`Ortografia

limbii chineze

Pinyin, din punct de vedere formal Hanyu Pinyin, este sistemul fonetic
official de transcriere n pronuna carcterelor chineze Mandarin n alfabetul
latin din China, Taiwan i Singapore. Este uneori folosit pentru predarea limbii
chineze standard, i silabisirea numelor n kimba chinez n publica iile de
politic strine sunt folosite ca medod incipient pentru a introduce n
calculator caractere vchinezeti.
Sistemul pinyin a fost dezvoltat n 1950 fiind bazat pe forme de
romanizare. A fost publicat de guvernul chinez n anul 1958 i a fost

The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms of romanization. It was published by
the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times.[2] The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982.[3] The system was adopted as
the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for romanization alone rather than for educational
and computer input purposes.[4][5]
Hny means the spoken language of the Han people and pnyn literally means "spelled-out sounds".[6]

History before 1949[edit]

In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji (Hsi-tzu Chi-chi; ; lit. "The
Miracle of Western Letters") in Beijing. This was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the
Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China,Nicolas Trigault, issued his Xi Ru Ermu
Zi (Hsi Ju Erh-mu Tzu; ; lit. "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati") at Hangzhou.
Neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system,
and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese.
One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing
Dynasty scholar-official Fang Yizhi (Fang I-chih; ; 16111671).
The first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu (18621910). A
student of the great scholars, Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the
stunning effect of the kana syllabaries and Western learning there. This galvanized him into activity on a

number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script. While Song did not himself actually
create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of
schemes for phonetic scripts.
In the early 1930s, Communist Party of China leaders trained in Moscow introduced a phonetic alphabet
using Roman letters developed in the Soviet Oriental Institute of Leningrad. This Sin Wenz or "New
Writing", from which the present pinyin system differs only slightly, was much more linguistically
sophisticated than earlier alphabets, with the major exception that it did not indicate tones.
In 1940, several thousand members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao
Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy (in characters) for the masthead of
the Sin Wenz Society's new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sen's
son, Sun Fo; Cai Yuanpei, the country's most prestigious educator; Tao Xingzhi, a leading educational
reformer; and Lu Xun. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of
translations, biographies (including Lincoln, Franklin, Edison, Ford, and Charlie Chaplin), some
contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks. In 1940, the movement reached an apex
when Mao's Border Region Government declared that the Sin Wenz had the same legal status as
traditional characters in government and public documents. Many educators and political leaders looked
forward to the day when they would be universally accepted and completely replace characters. Opposition
arose, however, because the system was less well adapted to writing regional languages, and therefore
would require learning Mandarin. Sin Wenzi fell into relative disuse during the following years. [7]

History after 1949[edit]

Pinyin was developed as part of a Chinese government project in the 1950s. One of the prominent figures
was Zhou Youguang, who is often called "the father of Pinyin", [8][9] as he led a government committee in
developing the romanization system.[10][11] Zhou was working in a New York bank when he decided to return
to China to help rebuild the country after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Zhou
became an economics professor in Shanghai, and in 1954, when China's Ministry of Education created a
Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language, Zhou was assigned the task of helping to
develop a new romanization system.
Hanyu Pinyin was based on several preexisting systems: (Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928, Latinxua Sin
Wenz of 1931, and the diacritic markings from zhuyin).[12] "Im not the father of pinyin," Zhou said years
later, "Im the son of pinyin. Its [the result of] a long tradition from the later years of the Qing dynasty down
to today. But we restudied the problem and revisited it and made it more perfect." [13]
A first draft was published on February 12, 1956. The first edition of Hanyu pinyin was approved and
adopted at the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress on February 11, 1958. It was then
introduced to primary schools as a way to teach Standard Chinese pronunciation and used to improve the
literacy rate among adults.[14]

Beginning in the early 1980s, Western publications addressing Mainland China began using the Hanyu
Pinyin romanization system instead of earlier romanization systems; [15] this change followed the
normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979. [16] In 2001, the PRC
Government issued the National Common Language Law, providing a legal basis for applying pinyin. [14] The
current specification of the orthographic rules is laid down in the National Standard GB/T 16159-2012. [17]

Usage[edit]
Pinyin superseded older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles (1859; modified 1892) and Chinese
Postal Map Romanization, and replaced zhuyin as the method of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland
China. The ISO adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for modern Chinese in 1982 (ISO 7098:1982,
superseded by ISO 7098:1991); theUnited Nations followed suit in 1986.[18] It has also been accepted by
the government of Singapore, the United States' Library of Congress, the American Library Association,
and many other international institutions.[19]
The spelling of Chinese geographical or personal names in pinyin has become the most common way to
transcribe them in English. Pinyin has also become the dominant method for entering Chinese text into
computers in Mainland China, in contrast to Taiwan where Bopomofo is most commonly used.

