Lesson 10 Chinese Syllables
Spelling Rules
Rules of Syllable Separation
As mentioned in Lesson 1, Chinese syllables usually consist of initial consonants and vowels. However, some Chinese syllables are composed of vowels without initial consonant. For example, Chinese syllables “é”, “ī”, and “ǘ” represent goose, clothes, and fish respectively.
When a syllable with zero initial consonant contains only a vowel, it could cause confusion in phonetic spelling. For example, the simple vowel “ā” and “í” can be used as separate syllables which together represent the word aunt. However, “ài” can be used as one syllable which represents the word love. In order to avoid confusion in phonetic spelling for those syllables with zero initial consonant, the separation letters “y” and “w” and the separation mark ( ’ ) which is called apostrophe in English are used in Chinese phonetic spelling.
Usages of “y” and “w” as the Separation Letters
The reason for choosing “y” and “w” as the separation letters in Chinese phonetic spelling is that “y” and “w” both are semi-vowels in English. It is relatively convenient to use them as the separation letters for zero initial consonant syllables beginning with “i” and “u”. However, “y” and “w” is pronounced the same as Chinese simple vowel “i” and “u”.
Rules for Using “y” and “w”
When “i” itself is a syllable, add “y” before “i”. That’s, i→yi; when a syllable begins with “i”, change “i” into “y” (except “in” and “ing”). Thus, iɑ→yɑ, ie→ye, iɑo→yɑo, iou→you, iɑn→yɑn, iɑng→yɑng, and iong→yong. When “in” and “ing” are syllables by themselves, add “y” before “i”. Thus, in→yin, ing→ying.
When “u” is a syllable by itself, add “w” before “u”. That is, wu. When a syllable begins with “u”, change “u” into “w”. Thus, uɑ→wɑ, uo→wo, uɑi→wɑi, uei→wei, uɑn→wɑn, uen→wen, uɑng→wɑng, and ueng→weng.
When “ü” is a syllable by itself or when a syllable begins with “ü”, add “y” before “ü” and remove the umlaut (the two dots) from “ü”. Thus, ü→yu, üe→yue, üɑn→yuɑn, and ün→yun.
Usaes of the Separation Mark ( ’ )
When the zero initial consonant syllables beginning with ɑ, o, e follow a vowel ending in “ɑ” or “i”, the use of a separation mark ( ’ ) between the two syllables is required. Thus, the phonetic spelling for the word Xī ān (a city name of China) should be written as Xī’ān. And pí ǎo (fur-lined jacket)→pí’ǎo.
When syllables ended with nasals “n” or “ng” are followed by a zero initial consonant syllables beginning with ɑ, o, e, the use of a separation mark is also required. For instance, a phonetic spelling word fáng ài (to hinder) should be written as fáng’ài. and dàng àn (files)→dàng’àn.
Rules for Omission
For the sake of spelling convenience, a few omission rules are applied in phonetic spelling.
When the initial consonants j, q, x are followed by “ü” or a vowel which begins with “ü”, remove the umlaut (the two dots) from “ü”. That is, jü→ju, jüe→jue, jüɑn→juɑn, jün→jun, qü→qu, qüe→que, qüɑn→quɑn, qün→qun, xü→xu, xüe→xue, xüɑn→xuɑn and xün→xun. Since j, q, x in Chinese never go with “u”, the omission of umlaut from the “ü” will not cause confusion in phonetic spelling.
In addition, when “iou”, “uei”, “uen” go with the initial consonants, they are written as “iu”, “ui”, “un” respectively. For example, niou→niu, guei→gui, luen→lun. This rule is based on the fact that the sounds of “o” and “e” often get lost or weakened in some linguistic environments. For the sake of uniformity and function, “iou”, “uei”, “uen” after the initial consonants are always written as “iu”, “ui” and “un”.
Rules for Marking Tones
A tone mark is an indispensable parting Chinese pinyin. Tones are marked only on the vowel of each syllable and never on the initial consonants. If there is only one vowel in a syllable, mark the tone above that vowel. If there is a compound vowel in a syllable, tone mark assignment should follow the priority sequence of ɑ, o, e, i, u and ü. That is, if a syllable contains an “ɑ” and other vowels, place the tone mark on the top of “ɑ”. If there is no “ɑ”, then place the tone mark on the top of “o” and so on. However, there is an exception for “ui” and “iu”, we always place the tone mark above the last vowel. Thus, liu→liú, and dui→duì.
