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Mandarin Pinyin Basics

This document provides an overview of Hanyu Pinyin, the system used to transcribe Mandarin Chinese syllables using Roman letters. It was developed in China in the 1950s and includes rules for initial consonants, finals consisting of vowels with or without nasal endings, and four tonal patterns represented by diacritic marks that indicate pitch. Examples are given of how initials and finals combine to form syllables and how tone determines meaning. Exercises are included for readers to practice distinguishing and producing syllables according to pinyin rules.

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206 views6 pages

Mandarin Pinyin Basics

This document provides an overview of Hanyu Pinyin, the system used to transcribe Mandarin Chinese syllables using Roman letters. It was developed in China in the 1950s and includes rules for initial consonants, finals consisting of vowels with or without nasal endings, and four tonal patterns represented by diacritic marks that indicate pitch. Examples are given of how initials and finals combine to form syllables and how tone determines meaning. Exercises are included for readers to practice distinguishing and producing syllables according to pinyin rules.

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HANYU PINYIN (1)

Pinyin is the Romanized phonetic transcription of Mandarin (Chinese


Language). It was first developed by a government committee in the Peoples
Republic of China (PRC), and approved by the Chinese government in 1958.
Pinyin employs all Roman letters as phonetic symbols except the letter v.
The basic phonetic unit in Chinese is a syllable. One syllable represents
phonetically the pronunciation of one Chinese character and carries certain
meaning.

Phonetic
m

Word

Meaning

Mother

The segmental structure of a syllable in Chinese begins with an initial ()


and final () with a tone ().

m
(Initial)

a
(final)

(tone)

m ()
(syllable)

However, there are also some syllables that:


without tone : ma ()
without initial : i ()
without initial and tone : a ()

Initial are the front portion of a syllable. Most initials contain a consonant.
There are 21 initials (see the table below) and 2 quasi-initials: y, w.
Aspirated initial
b

g
j

k
q

h
x

zh

ch

sh

Note: When an aspirated initial is pronounced, a strong burst of air flows out.

Final is the back part of a syllable, it is the main part of phonetic. A syllable
must not be short of final. There are 36 finals and divide into 3 categories.
(1) Simple finals

(2) Compound finals

(3) Finals with nasal


ending

ou

ia

ie

ai

ei

ao

iu (iou)

ua

uo

ui (uei)

er

uai

iao
in

un (uen)

ian

ing

ong

iang

uang

an

en

uan

an

ang

eng

ueng

iong

shng m


1. Initials

b
d

p
t

m
n

f
l

dn yn m


2. Simple Finals
It is a final with only one vowel. The tongue position, shape of lips and
mouth remain unchanged and the voice is loud when pronouncing.

Note: does not exist in the English or Malay language. In


pronouncing, the shape of your lips are round and
leave a small hole, the vocal cord vibrates.

3. Combinations of Initials and Simple finals


a

ba

bo

bi

bu

pa

po

pi

pu

ma

mo

me

mi

mu

fa

fo

fu

da

de

di

du

ta

te

ti

tu

na

ne

ni

nu

la

le

li

lu

shng dio


4. Tones
Mandarin is a tonal language. There are four tones in Chinese syllables,
represented respectively by the following marks
Types of
Tones

Tone Marks

1st

high and level

2nd

rising from middle to high

3rd

first falling then rising

4th

falling from high to low

Tonal Value

Example

In order to enable the beginners to experience the differences of the pitch,


they may adjust the correct tonal values base on the following chart.

5-5 1st tone


3-5 2nd tone
2-1-4 3rd tone
5-1 4th tone

Tones are probably the biggest difficulty for anyone learning to speak
Mandarin. Tones are just as important as the other two parts of each syllable
(Initials and Finals). A difference in tone indicates a difference on meaning. If
you get them wrong, youll change the meaning. For Example:
m: mother
m: horse

m: numb, hemp
m: scold
4

5. Combinations of Initials, Finals and Tones:


b

l
d

EXERCISES
1. Please read the following Hanyu Pinyin according to the four tones
ba

po

mi

fu

di

tu

le

2. Sound Discrimination
fb

mf

pf

bp

pb

bp

bp

bp

bp

bb

mm

pp

ff

bb

pp

3. Write 3 syllables of Mandarin


a. _______________ b.

______

c. ______________

4. Complete the table below


1st tone

2nd tone

3rd tone

4th tone

b
p
m
f

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