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Tone Change Rules in Mandarin Chinese

1. THIRD TONE

A third tone followed by another third tone changes to the second tone. If there are three or

more third tones in a row, change every other third tone before the last.

When followed by a first, second, fourth, or neutral tones, a third tone should change into a

half third tone (that is, a tone that falls and does not rise).

2. NEUTRAL TONE

The neutral tone, when following the first, second and fourth tones are pronounced

low. However, when following the third tone, it is pronounced high.

3. NO and ONE

BU (meaning "no") is pronounced in the fourth tone when it stands alone.

It is also pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or third tone. However, it

is pronounced in the second tone when it precedes a fourth tone.

YI (meaning "one") is pronounced in the first tone when it stands alone.

It is pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or third tone. However, it is

pronounced in the second tone when it precedes a fourth tone.

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Importance of Tones

Chinese is a tonal language, i.e., a tones change the meanings of words. Since Mandarin has a

limited number of syllables, there are a lot of homophones whose meaning varies with the tone.

In the table shown, the syllable is ma but the tones are different for different words. In fact, we

can assemble the following sentence:

- mma m m ma?

Properly pronounced, the sentence translates into "Does Mamma scold the horse?"

Mandarin is normally said to have just four tones. However, there is also a neutral tone which

does not occur very often but is just as important. The tone is indicated by a tone mark placed on

top of the vowel, and in compound vowels it follows the hierarchy order, i.e. a,o,e. Therefore, in

the final ao the tone mark is placed on the vowel a, and in the final ou/uo, the tone mark is

placed on the vowel o, and on the last vowel in all other cases, i.e, on the vowel u when the final

is iu, or on the vowel i, when the final is ui. The neutral tone is indicated by the lack of tone

mark.

Tone As in Note

1 m Mom starts high and stays there

2 m Hemp starts at mid-range and ends high

3 m Horse starts mid-range, dips low, ends mid-range

4 m Scold starts high and ends low

Neutral ma question particle neutral tone

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Pinyin

Pinyin (Chinese: ), formally Hanyu Pinyin (), is the official phonetic system for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations ofChinese characters into the Latin alphabet in China, Taiwan, andSingapore. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and may be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers.

The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms ofromanization. It was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for romanization alone rather than for educational and computer input purposes.

Hny means the spoken language of the Han people and pnyn literally means "spelled-out sounds".

Every Chinese syllable consists of an initial, a final and a tone mark. Initials are basically consonants, whereas finals are vowels. In some cases a Chinese syllable may not have an initial, but there must be a final. Tone marks are placed on the top of the finals. In Chinese Pinyin system there are 21 initials, and 2 semi vowels which are also used as initials. There are 36 finals, of which 6 are simple or basic finals, others are compound finals.

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Initials In Mandarin Chinese there are 21 initial sounds.

b p

m f

d t n

l g

k

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h j

q x

z c

s zh

ch sh

r

In addition, the semi-vowels y and w also function as initials.

b, p, m, f Only the simple finals a, o, i, u and the compound finals that start with a, o, i, u can be combined with b, p, m; only the simple finals a, o, u and the compound finals that start with a, o, u can be combined with f.

Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

B

It is produced by completely closing of two lips followed by a sudden release of the air compressed in the mouth. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Quick sound produced at the front of the mouth unlike the strong sound produced in English

boy

P It is produced by a completely closing of two lips followed by a strongly puffed air. This is aspirated.

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Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a puff of air

put

M

This is a nasal sound.

It is produced by pressing two lips and letting the breath out through the nasal cavity with vibrating vocal cords.

Same sound as in English

mom

F It is produced by upper teeth slightly touching the lower lip and letting the breath out between them.

Same sound as in English

fall

d, t, n, l Only the simple finals a, i, e ,u and the compound finals that start with a, i, e, u can be combined with d, t, n, l; and simple finals and the compound finals that start with can be combined with n, l.

Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

d

It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the gum of the upper front teeth, then letting out the air from the mouth with a strong pop.

Quick sound produced at the front of the mouth unlike the strong sound produced in English

d

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Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

t

It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the gum of the upper front teeth, then lowering it to give a sudden release of the air already compressed in the mouth. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a puff of air

toy

n

This is a nasal sound.

It is produced by the tongue against the gum behind the upper front teeth and letting the breath out through the nose and half-open lips vibrating the vocal cords.

