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49-477: The test consists of five sections: There are sixty literary selections used in the fourth section of the test, including: Candidates who pass the test are given a Certificate of Putonghua Proficiency Level at levels 1, 2 or 3, each of which is subdivided into grades A and B: By 2010, the test had been taken more than 35 million times. As it requires strict adherence to the phonology of Standard Chinese , including such features as retroflex initials, erhua and

98-518: A five-level scale is used, visualized with Chao tone letters . The values of the pitch for each tone described by Chao are traditionally considered standard, however slight regional and idiolectal variations in tone pronunciation also occur. The Chinese names of the main four tones are respectively 阴平 ; 陰平 ; yīnpíng ; 'dark level', 阳平 ; 陽平 ; yángpíng ; 'light level', 上 ; shǎng or shàng ('rising'), and 去 ; qù ; 'departing'. As descriptions, they apply rather to

147-413: A general rule, vowels in open syllables (those which have no coda following the main vowel) are pronounced long , while others are pronounced short. This does not apply to weak syllables, in which all vowels are short. In Standard Chinese, the vowels [a] and [ə] harmonize in backness with the coda. For [a] , it is fronted [a̟] before /i, n/ and backed [a̠] before /u, ŋ/ . For [ə] , it

196-399: A glide is followed by the vowel of which that glide is considered an allophone, the glide may be regarded as epenthetic (automatically inserted), and not as a separate realization of the phoneme. Hence the syllable yi , pronounced [ji] , may be analyzed as consisting of the single phoneme /i/ , and similarly yin may be analyzed as /in/ , yu as /y/ , and wu as /u/ . It

245-502: A language such as English. Since Chinese syllables usually constitute whole words, or at least morphemes , the smallness of the syllable inventory results in large numbers of homophones . However, in Standard Chinese, the average word length is actually almost exactly two syllables, practically eliminating most homophony issues even when tone is disregarded, especially when context is taken into account as well. (Still, due to

294-401: A sibilant consonant ( z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r in pinyin) followed by a syllabic consonant (also known as apical vowel in classic literature): Alternatively, the nucleus may be described not as a syllabic consonant, but as a vowel: Phonologically, these syllables may be analyzed as having their own vowel phoneme, /ɨ/ . However, it is possible to merge this with the phoneme /i/ (to which it

343-402: A special phoneme, or as an instance of the phoneme /ŋ/ , although it can also be treated as no phoneme (absence of onset). By contrast, in the case of the particle 啊 a , which is a weak onset-less syllable, linking occurs with the previous syllable (as described under § Syllable reduction , below). When a stressed vowel-initial Chinese syllable follows a consonant-final syllable,

392-693: A standard accent . Elements of the sound system include not only the segments —e.g. vowels and consonants —of the language, but also the tones applied to each syllable. In addition to its four main tones, Standard Chinese has a neutral tone that appears on weak syllables. This article uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to compare the phonetic values corresponding to syllables romanized with pinyin . The sounds shown in parentheses are sometimes not analyzed as separate phonemes ; for more on these, see § Alveolo-palatal series below. Excluding these, and excluding

441-649: A syllable that in fact ends with a long nasalized vowel. See also § Syllable reduction , below. The consonants listed in the first table above as denti-alveolar are sometimes described as alveolars , and sometimes as dentals . The affricates and the fricative are particularly often described as dentals; these are generally pronounced with the tongue on the lower teeth. The retroflex consonants (like those of Polish ) are actually apical rather than subapical , and so are considered by some authors not to be truly retroflex; they may be more accurately called post-alveolar. Some speakers not from Beijing may lack

490-432: A vowel) are taken to begin [t͡ɕj] , [t͡ɕʰj] , [ɕj] , [t͡ɕɥ] , [t͡ɕʰɥ] , [ɕɥ] . The actual pronunciations are more like [t͡ɕ] , [t͡ɕʰ] , [ɕ] , [t͡ɕʷ] , [t͡ɕʰʷ] , [ɕʷ] (or for speakers using the dental variants, [t͡sʲ] , [t͡sʰʲ] , [sʲ] , [t͡sᶣ] , [t͡sʰᶣ] , [sᶣ] ). This is consistent with the general observation (see under § Glides ) that medial glides are realized as palatalization and/or labialization of