A school slogan asking elementary students to speakPutonghua is annotated with Pinyin, but without tonal marks.

Families outside of Taiwan who speak Mandarin as a mother tongue use pinyin to help children associate
characters with spoken words which they already know. Chinese families outside of Taiwan who speak
some other language as their mother tongue use the system to teach children Mandarin pronunciation
when they learn vocabulary in elementary school.[1][20]
Since 1958, pinyin has been actively used in adult education as well, making it easier for formerly illiterate
people to continue with self-study after a short period of pinyin literacy instruction. [21]
Pinyin has become a tool for many foreigners to learn the Mandarin pronunciation, and is used to explain
both the grammar and spoken Mandarin coupled with hanzi. Books containing both Chinese characters
and pinyin are often used by foreign learners of Chinese; pinyin's role in teaching pronunciation to
foreigners and children is similar in some respects to furigana-based books (with hiragana letters written
above or next to kanji) in Japanese or fully vocalised texts in Arabic ("vocalised Arabic").
The tone-marking diacritics are commonly omitted in popular news stories and even in scholarly works.
This results in some degree of ambiguity as to which words are being represented.

Overview[edit]

In Yiling, Yichang, Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Hanzi and in Pinyin

When a foreign writing system with one set of sounds and coding/decoding system is taken to write a
language, certain compromises may have to be made. The result is that the decoding systems used in
some foreign languages will enable non-native speakers to produce sounds more closely resembling the
target language than will the coding/decoding system used by other foreign languages. Native speakers of
English will decode pinyin spellings to fairly close approximations of Mandarin except in the case of certain
speech sounds that are not ordinarily produced by most native speakers of English: j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch,
sh, and r exhibiting the greatest discrepancies. (When Chinese speakers call out these letters, they read
them as: ji, qi, xi, zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi, and ri. The i in the last four sounds more like r and the use of i is
purely a matter of convention.)

Most native speakers of English find these sounds difficult.

In this system, the correspondence between the Roman letter and the sound is sometimes idiosyncratic,
though not necessarily more so than the way the Latin script is employed in other languages. For example,
the aspiration distinction between b, d, g and p, t, k is similar to that of English (in which the two sets are
however also differentiated by voicing), but not to that of French. Z and c also have that distinction,
pronounced as [ts] and [ts]. From s, z, c come the digraphs sh, zh, ch by analogy with English sh,
ch. Although this introduces the novel combination zh, it is internally consistent in how the two series are
related, and reminds the trained reader that many Chinese pronounce sh, zh, ch as s, z, c (and Englishspeakers use zh to represent // in foreign languages such as Russian anyway). In the x, j, q series, the
Pinyin use of x is similar to its use in Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Basque and Maltese; and the
Pinyin q is akin to its value in Albanian; both Pinyin and Albanian pronunciations may sound similar to
the ch to the untrained ear. Pinyin vowels are pronounced in a similar way to vowels in Romance
languages.
The pronunciation and spelling of Chinese words are generally given in terms of initials and finals, which
represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language, rather than letter by letter. Initials are initial
consonants, while finals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel),
the nucleus vowel, and coda (final vowel or consonant).

Initials and finals[edit]

Unlike European languages, clusters of letters initials (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ;
pinyin: shngm) and finals (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ynm) and not
consonant and vowel letters, form the fundamental elements in pinyin (and most other phonetic systems
used to describe the Han language). Every Mandarin syllable can be spelled with exactly one initial
followed by one final, except for the special syllable er or when a trailing -r is considered part of a syllable
(see below). The latter case, though a common practice in some sub-dialects, is rarely used in official
publications. One exception is the city Harbin (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ),
whose name comes from the Manchu language.
Even though most initials contain a consonant, finals are not always simple vowels, especially in compound
finals (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: fuyunmu), i.e., when a "medial" is
placed in front of the final. For example, the medials [i] and [u] are pronounced with such tight openings at
the beginning of a final that some native Chinese speakers (especially when singing)
pronounce y (Chinese: ; , clothes, officially pronounced //) as /j/ and wi (simplified Chinese: ;
traditional Chinese: , to enclose, officially pronounced /ui/) as /wi/ or /wui/. Often these medials are
treated as separate from the finals rather than as part of them; this convention is followed in the chart of
finals below.

Initials[edit]
In each cell below, the bold letters indicate pinyin and the brackets enclose the symbol in the International
Phonetic Alphabet.

Bilabial

Labiodental

Voiceles
Voiced
s

Alveolar

Alveolopalatal

Velar

Voiceless Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiceless

m [m]

Nasal

Retroflex

n [n]

Unaspirated

b [p]

d [t]

g [k]

Aspirated

p [p]

t [t]

k [k]

Plosive

Unaspirated

z [ts]

zh []

j [t]

Aspirated

c [ts]

ch []

q [t]

Affricat
e

Fricative

f [f]

h [x]

l [l]

Lateral

y3 [j]/[]2 and w3 [w]

Approximant

sh [] r [1~] x []

s [s]

r may phonetically be [] (a voiced retroflex fricative) or [] (a retroflex approximant). This pronunciation

varies among different speakers, and is not two different phonemes.