Same sound as in English

enjoy

l

This is a lateral sound.

It is produced by the tongue against the gum behind the upper front teeth and letting the breath out through the sides of tongue and half-open lips vibrating the vocal cords.

Same sound as in English

long

g, k, h Only the simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined with g, k, h.

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Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

g

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out with a pop. The vocal cords do not vibrate. Same sound as in English, but with no vibrations in the vocal cords

go

k

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out with a pop. The vocal cords do not vibrate. This one is aspirated. Same sound as in English, put with strong exhalation like a puff of air

kite

h

It is produced by raising the back of the tongue against the soft palate and lowering it suddenly to let the air out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate. Aspirated sound. When producing h, the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. The friction is noticeable. Audible and strong!

high

j, q, x Only the simple finals i, and the compound finals that start with i, can be combined with j, q, x. When j, q, x are combined with or a compound final starting with , the umlaut is omitted and appears as u.

Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

j It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the hard palate, pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of

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Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

the lower front teeth letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Same sound as in English with minimal exhalation

Egypt

q

It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the hard palate, pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of the lower front teeth letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate. Aspirated.

Sounds like all these letters run together with no emphasis on the first letter tchee

No English equivalent

x

It is produced by raising the front of the tongue toward the hard palate and letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Sounds like the sh in English sheep, but there is no emphasis on the first letter

No English equivalent

z, c, s The simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined with z, c, s. The front apical vowel i (not the regular palatal high front vowel i) can also be combined with z, c, s. In pronouncing the syllables zi, ci, si the tongue is held in the same position throughout the syllable except that it is slightly relaxed as the articulation moves from the voiceless initial consonant to the voiced vowel.

Chinese Initial Description English Equivalent

z It is produced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth, then quickly lowering

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Chinese Initial Description English Equivalent

it away to let the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

Sounds like the ds in English beds, but with no exhalation!

birds

c

It is produced in the same way as z, except that c is produced with aspiration. The vocal cords do not vibrate. This sound is aspirated.

Sounds like the ts in English hats. Similar to Pinyin z, but with strong exhalation!

No English equivalent but it sounds similar to cats

s

It is produced by putting the tip of the tongue toward the back of the lower teeth and letting the air squeeze out from between the blade of the tongue and the upper teeth.

Same sound as in English.

swim

zh, ch, sh, r The simple finals a, e, u and the compound finals that start with a, e, u can be combined with zh, ch, sh, r. The back apical vowel i can also be combined with zh, ch, sh, r. In pronouncing the syllables zhi, chi, shi, ri the tongue is held in the same position throughout the syllable except that it is slightly relaxed as the articulation moves from the voiceless initial consonant to the voiced vowel.

Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

zh It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

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Chinese Initial Description

English Equivalent

In this sound, the tongue is thrown forward from the curled back position.

George

ch

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate. This sound is aspirated.

In this sound, the tongue is thrown forward from the curled back position.

Church

sh

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords do not vibrate.

The tongue is thrown forward from the curled back position.

Dish

r

It is produced by turning up the tip of the tongue against the hard palate, and letting the air squeeze out through the channel thus made. The vocal cords vibrate.

This sound is pronounced with the tongue vibrating in the curled back position.

Pleasure

w, y

w: Produce in the same manner as in English. Special case: the syllable wu is pronounced as the Pinyin u (the letter w is in this case used to mark the beginning of a new syllable.

y: Produced in the same manner as in English. Special cases: the syllable yi is pronounced as the Pinyin i #1 and the syllable yu is pronounced as the Pinyin (the letter y is in these cases used to mark the beginning of new syllables).

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Finals (simple/basic finals)

a Open your mouth wide, with your tongue in the middle in a low position; the lips are naturally opened.

O Half-close your mouth with the tongue in a half-high position; draw back your tongue and make your lips round-shaped.

e After pronouncing "o", naturally open up your mouth and keep the tongue's position unchanged.

i

When pronoucing "i", the tongue is in the highest position, the mouth is slightly opened and the lips are flat-

shaped. Stretch forward your tongue, put it against the back of the lower teeth and open up your lips

.

u

When pronoucing "u", the tongue is in the highest position and the mouth is slightly opened. Make your lips round-shaped, draw back your tongue and make the tongue root approach the soft palate.

After pronoucing "i", just make your lips round-shaped to pronounce "", with the tongue position unchanged.

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