Help:IPA/Mandarin

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Mandarin pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA}}, Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Mandarin on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Mandarin in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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See Standard Chinese phonology for more detail on the sounds of Mandarin Chinese.

Consonants IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example English approximation ɕ x hs ㄒ 晓/曉/xiǎoⓘ sheep,[lower-alpha 1] but more y-like f f ㄈ 非/fēiⓘ fan j y-/-i- ㄧ 牙/yáⓘ yes k g k ㄍ 干/gānⓘ skin kʰ k k' ㄎ 口/kǒuⓘ kin l l ㄌ 来/來/láiⓘ leaf m m ㄇ 明/míngⓘ moon n n ㄋ，ㄣ，ㄢ 泥/níⓘ noon ŋ -ng ㄥ，ㄤ 江/jiāngⓘ song p b p ㄅ 帮/幫/bāngⓘ span pʰ p p' ㄆ 滂/pángⓘ pan ʐ[lower-alpha 2] r- j ㄖ 日/rìⓘ pleasure, but with tongue curled or pulled back s s ㄙ 私/sīⓘ same ʂ sh ㄕ 矢/shǐⓘ show, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back t d t ㄉ 端/duānⓘ stop tʰ t t' ㄊ 透/tòuⓘ top tɕ j ch ㄐ 叫/jiàoⓘ cheap,[lower-alpha 1] but more y-like (without lip rounding) tɕʰ q ch' ㄑ 去/qùⓘ Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration) ts z ts ㄗ 子/zǐⓘ outset tsʰ c ts' ㄘ 此/cǐⓘ let's help ʈʂ zh ch ㄓ 之/zhīⓘ cheer, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back ʈʂʰ ch ch' ㄔ 吃/chīⓘ Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration) w w-/-u- ㄨ 我/wǒⓘ water x h ㄏ 火/huǒⓘ loch (Scottish English) ɥ yu-/-ü-[lower-alpha 3] yü-/-ü- ㄩ 月/yuèⓘ between wet and yet

Vowels IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example English approximation a a ㄚ，ㄢ 阿，安 cat er êrh ㄦ 二，兒（儿） ɑ yang/-iang ㄤ 阳 father ɛ yan/-ian yen/-ien ㄧㄢ 言 set yuan/-üan ㄩㄢ 元 e ye/-ie, yue/-üe eh ㄝ 也，月 hey ə en,[lower-alpha 4] eng ên, êng ㄣ，ㄥ 本，冷 atop ɚ er êrh ㄦ 二，兒（儿） furry[lower-alpha 5] ɤ e ê / o[lower-alpha 6] ㄜ 厄 between bush and but i yi/-i ㄧ 李 city o wo/-uo[lower-alpha 7]/-ou o[lower-alpha 8] ㄛ 果，狗 story ɻ̩ zhi, chi, shi, ri ih ㄭ[lower-alpha 9] 之，吃，師（师），日 Below, but with tongue curled or pulled back[lower-alpha 10] ɹ̩ zi, ci, si ŭ 子，次，私 roses, cousin u wu/-u ㄨ 土 cool ʊ -ong -ung ㄨㄥ，ㄩㄥ 冬，用 book y yu/-ü[lower-alpha 3] yü/-ü ㄩ 雨 beet, but with the lips rounded as for boot Diphthongs aɪ ai ㄞ 艾 time aʊ ao ㄠ 凹 cow eɪ ei[lower-alpha 4] ㄟ 杯 face oʊ ou[lower-alpha 4] ㄡ 歐（欧） goal Tones IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese example Tone number Description á ā a1 ㄚ 巴/bāⓘ tone 1 high level [˥] ǎ á a2 ㄚˊ 拔/báⓘ tone 2 mid rising [˧˥] à ǎ a3 ㄚˇ 把/bǎⓘ tone 3 medially, low [˩]; initially, mid falling [˧˩]; finally, low rising [˩˧]; in isolation, dipping [˧˩˧] â à a4 ㄚˋ 爸/bàⓘ tone 4 high falling [˥˩] a a a0 ˙ㄚ 吧/baⓘ tone 0 or 5 (toneless) mid [˧] after all tones but 4, where it is low [˩] Note: Pinyin uses three of the same diacritics as IPA but with different values.

Notes

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

References

• Duanmu, San (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric (2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)" (PDF). 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.

See also

• Category:Pages with Mandarin IPA (188)

External links

• Chinese Phonetic Transcription Converter—Free Online Tool to convert Chinese Text to Pinyin and International Phonetic Transcription