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Tones
Chinese is a
tonal language, but what does this really mean?
Without
getting too technical by discussing Chinese morpheme and homophones, Mandarin
has approximately 1700 syllables. This number is fairly restrictive compared to
English with over 8000. As a result, Mandarin is bound within a limiting number
of available syllables to use for speech and writing. To get around this
limitation many of the same syllables are pronounced with a different vocal
pitch and, as a result, take on a different meaning. This is where the
importance of tones comes in. Say a syllable with an incorrect or different
tone and the word means something else or is completely incorrect.
We cannot
stress enough: Master the tone and sounds and you'll learn Mandarin a lot
quicker.
In Pinyin
the tones are indicated by a directional line, called the tone mark, above the
final. For example, in the word mā the a (the
final) has a straight line above it. That line is the tone mark. It indicates
what tone to use soma means what we intend it to mean - in this
case mother.
Looking
again at our previous example of: mā (mother), mà (scold), ma (question
particle), mǎ (horse)..."Does mother scold the
horse?". It's only the tone mark above the a that gives
all four version of ma a different meaning.
Mandarin
Chinese (unlike Cantonese) has has five tones - four pitched
tones and one silent "toneless" tone. Table
3 below describes each one individually:
Tone
|
Word
|
Meaning
|
Description
of the Tone
|
1st
|
mā
|
Mother
|
The straight line above the word indicates the word is said with a
high and flat unchanging tone
|
2nd
|
má
|
To
Bother
|
The up mark moves from bottom left to top right indicates the word
should be said in a rising tone
|
3rd
|
mǎ
|
Horse
|
The down and then up mark - like a V - above the word indicates the
word is said with a falling then rising tone
|
4th
|
mà
|
To
Scold
|
The down mark from top left to bottom right indicates he word should
be said with a falling tone
|
5th
|
ma
|
Grammatical marker used when a questions is being asked
|
No tone mark indicates a neutral tone, which is flat with no empahsis
|
Used with friends or as a less formal greeting (using
Nǐ ):
Nǐ hǎo
|
“Hello, how are you?”
|
你好
|
Nǐ hǎo
|
“Hello,
how are you?” (response)
|
你好
|
Dialogue 2
The more correct greeting when respect or politness is required
(Using Nín):
Nín hǎo wáng xiǎo jiě.
|
“Hello
(formal you), Ms.Wang”.
|
您好，王小姐
|
Nín hǎo, lǐ xiān sheng.
|
“Hello
(formal you), Mr. Li”.
|
您好，李先生
|
Vocabulary
nǐ
|
you (informal)
|
你
|
nín
|
you (formal, polite)
|
您
|
hǎo
|
good, nice, fine, well
|
好
|
wáng
|
a surname
|
王
|
lǐ
|
a surname
|
李
|
xiǎo jiě
|
Miss or
Ms, young unmarried woman
|
小姐
|
xiān sheng
|
(preceded
by a surname ) Mr.
|
先生
|
