Mandarin Beginner

What we will do…  Introduce Chinese as a language and dialects  Introduce Pinyin (function, composing rules)  Pronunciation of 23 Initials  Pronunciation of 35 Finals (If we have time)

Eight dialects Chinese Linguistic Group

Chinese Language  There are eight major dialects in Chinese language, Cantonese is one of them  Different dialects differ in pronunciation, but share the same written form  Northern dialect is spoken by 70% of Chinese population; form the base of Putonghua  Putonghua is also called Guoyu or Huayu in Taiwan and Hong Kong, is called Mandarin Chinese in English-speaking countries, Zhongwen or Hanyu among language learners  Native Chinese speakers ask non-native speakers if they speak Chinese, use the term Zhongwen. Putonghua is a spoken language, taught in schools and spoken by television presenters in mainland China

Pinyin  Use 26 letters in total, 25 of which are English letters. The letter V is replaced by ü  is adopted as the official system in RRC in 1958, and become a standard form used by new agencies and educational institutions  has been widely adopted in the west for transliterating Chinese personal names and place names  is used as a tool to teach correct pronunciation of Putonghua to children  is given in dictionaries next to the character to indicate the pronunciation

Composing Rules  Chinese is a vowel-dominated language: a single vowel, such as e a compound vowel, such as ai, ang a vowel preceded by a consonant, ye  Consonants are called ‘initials’ (shengmu) and vowels are called ‘finals’ (yunmu)

23 Initials  Initials nearest English sounds example word  b b bed  pppoor  m mme  f ffoot  d ddo  tttea  n nnose  l llike

23 Initials  Initials nearest English sounds example word  zdsbeds  c ts bits  sssale  zhjjade  chchchurch  shshsheep  rrroad

23 Initials Initials nearest English sounds example word  gggood  k k kite  hhhat  wwwe  yyyes  jjjam  qchcheese  x

35 Finals Finals Similar English Sounds example word  aa father  aibetween a and ei  aoowhow  ananban  angonmonster

35 Finals Finals Similar English Sounds example word  e ir sir  e (preceded by y/yu) eyes  ei aylay  en en tender  eng un hunger  er combination of ir in sir and the retroflex r (er is never preceded by initials)

Finals Similar English Sounds example word  i (preceded by b,p,d,t,l) ee bee  i (preceded by z/c/s, zh/ch/sh, r)  ia combination of i and a  iaoeow meow  ieye yesterday  iu you  ianJapanese currency word Yen  inin tin  iangyoung  ingingsling  iong combination of i and ong when no initial precedes i and followed by a, e, u, or o, y replaces i, e.g. ye (NOT ie)

35 Finals Finals Nearest English sounds example word  oourtour  ouoetoe  ongongding-dong

35 Finals Finals Nearest English sounds example word  uootoo  uacombination of u and a  uowar  uaicombination of u and ai  uiwaiwait  uanwanswan  unwonwonder  uangwanwanting when u is not preceded by other initials at the beginning of a syllable, w replaces u, e.g. wan (Not uan),wo (not uo)

35 Finals Finals Nearest English sounds example word  üutu (French)  üecombination of ü and a short ei  üancombination of ü and a short an  ünune (French) when ü follows j, q, x and y, it is written as u, but still pronounced as ü, e.g. ju, qu, xu, yun, yuan, etc. u cannot occur after j, q, x and y

Tones  Chinese is a tone language,  In Putonghua, four tones and neutral tone.  Syllables with different tones mean different things although share the same initial and final, such as ma, first tone (mother), third tone (horse)  Tones are marked over the vowel (tā) or over the main vowel if it is a compound vowel (táo). The main vowel is the one comes earliest in this list: a, o, e, u, i, u, ü.  Whenever there is no mark over the vowel, the syllable is a neutral tone.

Tones NameTone mark  The first tone −  The second tone /  The third tone ∨  The forth tone \

Neutral Tones  Neutral tones : pronounced weakly, like unstressed syllables in English (e.g. of in one of my friends)  Neutral tones are used in the following cases: 1. Grammar words: le, de 2. The second syllable in some compound words: w ǒ men (we/us) 3. Repeat the first syllable, the second one is NT: māma (mother/mum) 4. Te measure word ge when it is not emphasised: sān ge yuè (three months)

Tone Change  In connected speech, tones change depending on the adjacent tones and meaning groups.  Basic rules of the tone change: a) bù (not) has the fourth tone in isolation, when followed by another fourth tone, changes to second tone: w ǒ bú shì zhōng guó rén (I’m not Chinese). b)When the number word yī (one) is used in isolation or at the end of a syllable, it has the first tone: shí yī (eleven). When it precedes first, second and third tones, changes to the forth tone: yì xiē (some). When precedes forth tones, change to second tone: yí xià (just one second).

Summarize  In actual communication, the context and facial expressions help in conducting conversations.  In this book, all the dialogues and texts in pinyin are marked with tones as if each syllable were in isolation: n ǐ h ǎ o, doesn’t reflect the tone change.  Only exception is bù (not), always marked with the second tone when followed by a forth tone: bú shì (no).