 2 nd (but its tone-graph remains ˇ ),eg.( 你好 n ǐ hǎo )(How are you)is actually pronounced as “n í hǎo ”. |
| |
| 6.Retroflection with –r |
| er is often added to another final to make it retroflexed. The retroflex final is transcrible by adding r to the original final,eg.w á nr(play),hu ā r(flower). |
| |
|