Rules for Spelling Disyllables or Polysyllables
When spelling disyllables or polysyllables, we should obey the following rules:
Leave no space between the syllables if they form a word. For example, lǎo shī 老师(teacher) is written as lǎoshī.
Capitalize the first letter of a sentence or a proper noun. For example: Zhōngguó 中国(China).
If a word breaks at the end of a line, divide a word with a hyphen at a syllable ending at the end of the line. For example, … … … Lǎo-
shī (teacher). “Lǎ-oshī” is wrong.
Rules for Tone Sandhi
We mentioned earlier that Chinese is a tonal language. Each syllable has a distinctive tone based on its pitch level. The tone pitch for a syllable is fixed when the syllable appears individually. However, the tone pitch for a syllable may change in spoken language, which brings about a change of tone of the syllable. Rules for tone sandhi in Chinese are complicated, so here we introduce only the very basic ones.
Neutral Tone
As mentioned in Lesson 5, the neutral tone is also referred as zero tone. The syllable with the neutral tone should be pronounced shortly and lightly. Neutral tones happen in (but are not limited to) the following situations:
In some disyllabic words, the second syllable should be pronounced as the neutral tone, for example, xiānsheng先生 (Mr.; Sir), māmɑ妈妈 (mother; mom), yìsi 意思(meaning).
In some trisyllabic phrases, the second syllable should be pronounced as the neutral tone. To cite a few examples: děngyiděng 等一等(wait a moment), shuōbuwán说不完 (speak endlessly) and shuōdehǎo说得好 (speak well).
All auxiliary words are pronounced as neutral tones. For example,
Zǒule走了 (left), tāde他的 (his/her) and hǎoba 好吧(okay).
Tone Sandhi for the Third Tone
When two third tone syllables appear together, the first syllable changes to the second tone. For example, nǐhǎo should be pronounced as níhǎo. When three third tone syllables appear together, both the first and second syllables change to the second tone. Below are some examples:
Zhǎnlǎnguǎn展览馆 (exhibition hall) read as Zhánlánguǎn
Diǎnhǎohuǒ 点好火(lit a fire) read as Diánháohuǒ
Jǔqǐshǒu 举起手(raise your hand) read as Júqíshǒu
Tone Sandhi for Words yī (一) and bù (不)
The basic tone for the Chinese character “一” (yī) is the first tone, and for “不” (bù) is the fourth tone, but their tones change in the following situations:
In a disyllabic word, if yīis placed before a fourth tone syllable, it should be pronounced as the second tone, for example: yíqiè一切(everything), yízhì一致(consistent).
In a disyllabic or polysyllabic word, if yīis placed before a non-fourth tone syllable (could be the first, second, or third tone), it should be pronounced as the fourth tone, for example: yìtiān一天(a day), yìyányìxíng一言一行(words and deeds), yìběn一本(one piece).
In a disyllabic word, if bù is placed a fourth tone syllable, it should be read as the second tone, for example: búyào不要(do not want; needn’t), búqù不去(not to go).
In a trisyllabic phrase, if yīor bùis the second syllable, both of them are read as the neutral tone, for example: xiǎngyixiǎng想一想(have a think), tīngyitīng听一听(have a listen), hǎobuhǎo好不好(Is this ok?) and qùbuqù去不去(To go or not?).
Poem
Night Thoughts 静(jìng)夜(yè)思(sī)
Before my chair, the moon is shining bright, 床(chuáng)前(qián)明(míng)月(yuè)光(guāng)，
like frost spreading on the ground. 疑(yí)是(shì)地(dì)上(shàng)霜(shuāng)。
I raise my head and look at the bright moon, 举(jǔ)头(tóu)望(wàng)明(míng)月(yuè)，
I lower my head and think of home. 低(dī)头(tóu)思(sī)故(gù)乡(xiāng)。
