Standard Chinese A Modular Approach
Resource Module on Pronunciation and Romanization, Tape 1
This first tape in the Pronunciation and Romanization series
introduces the four tones of standard Chinese.
To help you focus on the tones, which will probably strike you as one of the most exotic features of Chinese,
this tapes makes use of only the simplest and most obvious consonants and vowels.
The trickier sounds and spellings will be covered systematically in the next four tapes.
Then the sixth tape will take up sequences of tones.
Listen to the four Chinese words which appear in display 1.
They are presented in the traditional order of the four tones.
Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma
Again
Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma
The overwhelming impression to a speaker of English
is that these must be the same words said four different ways.
After all in English we can say Ma
meaning is that you mother or Ma
meaning perhaps it's you mother.
But notice that we'd say that it's the same word in both utterances.
We can make different utterances with different patterns of intonation,
but not different words.
Now listen again to what we said are four different words in Chinese.
Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma
Ma
Again
Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma
To a speaker of Chinese
each of these words is perfectly distinguishable from the others.
The different tones keep them apart just as effectively as in English
different consonants set off Ma from Pa
and different vowels set off Ma from me.
So giving a word a wrong tone can be just as disastrous
as giving it a wrong consonant of all.
If you say Ma when what you meant was Ma
you've said horse instead of mother.
If you look at the display you'll see a visual representation of each tone.
The vertical scale covers about an octave.
Just which octave it is of course depends on the speaker's voice.
This is a somewhat greater range than you normally use in speaking English.
The top of the range will seem slightly too high for comfort
and the bottom slightly too low.
The first tone or high tone word mother
and the third tone or low tone word horse
will let you locate the extremes.
Listen
Ma, Ma
Again mother and horse high versus low
Ma, Ma
The popular notion of the Chinese tones
is that they are like notes on the musical scale
and indeed the distinctive difference between the two tones you just heard
is that one is high and one is low.
But you may have noticed that while the high tone was like a single steady high note
the low tone was lower in the middle than at either end.
For a more dramatic example of such a difference in contour
listen to the second tone or rising tone word hemp
and the fourth tone or falling tone word to scold.
Ma, Ma
Again hemp and to scold.
Rising versus falling
Ma, Ma
You can see the distinctive contours of the tones
and the diagrams of display one
and you can see them suggested in the accent marks
used to indicate the tones of the romanization.
The diagrams also show that the tones differ in length
with the third tone longer than the first and second
and the fourth tone shorter
and that they differ also in their patterns of loudness
as indicated by the varying width of the curves.
Now we're going to take up the tones in their traditional order
by the time we finish we'll have contrasted each tone
with every other tone.
The first tone is called the high tone.
It's pitch is near the top of the speaker's range
and it's contours level
as you can see in the display.
Listen to the high tone word which means mother.
Ma, Ma, Ma
Actually this is not an independent word
it's an element in words such as mama
which means mommy.
By the way the weak second syllable in mama
is not in one of the four tones.
It's said to be toneless or in the neutral tone.
We'll take this up in the sixth tape.
Since we seldom use high level intonation in English
the high tone may strike you as sung rather than spoken.
Try repeating mother after the speaker
taking care to stay on the same high note throughout.
Ma, Ma, Ma
If you're getting it right high and level
it should feel somewhat unnatural.
Try saying the high tone word mother
and then repeat after the speaker.
Ma
Notice that the tone mark in the romanization
suggests the level contour at least
if not the high pitch.
Try saying mother again
and repeat after the speaker.
Ma
The second tone is called the rising tone.
It starts in the middle of your range and almost immediately
rises sharply to the top of your range
as shown in the display.
Listen to the rising tone word which means hemp.
Ma, Ma, Ma
In English if you want to ask
that you mother you can ask
Ma with a rising intonation.
Think of the question Ma
and it may help you pronounce
the rising tone word which means hemp.
But you must remember that it's not a question
and has nothing to do with mother.
Try repeating hemp after the speaker.
Ma, Ma, Ma
Now try saying the rising tone word
to hemp yourself and to repeat.
Ma
Notice that the tone mark in the romanization
rises from left to right in the direction
your eyes are moving as you read.
Try saying hemp again and repeat.
Ma
Now let's compare the high tone with the rising tone.
Both are in the upper part of the pitch range
but the high tone stays level
while the rising tone climbs sharply
starting slightly below the high tone
and reaching the top of the range.
