The online language laboratory

 

Mandarin Chinese

High

1 = ¯

Short rise

2 = ´

Short fall
then rise
3 = Ö

Fall

4 = \
cai
(guess)		 . bai
(hundred)
 dai
(a tie)
zao
(meet with)		 hao
(brave)		 . mao
(hat)

ka fei
(coffee)

 fei
(fat)		 Bei3 jing1
(Beijing)		 .
ya
(duck)		 . jia
(first)		 qia
(the right one)
jian
(and)		 . dian
(law)		 xie
(thank)
ou
(sing)		 chou
(sad)		 . cou
(assemble)
shuan
(fasten)		 . chuan
(gasp)		 zhuan
(sing)
shuang
(widow)		 chuang
(bed)		 . zhuang
(big)
juan
(beautiful)		 quan
(authority)		 . xuan
(show off)
wen
(warm)		 cun
(exist)		 sun
(injure)		 .
que
(deficit)		 jue
(decide)		 xue
(snow)		 .
jun
(army)

qun
(crowd)

 . xun
(ask)
bo
(a syllable)
 fo
(Buddha)		 wo
(I, me, we)		 .
         

 

 

 
Notes:
Don't be fooled by the spelling of words like 'cun' - there are two vowel sounds, not one.
The w in 'wen' and 'wo' is called a semi-vowel - it's shorter than an ordinary "u".
The n in 'wen' is very soft - it gives a nasal twang to the vowel.

Our warmest thanks go to ...

Speaker Geographical origin Date of recording Approx age

Wang Kui
(Mrs) Song Chunxia

 Mianyang, Sichuan
Mianyang, Sichuan
April 13th, 2002
April 13th, 2002
35
34

 

 

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