539-399: Is (pre)alveolar and laminal rather than purely dental. Although denti-alveolar consonants are often labeled as " dental " because only the forward contact with the teeth is visible, the point of contact of the tongue that is farthest back is most relevant, as it defines the maximum acoustic space of resonance and gives a characteristic sound to a consonant. In French, the contact that

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588-488: Is mid whereas /a/ is low (open). The precise realization of each vowel depends on its phonetic environment. In particular, the vowel /ə/ has two broad allophones [ e ] and [ o ] (corresponding respectively to pinyin e and o in most cases). These sounds can be treated as a single underlying phoneme because they are in complementary distribution . The mid vowel phoneme may also be treated as an under-specified vowel, attracting features either from

637-421: Is also a difference in syllable length. Full syllables can be analyzed as having two morae ("heavy"), the vowel being lengthened if there is no coda. Weak syllables, however, have a single mora ("light"), and are pronounced approximately 50% shorter than full syllables. Any weak syllable will usually be an instance of the same morpheme (and written with the same character) as some corresponding strong syllable;

686-404: Is also possible to hear both from the same speaker, even in the same conversation. For example, one may hear the number "one" 一 ; yī as either [jí] or [í] . The glides can also occur in medial position, that is, after the initial consonant but before the main vowel. Here they are represented in pinyin as vowels: for example, the i in bie represents [j] , and

735-399: Is essential for intelligibility because of the vast number of words in the language that only differ by tone (i.e. are minimal pairs with respect to tone). Statistically, tones are as important as vowels in Standard Chinese. The following table shows the four main tones of Standard Chinese, together with the neutral (or fifth) tone. To describe the pitch of the tones, its representation on

784-608: Is fronted [ə̟] before /n/ and backed [ə̠] before /ŋ/ . Some native Mandarin speakers may pronounce [wei̯] , [jou̯] , and [wən] as [ui] , [iu] , and [un] respectively in the first or second tone . Standard Chinese features syllables that end with a rhotic coda /ɚ/ . This feature, known in Chinese as erhua , is particularly characteristic of the Beijing dialect ; many other dialects do not use it as much, and some not at all. It occurs in two cases: The r final

833-422: Is historically related), since the two are in complementary distribution – provided that the § Alveolo-palatal series is either left un-merged, or is merged with the velars rather than the retroflex or alveolar series. (That is, [t͡ɕi] , [t͡sɨ] , and [ʈ͡ʂɨ] all exist, but *[ki] and *[kɨ] do not exist, so there is no problem merging both [i]~[ɨ] and [k]~[t͡ɕ] at the same time.) Another approach

882-776: Is known as the "round-sharp" distinction  [ zh ] . The change took place in the last two or three centuries at different times in different areas. This explains why some European transcriptions of Chinese names (especially in postal romanization ) contain ⟨ki-⟩ , ⟨hi-⟩ , ⟨tsi-⟩ , ⟨si-⟩ where an alveolo-palatal might be expected in modern Chinese. Examples are Pe k ing for Bei j ing ( [kiŋ] → [tɕiŋ] ), Chung k ing for Chong q ing ( [kʰiŋ] → [tɕʰiŋ] ), Fu k ien for Fu j ian (cf. Hokkien ), Tien ts in for Tian j in ( [tsin] → [tɕin] ); S in k iang for X in j iang ( [sinkiaŋ] → [ɕintɕiaŋ] , and S ian for X i'an ( [si] → [ɕi] ). The complementary distribution with

931-450: Is pronounced with a relatively lax tongue, and has been described as a "retroflex vowel". In dialects that do not make use of the rhotic coda, it may be omitted in pronunciation, or in some cases a different word may be selected: for example, Beijing 这儿 ; 這兒 ; zhèr ; 'here' and 那儿 ; 那兒 ; nàr ; 'there' may be replaced by the synonyms 这里 ; 這裡 ; zhèlǐ and 那里 ; 那裡 ; nàlǐ . Syllables in Standard Chinese have

980-454: Is that of the sentence-final exclamatory particle 啊 a , a weak syllable, which has different characters for its assimilated forms: Standard Chinese, like all varieties of Chinese , is tonal . This means that in addition to consonants and vowels, the pitch contour of a syllable is used to distinguish words from each other. Many non-native Chinese speakers have difficulties mastering the tones of each character, but correct tonal pronunciation

