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The Tones of Mandarin Chinese

Julin Chen, Mandarin Immersion Program Specialist

Sheila Jordan, Superintendent

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Mandarin Chinese Tones

One of the biggest differences between Chinese and English is the tones used to pronounce words.

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In English, tones denote whether something is a question, a command, or a general statement.

English tones can be used anywhere in the sentence, without changing the meaning of the sentence too much, though it may freak out the listener a little.

Mandarin Chinese Tones

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Mandarin Chinese Tones

In Mandarin, each, syllable, or character, has a tone.

If you do not use the right tone with a word in Mandarin, it changes the meaning of the word.

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A tone is applied separately to each syllable in a word while pronouncing it.

It is a little bit like singing the word.Researchers have found that in addition to

using the speech center of the brain, Mandarin speakers also use the part of the brain normally active while listening to music.

Mandarin Chinese Tones

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Mandarin Chinese has four pitched tones and a "toneless" tone.

The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has very few possible syllables -- approximately 400 -- while English has about 12,000.

Four Tones

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There are more homophonic words, words with the same sound expressing different meanings in Chinese.

Tones help to distinguish the meaning of words in some degree.

Learning Chinese in context, therefore, is very important.

Four Tones

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The Chinese use only three syllables when expressing the same meaning as each of the following sentences conveys.

Four Tones

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Four TonesSentence 1: A mother who is riding on a horse thinks

that it is slow and so she curses it. Mā ma qí mă mă màn mā mà mă.

妈妈骑马马慢妈骂马。

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Four Tones

Sentence 2

A little girl who is herding a cow finds it stubborn and so she pinches it.

Nīu niu găn níu níu nìng nīu nǐng níu.

妞妞赶牛牛宁妞拗牛。

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Four TonesNow you can understand how the Chinese

use only one syllable "da" and yet can tell the differences among: "to hang over something" ( da1 ) - 搭 "to answer" (da2) - 答 “to hit” (da3) - 打 and "big" (da4) - 大Yes, the secret lies in the tones. The numbers after each of the syllables indicates the tone.

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Four Tones

Tone Mark Description1st dā High and level.

2nd dá Starts medium in tone, then rises to the top.

3rd dă Starts low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top.

4th dà Starts at the top, then falls sharp and strong to the bottom.

Neutral da Flat, with no emphasis.

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Four Tones This diagram helps visualize the pitches of the four tones:

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Four Tones

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For instance, Gong Li 巩利 , Gŏng Lì with third and

fourth tones, is the name of the star of “Raise the Red Lantern” and other contemporary Chinese films.

gōng lǐ 公里 , however, with first and third tones, means kilometer.

Four Tones

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Four Tones

mā má mă mà

dū dú dǔ dù

shū shú shǔ shù

dī dí dǐ dì

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Which tone is it? Mark the tone after Mr. Chen read the Chinese word.

bu pa不怕

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Which tone is it? Mark the tone after Mr. Chen read the Chinese word.

maimai

买 卖

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Which tone is it? Mark the tone after Mr. Chen read the Chinese word.

da lu 大 路

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Which tone is it? Mark the tone after Mr. Chen read the Chinese word.

ma bu

马 步

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Which tone is it?

Mark the tone after Mr. Chen read the Chinese word.

da mi大米

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Thank You ！谢 谢