Listen to mother followed by hemp.
Ma, Ma
Again high tone rising tone.
Ma, Ma
Let's turn them around.
Hemp followed by mother.
Ma, Ma
Again rising tone high tone.
Ma, Ma
At the top of exercise one in your workbook
you'll see two romanized surnames.
The high tone surname fang
and the rising tone surname fang.
Remember that these are as distinct
as our Peterson and Patterson.
For each of the numbered items
the speaker will say either fang or fang.
You are to add the appropriate tone mark
to the romanization repeating the name
as you do so.
Then I'll give you the correct answer.
Don't worry if you miss if you at first.
You'll learn as much by being wrong
and finding out that you were wrong
as by being right
and finding out that you were right.
Here we go.
One
Fang
High
Two
Fang
Rising
Three
Fang
Rising
Four
Fang
High
Five
Fang
High
Six
Fang
Rising
Seven
Fang
High
Eight
Fang
High
Nine
Fang
Rising
Ten
Fang
Rising
The third tone is called the low tone.
As you can see in the display
it has a slightly dipping contour.
Starting fairly low
it dips to the very bottom of your range.
You can almost feel and hear its great bottom.
Then it swoops up a bit.
The most important part,
the part to listen for
and the part to emphasize
is the low part in the middle.
Remember also that this is the longest tone.
Listen to the low tone word
which means horse.
Ma
Ma
Ma
This also happens to be a common surname.
Try repeating horse
concentrating on getting as low as you can.
Ma
Ma
Ma
Now try saying the low tone word
or horse yourself and repeat.
Ma
Notice that the tone mark
captures at least the dipping contour
if not the low pitch.
Try saying horse again and repeat.
Ma
It's relatively easy to distinguish between
the high tone and the low tone
since they contrast in contour
as well as in pitch.
The high tone is level
as well as high
and the low tone is dipping
as well as low.
Listen to mother
followed by horse.
Ma
Again high tone low tone.
Ma
Now we'll turn them around.
Horse followed by mother.
Ma
Again low tone high tone.
Ma
Exercise 2
involves distinguishing
the high tone surname
Wei
from the low tone surname
Wei.
You'll see them correctly
romanized above the exercise
with the tone marks
over the vowel e.
Fill in the appropriate tone
marks and repeat as you do so.
One
Wei
Low
Two
Wei
High
Three
Wei
Low
Four
Wei
Low
Five
Wei
High
Six
Wei
Low
Seven
Wei
High
Eight
Wei
High
Nine
Wei
Low
Ten
Wei
High
The contrast between the rising tone
and the low tone is somewhat harder.
In fact, most students find it hardest of all.
One reason is that their starting points
are not too far apart.
And another is that both are rising at the end.
If you start a low tone a bit too high,
then fail to get down to the bottom of the range
and then exaggerate the rising tail,
you've got a rising tone,
and vice versa of course.
The way to keep them straight is to keep your mind fixed
on the features which give them their names.
For the rising tone,think rising.
All the energy goes into reaching the ceiling.
The tone actually gets louder as it rises.
For the low tone,think low.
All the energy goes into reaching the floor.
The rising tail is a tailing off in effort,
if not in loudness.
In fact,the rising tail is completely lost
in certain circumstances
as we'll see in the sixth tape.
Listen to hemp,followed by horse.
Ma.Ma.
Again,rising tone,low tone.
Ma.Ma.
Now the other way around,
horse followed by hemp.
Ma.Ma.
Again,low tone,rising tone.
Ma.Ma.
Now try adding the appropriate tone marks
in exercise three,
which contrasts the rising tone surname
me,with the low tone surname me.
Ask yourself as you repeat each surname
whether your effort is going into making it rise
or into getting it low,
and mark the tone accordingly.
One.
Me.
Low.
Two.
Me.
Rising.
Three.
Me.
Low.
Four.
Me.
Rising.
Five.
Me.
Low.
Six.
Me.
Rising.
Seven.
Me.
Rising.
Eight.
Me.
Low.
Nine.
Me.
Low.
Ten.
Me.
Rising.
You may not have scored so well on this.
Exercise four gives you another crack
at the rising verses low distinction,
with the rising tone surname woo,
the low tone surname woo.
You might find the supplementary clue of length useful.
The low tone is longer.
