Help:IPA for Mandarin

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Chinese (also called Mandarin) pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. See Standard Chinese phonology for more detail on the sounds of the language.

Note that English equivalents given in this page may represent only loose approximations to the original pronunciations.

Consonants
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example English approximation
p b p 幫 (帮) span
p p' pan
m m moon
f f fan
t d t stop
t t' top
n n- noon
-n ㄣ, ㄢ 金, 尖
l l 來 (来) leaf
k g k skin
k k' kin
ŋ -ng ㄥ, ㄤ 井, 江 song
x h Scottish English: loch; often weakened to /h/ as hit
j ch like jeep, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[lower-alpha 1]
tɕʰ q ch' like cheap, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[lower-alpha 1]
ɕ x hs 曉 (晓) like sheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[lower-alpha 1]
ʈʂ zh ch like jaw, with a flat tongue (retroflex).
ʈʂʰ ch ch' like church, with a flat tongue (retroflex).
ʂ sh like show, with a flat tongue (retroflex).
ɻ r- j like red, with a flat tongue (retroflex); also pronounced as /ʐ/ like vision.
ts z ts roughly like seats
tsʰ c ts' tsunami (with t pronounced)
s s same
Semivowels
y-/-i- yes
w-/-u- water
yu-/-ü-[lower-alpha 2] yü-/-ü- French: nuit
Vowels
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example English approximation
a a ㄚ, ㄢ, ㄤ 阿, 安, 盎 father
er êrh
ɛ yan/-ian yen/-ien ㄧㄢ Varies between /e/ and /a/
yuan/-üan ㄩㄢ
e ye/-ie, yue/-üe eh 也, 月 yes
ə en,[lower-alpha 3] eng ên, êng ㄣ, ㄥ 本, 冷 about
ɤ e ê[lower-alpha 4]
o wo/-uo[lower-alpha 5] o[lower-alpha 6] war in British English
i yi/-i see
ʊ -ong -ung ㄨㄥ, ㄩㄥ 冬, 用 Varies between /o/ and /u/
u wu/-u shoe
y yu/-ü[lower-alpha 2] yü/-ü German: ü; French: tu
Diphthongs
ai̯ ai time
ei̯ ei[lower-alpha 3] face
au̯ ao out
ou̯ ou[lower-alpha 3] 歐 (欧) show
Special vowels
ɻ̩ zhi, chi, shi, ri ih U+312D.svg[lower-alpha 7] 之, 吃, 師 (师), 日 roughly like glasses[lower-alpha 8]
ɹ̩ zi, ci, si û 子, 次, 私
ɚ -r -rh sir (American English)[lower-alpha 9]
Tones
IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example Description
á ā a1 tone 1: high: ˥
ǎ á a2 ˊ tone 2: mid rising: ˧˥
à ǎ a3 ˇ tone 3:
medially, low: ˩
initially, mid falling: ˧˩
finally, low rising: ˩˧
in isolation, dipping: ˧˩˧
â à a4 ˋ tone 4: high falling: ˥˩
a a a0 ˙ "toneless":
low after the high falling tone ˥˩;
mid after other tones
Note: Pinyin has the same diacritics but with different values.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 /tɕ/, /tɕʰ/, and /ɕ/ are always followed by /i/ or /y/.
  2. 2.0 2.1 ü (/y/) is spelled u after j, q, x in pinyin since /u/ cannot occur after them.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 wei, you/yu, wen/wên are spelled respectively ui, iu, un in pinyin and Wade-Giles but are pronounced identically when they are preceded by a consonant.
  4. ê is spelled o after k, k', and h in Wade-Giles.
  5. uo is spelled o after b, p, m or f in Pinyin.
  6. [ㄨㄛ] is spelled o, except for k, k', and h, which is kuo, k'uo, and huo respectively in Wade-Giles.
  7. Note that this symbol is rarely used, usually omitted during writing.
  8. Syllabic continuants (also transcribed /ɨ/, /ɯ/ or /ʐ̩/, //) reflecting the character of the preceding consonant
  9. The rhotic vowel also appears in erhua.

References

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links