Correct Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
It seems to me that it is difficult to get information about pinyin pronunciation on the internet that is at the same time correct and complete. I will give what I’ve concluded, and give my evidence at the end.
(The following uses technical linguistic terms voiced, unvoiced, aspirated, unaspirated. Note that unvoiced is sometimes referred to as voiceless.)
I believe that the only initials that are voiced are l, m, n, r. All others are unvoiced. Therefore:
1. It is wrong to say that pinyin d is pronounced as d in “duck”. It is wrong because English d is voiced, and pinyin d is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as t in “stop”. (Note that t as in “top” is aspirated, while t as in “stop” is unaspirated.)
2. It is wrong to say that pinyin b is pronounced as b in “book”. It is wrong because English b is voiced, and pinyin b is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as p in “spin”. (Note that p as in “pin” is aspirated, while p as in “spin” is unaspirated.)
3. It is wrong to say that pinyin g is pronounced as g in “get”. It is wrong because English g is voiced, and pinyin g is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as k in “skin”. (Note that k as in “kin” is aspirated, while k as in “skin” is unaspirated.)
4. It is wrong to say that pinyin zh is pronounced as j in “jerk” or “judge” or as g in “George”. It is wrong because j in “jerk” is voiced, and pinyin zh is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin zh is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin ch is unvoiced, aspirated.)
5. It is wrong to say that pinyin j is pronounced as j in “jam”. It is wrong because j in “jam” is voiced, and pinyin j is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin j is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin q is unvoiced, aspirated.)
6. It is wrong to say that pinyin z is pronounced as ds in “kids”. It is wrong because ds in “kids” is voiced, and pinyin z is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin z is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin c is unvoiced, aspirated.)
I was first made aware that all pinyin consonants except for l, m, n, r, are unvoiced in an email exchange with Olle Linge of Hacking Chinese fame (hackingchinese.com). This is confirmed in the following chart. SORRY but the following chart is confusing, because it also includes Yale Romanization of Mandarin and bopomofo.
Each cell has four components:
[upper left] Yale Romanization – [upper right] IPA phonetic symbol
[lower left] Bopomofo – [lower left] Pinyin
For the purpose of this post, please ignore the upper left and lower left. SORRY, but I have not found such a chart that only includes Pinyin and IPA. (For myself, I copied and pasted it into a Word doc and deleted the Yale and bopomofo).
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_romanization_of_Mandarin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_romanization_of_Mandarin</a>
The chart supports what I say above. Note that voiceless and unvoiced mean the same thing:
1. Pinyin d has IPA t, which is unvoiced.
2. Pinyin b has IPA p, which is unvoiced.
3. Pinyin g has IPA k, which is unvoiced.
4. Pinyin zh has IPA ʈʂ, the important point being that it is unvoiced.
5. Pinyin j has IPA tɕ, the important point being that it is unvoiced.
6. Pinyin z has IPA ts, the important point being that it is unvoiced.
Any thoughts or comments?