Mark the tones and repeat as you do so.
One.
Me.
Rising.
Two.
Me.
Rising.
Three.
Me.
Low.
Four.
Me.
Rising.
Five.
Me.
Low.
Six.
Me.
Low.
Seven.
Me.
Low.
Eight.
Me.
Rising.
Nine.
Me.
Rising.
Ten.
Me.
Low.
The fourth tone is called the falling tone.
It is an abrupt drop from the top of your range to the bottom,as the display shows.
Listen to the falling tone word,which means to scold.
Ma.
Ma.
Ma.
Since in English we use a falling intonation at the end of statements and exclamations,
the falling tone sounds declarative or emphatic to us.
Listen to the answers in this English conversation.
Who's mowing the lawn?Ma.
Who is?Ma.
Try repeating the verb to scold,sliding all the way down the scale as fast as you can.
Ma.Ma.Ma.
Now try saying the falling tone word to scold yourself and repeat.
Ma.
Notice that the tone mark drops from left to right in the direction your eyes are moving.
Try saying to scold again and repeat.Ma.
The contrast between the high tone and the falling tone should be clear,since one stays high and one starts high but drops sharply to the bottom.
Exercise five contrast the high tone surname Yin and the falling tone surname Yin.
Repeat the appropriate tone marks and repeat.
One.
Yin.
High.
Two.
Yin.
Falling.
Three.
Yin.
Falling.
Four.
Yin.
Falling.
Five.
Yin.
High.
Yin.
High.
Seven.
Yin.
Falling.
Eight.
Yin.
High.
Nine.
Yin.
High.
Ten.
Yin.
Falling.
As you can see in the display,the rising tone is a mirror image of the falling tone except that the rising tone rises from the middle of your range to the top while the falling tone falls the whole way from top to bottom.
The easiest way to tell them apart is to think of the English question and statement intonations.
But remember that the rising tone has nothing to do with questions and the falling tone has nothing to do with statements.
Exercise six contrast the rising tone surname Lai with the falling tone surname Lai.
Out the appropriate tone marks over the A and repeat.
One.
Lai.
Rising.
Two.
Lai.
Falling.
Three.
Lai.
Falling.
Four.
Lai.
Rising.
Five.
Lai.
Rising.
Six.
Lai.
Falling.
Seven.
Lai.
Rising.
Eight.
Lai.
Falling.
Nine.
Lai.
Falling.
Ten.
Lai.
Rising.
The contrast between the low and falling tones shouldn't present any difficulty.
Just remember that the falling tone drops sharply through your full range while the low tone spends most of its time at the bottom.
It helps that the falling tone is the shortest tone and the low tone is the longest.
Exercise seven contrast the low tone surname Hao with the falling tone surname Hao.
Out the appropriate tone marks over the A and repeat.
One.
Hao.
Low.
Two.
Hao.
Falling.
Three.
Hao.
Falling.
Four.
Hao.
Low.
Five.
Hao.
Falling.
Six.
Hao.
Low.
Seven.
Hao.
Low.
Eight.
Hao.
Falling.
Exercise eight contrast all four tones with the high tone surname Yi,the rising tone surname Yi,the low tone surname Yi,and the falling tone surname Yi.
Fill in the appropriate tone marks and repeat.
One.
Yi.
Two.
Yi.
Rising.
Three.
Yi.
Low.
Four.
Yi.
Falling.
Five.
Yi.
Rising.
Six.
Yi.
Falling.
Seven.
Yi.
High.
Eight.
Yi.
Low.
Nine.
Yi.
Low.
Ten.
Yi.
Rising.
Eleven.
Yi.
Falling.
Twelve.
Yi.
High.
Thirteen.
Yi.
Rising.
Fourteen.
Yi.
High.
Fifteen.
Yi.
Low.
Sixteen.
Yi.
Low.
Seventeen.
Yi.
Falling.
Eighteen.
Yi.
Rising.
Nineteen.
Yi.
Twenty.
Yi.
High.
If you have particular difficulty with any of the exercises, you may want to rewind and redo the exercises, writing your tone marks on a blank sheet of paper.
Also, since the tones are often identified by number rather than by descriptive names we've been using, you might want to go back to the presentation of tones in the traditional order at the beginning of the tape and learn them as a tune.
This is the end of tape one of the resource module on pronunciation and romanization.