1029-473: Is the farthest back is alveolar or sometimes slightly pre-alveolar. In Spanish, /t/ and /d/ are laminal denti-alveolar, and /l/ and /n/ are alveolar but assimilate to a following /t/ or /d/ . Similarly, in Italian, /t/ , /d/ , /t͡s/ , /d͡z/ are denti-alveolar, and /l/ and /n/ are alveolar. The dental clicks are also laminal denti-alveolar. Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced , to

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1078-402: Is to regard the syllables assigned above to /ɨ/ as having an (underlying) empty nuclear slot ("empty rhyme", Chinese 空韵 ; kōngyùn ), i.e. as not containing a vowel phoneme at all. This is more consistent with the syllabic consonant description of these syllables, and is consistent with the view that phonological representations are minimal (underspecified). When this is the case, sometimes

1127-474: The final element in some syllables. These are commonly analyzed as diphthongs rather than vowel-glide sequences. For example, the syllable bai is assigned the underlying representation /pai̯/ . (In pinyin, the second element is generally written ⟨-i⟩ or ⟨-u⟩ , but /au̯/ is written as ⟨-ao⟩ .) The syllables written in pinyin as zi , ci , si , zhi , chi , shi , ri may be described as

1176-663: The glides [ j ] , [ ɥ ] , and [ w ] , there are 19 consonant phonemes in the inventory. Between pairs of plosives or affricates having the same place of articulation and manner of articulation , the primary distinction is not voiced vs. voiceless (as in French or Russian ), but unaspirated vs. aspirated (as in Scottish Gaelic or Icelandic ). The unaspirated plosives and affricates may however become voiced in weak syllables (see § Syllable reduction below). Such pairs are represented in

1225-551: The high vowels : [i̯, y̯, u̯] . This is possible because there is no ambiguity in interpreting a sequence like yao/-iao as /iau/ , and potentially problematic sequences such as */iu/ do not occur. The glides may occur in initial position in a syllable. This occurs with [ɥ] in the syllables written yu , yuan , yue , and yun in pinyin; with [j] in other syllables written with initial y in pinyin ( ya , yi , etc.); and with [w] in syllables written with initial w in pinyin ( wa , wu , etc.). When

1274-501: The neutral tone , the test gives an advantage to native speakers of the Beijing dialect and closely related varieties over speakers of varieties lacking these features. Phonology of Standard Chinese The phonology of Standard Chinese has historically derived from the Beijing dialect of Mandarin . However, pronunciation varies widely among speakers, who may introduce elements of their local varieties . Television and radio announcers are chosen for their ability to affect

1323-423: The u in duan represents [w] . There are some restrictions on the possible consonant-glide combinations: [w] does not occur after labials (except for some speakers in bo , po , mo , fo ); [j] does not occur after retroflexes and velars (or after [f] ); and [ɥ] occurs medially only in lüe and nüe and after alveolar-palatals (for which see above ). A consonant-glide combination at

1372-491: The Beijing dialect. In phonological analysis, it is often assumed that, when not followed by one of the high front vowels [i] or [y] , the alveolar-palatals consist of a consonant followed by a palatal glide ( [j] or [ɥ] ). That is, syllables represented in pinyin as beginning ⟨ji-⟩ , ⟨qi-⟩ , ⟨xi-⟩ , ⟨ju-⟩ , ⟨qu-⟩ , ⟨xu-⟩ (followed by

1421-430: The adjacent sounds or from default rules resulting in /ə/ . (Apparent counterexamples are provided by certain interjections , such as [ɔ] , [ɛ] , [jɔ] , and [lɔ] , but these are normally treated as special cases operating outside the normal phonemic system. ) Transcriptions of the vowels' allophones (the ways they are pronounced in particular phonetic environments) differ somewhat between sources. More details about

1470-411: The consonant does not directly link with the vowel. Instead, the zero onset seems to intervene in between. 棉袄 ; mián'ǎo ("cotton jacket") becomes [mjɛnʔau] , [mjɛnɣau] . However, in connected speech none of these output forms is natural. Instead, when the words are spoken together the most natural pronunciation is rather similar to [mjɛ̃ːau] , in which there is no nasal closure or any version of

