- Chinese is a tone language. It has four basic tones, which are indicated respectively by the tone marks:ˉ (first tone) 阴,ˊ (second tone) 阳,ˇ (third tone) 上, andˋ (fourth tone)去.
- There is also a neutral, so-called “fifth tone”, which is unstressed and goes unmarked.
- The tones are used to distinguish meanings of a syllable. Syllables with different tones have different meanings. Table below shows the example of five characters whose pronunciations differ only in their tones:
Syllable/Word Pronunciation Meaning Description of tone mā 妈 Mother Flat or High Level Tone má 麻 hemp Rising or High-Rising Tone mǎ 马 Horse Falling-Rising or Low Tone mà 骂 To curse Falling or High-Falling Tone ma 吗 Question particle When a syllable has no tone mark exists, it is called Neutral Tone and is pronounced both light and short. - Diagram below illustrates the relative pitch changes of the four tones
Rules for placing the tone mark
- When there is only one vowel in a syllable, the tone mark is put above the vowel.
- An algorithm to find the correct vowel letter (when there is more than one) is as follows:
- – If there is an “a” or an “e”, it will take the tone mark.
- – If there is an “ou”, then the “o” takes the tone mark.
- – Otherwise, the second vowel takes the tone mark.
- If the tone is written over an “i”, the dot above the “i” is omitted, as in “yī”.
- Interesting Chinese “song” that illustrates the rules well:
有 a 不放过 If there is an “a” in the Pinyin, it will take the tone mark. eg: lai mark at “a” as lài 无 a 找 o, e If there is no “a” in the Pinyin, look for “o” or “e”. eg: lou, mark at “o” as lóu; and lei mark at “e” as lèi i, u 并列标在后 If “i” and “u” exist together,mark at the behind one. eg: liu, mark at “u” as liú ;gui, mark at “i” as guì 单个韵母不必说 If there is only 1 vowel, mark at the only vowel
More reference:
Wiki Pinyin (Please look at the Tones section)
Paragraph 3.
I think the sound for second tone ma is incorrect. Please check. Thanks.
Hi KWMoon,
You can check the sound for the má at Pinyin chart, http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/tools/pinyinchart.php.
Please let me know if it is incorrect.
Thanks.