Help:IPA/Mandarin

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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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.

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,^[a] but more y-like (without lip rounding)
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^[b]	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,^[a] 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-^[c]	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
a	er	êrh	ㄦ	二，兒（儿）	cat
ɑ	yang/-iang		ㄤ	阳	father
ɛ	yan/-ian	yen/-ien	ㄧㄢ	言	set
ɛ	yuan/-üan		ㄩㄢ	元	set
e	ye/-ie, yue/-üe	eh	ㄝ	也，月	hey
ə	en,^[d]eng	ên, êng	ㄣ，ㄥ	本，冷	atop
ɚ	er	êrh	ㄦ	二，兒（儿）	furry^[e]
ɤ	e	ê / o^[f]	ㄜ	厄	between bush and but
i	yi/-i		ㄧ	李	city
o	wo/-uo^[g]/-ou	o^[h]	ㄛ	果，狗	story
ɻ̩	zhi, chi, shi, ri	ih	ㄭ^[i]	之，吃，師（师），日	Below, but with tongue curled or pulled back^[j]
ɹ̩	zi, ci, si	ŭ	ㄭ^[i]	子，次，私	roses, cousin
u	wu/-u		ㄨ	土	cool
ʊ	-ong	-ung	ㄨㄥ，ㄩㄥ	冬，用	book
y	yu/-ü^[c]	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^[d]		ㄟ	杯	face
oʊ	ou^[d]		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/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

^ ^a ^b[ɕ,tɕ,tɕʰ] are always followed by [i][j], [y], or [ɥ].
^Also transcribed as ɻ in some literature.
^ ^a ^bü (/y/) is spelled u after j, q, x in pinyin since /u/ cannot occur after them.
^ ^a ^b ^cIn Pinyin/Wade-Giles wei, you/yu, wen/wên are spelled ui, iu, un respectively when they are preceded by a consonant. It doesn't affect the pronunciation.
^The rhotic vowel also appears in erhua.
^This sound is spelled ⟨o⟩ after ⟨k, k', h⟩ in Wade-Giles.
^ This sound is spelled ⟨o⟩ after ⟨b, p, m, f⟩ in Pinyin.
^ㄨㄛ is spelled as ⟨o⟩, except for ⟨k, k', h, sh⟩ (as ⟨kuo, k'uo, huo, shuo⟩) in Wade-Giles.
^This symbol is rarely used and usually omitted during writing.
^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.

External links

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

[palatal-1] [ɕ,tɕ,tɕʰ] are always followed by [i][j], [y], or [ɥ].

[r_sym-2] Also transcribed as ɻ in some literature.

[v-3] ü (/y/) is spelled u after j, q, x in pinyin since /u/ cannot occur after them.

[short_form-4] In Pinyin/Wade-Giles wei, you/yu, wen/wên are spelled ui, iu, un respectively when they are preceded by a consonant. It doesn't affect the pronunciation.

[5] The rhotic vowel also appears in erhua.

[eo-6] This sound is spelled ⟨o⟩ after ⟨k, k', h⟩ in Wade-Giles.

[py-o-7] This sound is spelled ⟨o⟩ after ⟨b, p, m, f⟩ in Pinyin.

[wg-o-8] ㄨㄛ is spelled as ⟨o⟩, except for ⟨k, k', h, sh⟩ (as ⟨kuo, k'uo, huo, shuo⟩) in Wade-Giles.

[rare_sym-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]}

[a]

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Notes

References

See also

External links