FOUNDATION II Pinyin Pronunciation and Tones. ( 一 ) Pronunciation. Magic Chinese

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1 Magic Chinese FOUNDATION II Pinyin Pronunciation and Tones ( 一 ) Pronunciation The Hanyu Pinyin System (a.k.a. Pinyin) is the primary phonetic system used in this book. Pinyin has three components: the initial, the final, and the tone. There are 21 initials and 38 finals in modern Chinese. A pinyin syllable may have three elements (an initial, medial and a final together) or simply with a final standing alone as the sound, but a pinyin syllable cannot be composed of an initial alone. Now, let s take a look at the three components here: Initial (consonant): see first column below; Medial (vowel on glide): i, u, ü; Final/Rhyme (e.g., chao, dang, lao, pie, piao, tian, bang, mian, qiang) Initials Medial Finals Combined Finals b a (i) ya, ia P o yo m e ye, -ie f ê d ai t ei n ao yao, -iao l ou you, -iu g an yan, -ian k en yin, -in h ang yang, -iang j eng ying,-ing q er (u) wa,-ua x i yi, -i wo,-uo zh(i) u wu,-u wai,-uai ch(i) ü yu,-u / ü wei, -ui sh(i) wan, -uan r(i) wen, -un z(i) wang, -uang c(i) weng, -ong s(i) (ü) yue, -üe yuan, -üan yun, -ün yong. -iong XI

2 Foundation II Pinyin Pronunciation and Tones ( 二 ) Tone Some people say that Chinese is musical, because Chinese is a language with tones. Different tones express different meanings. The great Chinese Linguist Y. R. Chao ( ) even drew tones on a musical scale to reflect the tonal differences of Chinese sounds. There are four basic tones in addition to a neutral tone which are represented by the following tone-indicators: Pitch Values of tones: 1. 1 st tone: 55 highest pitch, prolong /ma1/ (mother) 2. 2 nd tone: ˊ 35 rising tone /ma2/ (hemp) 3. 3 rd tone: ˇ 214 low dipping /ma3/ (horse) 4. 4 th tone: ˋ 51 high-falling, abrupt, short /ma4/ (to scold) 5. Neutral: Position varied /ma/ (interrogative particle) Practice the four tones b1 b2 b3 b4 y9 y0 y- y= 1i 2i 3i 4i sh9 sh0 sh- sh= w5i w6i w7i w8i y1n y2n y3n y4n z1o z2o z3o z4o l% l/ l& l* Practice disyllabic words 1 st tone + 1 st tone x9gu1 j9nti1n y9ngg1i (watermelon) (today) (should) 1 st + 2 nd tone h5ch2 zh!ngw6n y9nggu@ (drink tea) (Chinese language) (England) 1 st tone + 3 rd tone h5ib3n du!sh3o zh!ngw& (black board) (how many) (noon) XII

3 Magic Chinese 1 st + 4 th tone gu1nsh4ng ji1ji4o y9nw8i (close) (tutor) (because) 2 nd tone + 1 st tone m0ngti1n gu@ji1 chu2nzh5n (tomorrow) (country) (fax) 2 nd tone + 2 nd tone m2f2n ch/f2ng n2nh2i (troublesome) (kitchen) (boy) 2 nd tone + 3 rd tone p6ngy#u r/gu# p0nggu# (friend) (if) (apple) 2 nd + 4 th tone ch6ngsh= n2nk4n qi2nmi4n (city) (ugly) (in front) 3 rd + 1 st tone x-hu1n hu#ch5 m7ij9n (like) (train) (US dollar) 3 rd + 2 nd tone d3qi/ l{x0ng y-qi2n (to play ball) (to travel) (before) 3 rd + 3 rd tone z#ngt#ng li3ngb3i shu-gu# (president) (two hundred) (fruit) XIII

4 Foundation II Pinyin Pronunciation and Tones 3 rd + 4 th tone z3osh4ng q-ngk8 k7l8 (morning) (invite) (cola) 4 th + 1 st tone mi4nb1o d4ng1o xi4nj9n (bread) (cake) (cash) 4 th + 2 nd tone d4xu6 d=t/ s=sh0 (university) (map) (forty) 4 th + 3 rd tone li*di3n h4nb3o di4ny-ng (six o clock) (hamburger) (movie) 4 th + 4 th tone r8nsh= ku4il8 g4os* (to know) (happy) (to tell) Practice neutral tone ku4izi w#men xi1nsheng xi8xie (chopsticks) (we) (Mr.) (thanks) b4ba m1ma y6ye n3inai (father) (mother) (grandpa) (grandma) XIV

5 Magic Chinese Combination Practice: ( 一 ) Chinese Poem Read Aloud 詩歌朗誦 (sh9g5 l3ngs$ng) Appreciation of a Tang Poem by Luo, Binwang ( A.D.) This is a very famous Chinese poem Yong E written by China s Lu$ B9nw2ng ( 唐朝駱賓王 ) during the Tang Dynasty (A.D ). It is said that he wrote this poem when he was at the age of seven. See if you can recite this poem with a joyful, poetic tone of voice and pay attention to the tone inflection at the same time. Have fun reciting! 咏鵝 Y#ng [ 鵝, 鵝, 鵝, 曲項向天歌 ; q& xi4ng xi4ng ti1n g5 Goose Rhapsody Goose, goose, goose, craning long neck to sky, afar, calling; 白毛浮綠水, B2i m2o f^ l} shu- snow white feather, afloat on the green water, 紅掌撥清波 h@ng zh3ng b! q9ng b! paddling red webbed feet, leaving clean river ripples XV

6 Foundation II Pinyin Pronunciation and Tones ( 二 ) Tongue Twisters Read them slowly the first few times to ensure accuracy of tone and pronunciation. Then, do your best to perform with speed. 1. Ch9 p/t2o b* t& p/t2op0, b* ch9 p/t2o d4o t& p/t2op0. The person who eats grapefruits doesn t spit the peels (skins) out; yet, he who doesn t eat grapefruits spit the peels out. 2. M1ma q0 m3, m3 m4n, m1ma m4 m3. Mother rides her horse; slowly the horse walks. Mother scolds the horse. 3. Zh8r y0g$ng y#u s=sh0s= zh9 sh9zi, b* zh9 sh= s=sh0s= zh9 s- sh9zi, h2ish= s=sh0s= zh9 sh0 sh9zi? Here are forty-four lions altogether, but it is unknown that they are forty-four dead lions, or forty-four stone lions. XVI

B. Sound contrasts: Listen to HW1B.mp3 and fill in b or p.

B. Sound contrasts: Listen to HW1B.mp3 and fill in b or p. HW1 Deadlines: Group 2-1 Student number: Name: A. Tone Discrimination: Listen and circle what you hear in HW1A.mp3. 1 ā á ǎ à 2 nī ní nǐ nì 3 hāo háo hǎo hào 4 lī lí lǐ lì 5 bō bó bǒ bò 6 līn lín lǐn lìn