1519-506: The expense of including underlying glides in their systems). Edwin G. Pulleyblank has proposed a system which includes underlying glides, but no vowels at all. More common are systems with two vowels; for example, in Mantaro Hashimoto 's system, there are just two vowel nuclei, /ə, a/ . In this analysis, the high vowels [i, u, y] are analyzed as glides /j, w, ɥ/ which surface as vowels before ∅ or /ən, əŋ/ . * ㄧㄞ As

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1568-593: The four main tones , and some degree of stress . Weak syllables are unstressed , and have neutral tone . The contrast between full and weak syllables is distinctive; there are many minimal pairs such as 要事 yàoshì "important matter" and 钥匙 yàoshi "key", or 大意 dàyì "main idea" and (with the same characters) dàyi "careless", the second word in each case having a weak second syllable. Some linguists consider this contrast to be primarily one of stress, while others regard it as one of tone. For further discussion, see under Neutral tone and Stress , below. There

1617-530: The individual consonant sounds are given in the following table. All of the consonants may occur as the initial sound of a syllable, with the exception of /ŋ/ (unless the zero initial is assigned to this phoneme; see below ). Excepting the rhotic coda , the only consonants that can appear in syllable coda (final) position are /n/ and /ŋ/ (although [m] may occur as an allophone of /n/ before labial consonants in fast speech). Final /n/ , /ŋ/ may be pronounced without complete oral closure, resulting in

1666-458: The individual vowel allophones are given in the following table (not including the values that occur with the rhotic coda ). Zhuyin represents vowels differently from normal romanisation schemes, and as such is not displayed in the above table. The vowel nuclei may be preceded by a glide /j, w, ɥ/ , and may be followed by a coda /i, u, n, ŋ/ . The various combinations of glide, vowel, and coda have different surface manifestations, as shown in

1715-653: The limited phonetic inventory, homophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese are very common and important in Chinese culture . ) For a list of all Standard Chinese syllables (excluding tone and rhotic coda) see the pinyin table or zhuyin table . Syllables can be classified as full (or strong ), and weak . Weak syllables are usually grammatical markers such as 了 le , or the second syllables of some compound words (although many other compounds consist of two or more full syllables). A full syllable carries one of

1764-466: The maximal form (CG)V(X) , traditionally analysed as an "initial" consonant C, a "final", and a tone T. The final consists of a "medial" G (which may be one of the glides [j, w, ɥ] ), a vowel V, and a coda X, which may be one of [n, ŋ, ɚ̯, i̯, u̯] . The vowel and coda may also be grouped as the " rhyme ", sometimes spelled " rime ". Any of C, G, and X (and V, in some analyses) may be absent. However, in some analyses, C cannot be absent, due to

1813-412: The other three series. The existence of the above-mentioned dental variants inclines some to prefer to identify the alveolo-palatals with the dentals, but identification with any of the three series is possible (unless the empty rime / ɨ / is identified with /i/ , in which case the velars become the only candidate). The Yale and Wade–Giles systems mostly treat the alveolo-palatals as allophones of

1862-507: The phoneme is described as shifting from voiceless to voiced, e.g. sī becoming /sź̩/ . Syllabic consonants may also arise as a result of weak syllable reduction; see below . Syllabic nasal consonants are also heard in certain interjections ; pronunciations of such words include [m] , [n] , [ŋ] , [hm] , [hŋ] . Standard Chinese can be analyzed as having between two and six vowel phonemes. /i, u, y/ (which may also be analyzed as underlying glides) are high (close) vowels, /ə/

1911-542: The pinyin system mostly using letters which in Romance languages generally denote voiceless/voiced pairs (for example [p] and [b] ), or in Germanic languages often denotes fortis/lenis pairs (for example initial aspirated voiceless/unaspirated voiced pairs such as [pʰ] and [b] ). However, aspirated/unaspirated pairs such as /pʰ/ and /p/ are represented with p and b respectively in pinyin. More details about

