Chinese — Pinyin Adapted from a presentation by Haiwang Yuan Associate Professor, University Libraries Adjunct Instructor, Department of Modern Languages

Hanyu Pinyin (Chinese Phonetics) Pinyin ( 拼音 ), literally “spell the sound,” is the standard romanization scheme for Chinese characters ( 汉字 ) Adopted in 1958 by mainland China Used by all major world media and Chinese schools Beginning from October 1, 2000, the Library of Congress and other U.S. libraries joined the international community in using Pinyin to catalog their Chinese materials

Why Pinyin? A pronunciation tool for domestic and foreign learners of Chinese which, unlike many other languages in the world, is a non-alphabet language Assist in popularizing standard Chinese, known as Putonghua or Mandarin, among Chinese who speak a variety of dialects, such as Cantonese Index tool, such as library catalogs and dictionaries One method for Computer input of Chinese characters Standardized translation of Chinese names in the non-Chinese media (e.g. Beijing for 北京； Haiwang Yuan for 袁海旺）

Why Pinyin (continued) Before Pinyin, there was the Zhuyin system: ㄣㄆㄇ ㄈㄌㄊㄋㄞ used to indicate the pronunciation More difficult to learn than b p m f d t n l, which are familiar to foreign learners, but avoids the pronunciation pitfalls inherent in Pinyin. Zhuyin is still used in Taiwan, though Pinyin is now increasingly found alongside Zhuyin in textbooks Pinyin, though not perfect (e.g. j, q, x), is widely accepted. It has become essential to learning and using Chinese

Learning Pinyin Each Chinese character is a single syllable A syllable has three components:  Initial (consonant): b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh  Final (vowel) that usually follows the initials: a, o, e, i, u, ü (simple) or eng, ong, ing, etc. (compound)  Tone (four distinct and one neutral) Chinese has around 400 syllables; tones serve to multiply the number of possible pronunciations More homophonic words - words having the same sound but expressing different meanings Traditionally, Pinyin has 21 initials and 35 finals

Learning Pinyin - Initials 23 initials Row 1bpmf Row 2dtnl Row 3gkh- Row 4jqx- Row 5zcs- Row 6zhchshr Row 7yw

Learning Pinyin - Finals 24 finals (vowels): -(i-)(u-) ( ü -) aia (ya)ua (wa)- o-uo (wo)- eie (ye)- ü e (yue) ai-uai (wai)- ei-ui (wei)- aoiao (yao)-- ouiu (you)-- anian (yan)uan (wan) ü an (yuan) enin (yin)un (wen) ü n (yun) angiang (yang)uang (wang)- enging (ying)ueng (weng)- ongiong (yong)-- er---

Pinyin Table 1 aoeieraieiaoouanenangengong aoe eraieiaoouanenangeng b babo baibeibao banbenbangbeng p papo paipeipaopoupanpenpangpeng m mamome maimeimaomoumanmenmangmeng f fafo fei foufanfenfangfeng d da de daideidaodoudandendangdengdong t ta te tai taotoutan tangtengtong n na ne naineinaonounannennangnengnong l la le laileilaoloulan langlenglong g ga ge gaigeigaogougangenganggenggong k ka ke kaikeikaokoukankenkangkengkong h ha he haiheihaohouhanhenhanghenghong z za zezi zaizeizaozouzanzenzangzengzong c ca ceci cai caocoucancencangcengcong s sa sesi sai saosousansensangsengsong zh zha zhezhi zhaizheizhaozhouzhanzhenzhangzhengzhong ch cha chechi chai chaochouchanchenchangchengchong sh sha sheshi shaisheishaoshoushanshenshangsheng r reri raorouranrenrangrengrong

Pinyin Table 2 iiaiaoieiuianiniangingiong yiyayaoyeyouyanyinyangyingyong b bi biaobie bianbin bing p pi piaopie pianpin ping m mi miaomiemiumianmin ming f d di diaodiediudian ding t ti tiaotie tian ting n ni niaonieniunianninniangning l lilialiaolieliulianlinliangling g j jijiajiaojiejiujianjinjiangjingjiong q qiqiaqiaoqieqiuqianqinqiangqingqiong x xixiaxiaoxiexiuxianxinxiangxingxiong

Pinyin Table 3 uuauouaiuiuanunuang üüeüeüanünün wuwawowaiweiwanwenwangyuyueyuanyun b bu p pu m mu f fu d du duo duiduandun t tu tuo tuituantun n nu nuo nuan nününüenüe l lu luo luanlun lülülüelüe g guguaguoguaiguiguangunguang k kukuakuokuaikuikuankunkuang h huhuahuohuaihuihuanhunhuang z zu zuo zuizuanzun c cu cuo cuicuancun s su suo suisuansun zh zhuzhuazhuozhuaizhuizhuanzhunzhuang ch chuchuachuochuaichuichuanchunchuang sh shushuashuoshuaishuishuanshunshuang r ruruaruo ruiruanrun j jüjüjüejüejüanjünjün q qüqüqüeqüeqüanqünqün x xüxüxüexüexüanxünxün

Learning Pinyin - Tones The first tone “–” : At the doctor’s request, say “ah….” The second tone “/”: Express your disbelief and say “What?” The Third tone “v” : When waiting for an answer, say “Well?” The fourth tone “\” : Reject somebody’s request and say categorically “No!” The neutral tone: Where the voice naturally goes, as in the second part of “ge1ge”.

Practice Mother is riding a horse; the horse is slow; Mother curses the horse.,,

Pronunciation Exercises Part One Listen carefully and circle the word that you hear.  1. Single Words: Initials  2. Single Words: Finals  3. Single Words: Tones (1, 4)  4. Single Words: Tones (2, 3)  5. Single Words: Tones (all)  6. Single Words: Everything  7. Tone Combinations

Part Two Listen carefully and write in the sounds that you hear.  1. Initials and Simple Finals  2. Tones  3. Compound Finals  4. Neutral Tones  5. Monosyllabic Words  6. Bisyllabic Words  7. Combinations Pronunciation Exercises

Further Information and Practice There are a number of websites to help you learn and practice Chinese pronunciation and tones: