Help:IPA for Mandarin

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard 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 in English hat)
t͡ɕ j ch like itchy, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[a]
t͡ɕʰ q ch' like cheap, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[a]
ɕ x hs 曉 (晓) like sheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[a]
ʈ͡ʂ zh ch roughly like jaw, with a flat tongue (retroflex).
ʈ͡ʂʰ 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); sometimes pronounced as [ʐ] like vision.
ts z ts roughly like seats
tsʰ c ts' cats hissing
s s same
Syllabic consonants
ɻ̩ zhi, chi, shi, ri ih U+312D.svg[b] 之, 吃, 師 (师), 日 roughly like glasses[c]
ɹ̩ zi, ci, si û 子, 次, 私
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,[d] eng ên, êng ㄣ, ㄥ 本, 冷 about
ɤ e ê / o[e]
o wo/-uo[f] o[g] 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[h] yü/-ü German: ü; French: tu
Semivowels
y-/-i- yes
w-/-u- water
yu-/-ü-[h] yü-/-ü- French: nuit
Diphthongs
ai̯ ai time
au̯ ao out
ei̯ ei[d] face
ou̯ ou[d] 歐 (欧) show
Rhotic vowel
ɚ er êrh sir (American English)[i]
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 uses the same diacritics as IPA but with different values.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c [ɕ, tɕ, tɕʰ] are always followed by /i/ or /y/.
  2. ^ Note that this symbol is rarely used, usually omitted during writing.
  3. ^ Voiced continuants (also transcribed [ɨ, ɯ] or [ʐ̩, z̩]) reflecting the character of the preceding consonant
  4. ^ a b c 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.
  5. ^ ⟨ê⟩ is spelled as ⟨o⟩ after ⟨k, k', h⟩ in Wade-Giles.
  6. ^ ⟨uo⟩ is spelled ⟨o⟩ after ⟨b, p, m, f⟩ in Pinyin.
  7. ^ ㄨㄛ is spelled as ⟨o⟩, except for ⟨k, k', h, sh⟩ (as ⟨kuo, k'uo, huo, shuo⟩) in Wade-Giles.
  8. ^ a b ü (/y/) is spelled u after j, q, x in pinyin since /u/ cannot occur after them.
  9. ^ The rhotic vowel also appears in erhua.

References

  • Duanmu, San (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
  • Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric (2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001208. 
  • Lin, Yen-Hwei (2007). The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

External links