1960-568: The preceding consonant (palatalization already being inherent in the case of the palatals). On the above analysis, the alveolar-palatals are in complementary distribution with the dentals [t͡s, t͡sʰ, s] , with the velars [k, kʰ, x] , and with the retroflexes [ʈ͡ʂ, ʈ͡ʂʰ, ʂ] , as none of these can occur before high front vowels or palatal glides, whereas the alveolo-palatals occur only before high front vowels or palatal glides. Therefore, linguists often prefer to classify [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ] not as independent phonemes, but as allophones of one of

2009-399: The predecessor Middle Chinese tones than to the modern tones. Denti-alveolar consonant In linguistics , a denti-alveolar consonant or dento-alveolar consonant is a consonant that is articulated with a flat tongue against the alveolar ridge and the upper teeth, such as /t/ and /d/ in languages such as French , Italian and Spanish . That is, a denti-alveolar consonant

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2058-528: The retroflex series arose when syllables that had a retroflex consonant followed by a medial glide lost the medial glide. A full syllable such as ai , in which the vowel is not preceded by any of the standard initial consonants or glides, is said to have a null initial or zero onset . This may be realized as a consonant sound: [ ʔ ] and [ ɣ ] are possibilities, as are [ŋ] and [ ɦ ] in some non-standard varieties. It has been suggested by San Duanmu that such an onset be regarded as

2107-420: The retroflexes in their native dialects, and may thus replace them with dentals. The alveolo-palatal consonants (pinyin j , q , x ) have standard pronunciations of [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ] . Some speakers realize them as palatalized dentals [t͡sʲ] , [t͡sʰʲ] , [sʲ] ; this is claimed to be especially common among children and women, although officially it is regarded as substandard and as a feature specific to

2156-542: The retroflexes; Tongyong Pinyin mostly treats them as allophones of the dentals; and Mainland Chinese Braille treats them as allophones of the velars. In standard pinyin and bopomofo , however, they are represented as a separate sequence. The alveolo-palatals arose historically from a merger of the dentals [t͡s, t͡sʰ, s] and velars [k, kʰ, x] before high front vowels and glides. Previously, some instances of modern [t͡ɕ(ʰ)i] were instead [k(ʰ)i] , and others were [t͡s(ʰ)i] ; distinguishing these two sources of [t͡ɕ(ʰ)i]

2205-585: The start of a syllable is articulated as a single sound – the glide is not in fact pronounced after the consonant, but is realized as palatalization [ʲ] , labialization [ʷ] , or both [ᶣ] , of the consonant. (The same modifications of initial consonants occur in syllables where they are followed by a high vowel, although normally no glide is considered to be present there. Hence a consonant is generally palatalized [ʲ] when followed by /i/ , labialized [ʷ] when followed by /u/ , and both [ᶣ] when followed by /y/ .) The glides [j] and [w] are also found as

2254-418: The tables below. Any of the three positions may be empty, i.e. occupied by a null meta-phoneme ∅ . The following table provides a typical five vowel analysis according to Duanmu (2000 , p. 37) and Lin (2007) . In this analysis, the high vowels /i, u, y/ are fully phonemic and may form sequences with the nasal codas /n, ŋ/ . Some linguists prefer to reduce the number of vowel phonemes drastically (at

2303-452: The weak form will often have a modified pronunciation, however, as detailed in the following section. Apart from differences in tone, length, and stress, weak syllables are subject to certain other pronunciation changes (reduction). The example of shénme → shém also involves assimilation , which is heard even in unreduced syllables in quick speech (for example, in guǎmbō for 广播 guǎngbō "broadcast"). A particular case of assimilation

2352-399: The zero initial being considered a consonant. Many of the possible combinations under the above scheme do not actually occur. There are only some 35 final combinations (medial+rime) in actual syllables (see pinyin finals ). In all, there are only about 400 different syllables when tone is ignored, and about 1300 when tone is included. This is a far smaller number of distinct syllables than in

2401-519: The zero onset, and instead nasalization of the vowel occurs. The glides [ j ] , [ ɥ ] , and [ w ] sound respectively like the y in English yes , the (h)u in French huit , and the w in English we . ( Beijing speakers often replace initial [w] with a labiodental [ʋ] , except when it is followed by [o] or [u] . ) The glides are commonly analyzed not as independent phonemes, but as consonantal allophones of

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