2

y is pronounced [] (a labial-palatal approximant) before u.

the letters w and y are not included in the table of initials in the official pinyin system. They are an

orthographic convention for the medials i, u and when no initial is present. When i, u or are finals and
no initial is present, they are spelled yi, wu, and yu, respectively. The conventional order
(excluding w and y), derived from the zhuyin system, is:

b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zh ch sh r

z c
s

Finals[edit]
Standard Chinese vowels (with IPA and Pinyin)

Front

Central

Back

Close

Close-mid

Open-mid

i y ()
(i)
u

(e) o
(er)

Open

()

The following chart gives the combinations of medials and finals based
on an analysis that assumes just two vowel nuclei, /a/ and //;
[22]

various allophones result depending on phonetic context.

In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA, the second indicates
pinyin for a standalone (no-initial) form, and the third indicates pinyin
for a combination with an initial. Other than finals modified by an -r,
which are omitted, the following is an exhaustive table of all possible
finals.1[23]
The only syllable-final consonants in Standard Chinese are -n and -ng,
and -r, which is attached as a grammatical suffix. A Chinese syllable
ending with any other consonant either is from a non-Mandarin
language (a southern Chinese language such as Cantonese, or a
minority language of China), or indicates the use of a non-pinyin
Romanization system (where final consonants may be used to indicate
tones).

Nucleus

/a/

//

Final
Coda

/i/

/u/

/n/

[] [a] [ ] [n]
a
ai
ao
an
-a -ai -ao -an

/i/

[i]
ya
-ia

/u/

[u ] [u a]
wa wai
-ua -uai

//

/i/

/u/

/n/

[] [] [e] [o ] [n]
ang
e
ei
ou
en
-ang
-e
-ei -ou -en

[i ] [in] [i]
yao yan yang
-iao -ian -iang

[i]
ye
-ie

[io ] [in]
you yin
-iu -in

//

[]
eng
-eng

[]

[i]
ying
-ing

[i]
yi
-i

-i

Medial

/y/

[u n] [u ] [u ] 3 [u e]
wan wang wo wei
-uan -uang -uo/-o -ui

[u n] [u ], [] 4 [u]
wen
weng
wu
-un
-ong
-u

[yn]
yuan
-an 2

[yn]
yun
-n 2

[y]
yue
-e 2

[i]
yong
-iong

[y]
yu
- 2

[] is written er. For other finals formed by the suffix -r, pinyin does

not use special orthography; one simply appends r to the final that it is
added to, without regard for any sound changes that may take place
along the way. For information on sound changes related to final r,
please see Erhua#Rules.
2

is written as u after j, q, x, or y.

uo is written as o after b, p, m, or f.

weng is pronounced [] (written as ong) when it follows an initial.

Technically, i, u, without a following vowel are finals, not medials, and

therefore take the tone marks, but they are more concisely displayed
as above. In addition, [] (, ) and syllabic nasals m (, ), n (,
), ng (, ) are used as interjections.

Rules given in terms of English

pronunciation[edit]
This section includes inline
links to audio files. If you
have trouble playing the files,
seeWikipedia Media help.

All rules given here in terms of English pronunciation are

approximations, as several of these sounds do not correspond directly
to sounds in English.

Pronunciation of initials[edit]
Pinyin IPA

English
approximation[24]

Explanation

[p]

spit

unaspirated p, as in spit

[p]

pay

strongly aspirated p, as in pit

[m]

may

as in English mummy

[f]

fair

as in English fun

[t]

stop

unaspirated t, as in stop

[t]

take

strongly aspirated t, as in top

[n]

nay

as in English nit

[l]

lay

as in English love

[k]

skill

unaspirated k, as in skill

[k]

kay

strongly aspirated k, as in kill

[x]

loch

roughly like the Scots ch. English h as in hay or, more closely in some American dialects, hero is an a
by very slowly making a "k" sound, pausing at the point where there is just restricted air flowing over
"k")

[t]

churchyard

No equivalent in English, but similar to an unaspirated "-chy-" sound when said quickly. Like q, but u
pronunciation of "Beijing". The sequence "ji" word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation

[t] punch yourself

No equivalent in English. Like punch yourself, with the lips spread wide with ee. Curl the tip of the to
aspirate. The sequence "qi" word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of () chi.

[]

push yourself

No equivalent in English. Like -sh y-, with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwar
"xi" is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of () shi.

zh

[t]

junk

Rather like ch (a sound between choke, joke, true, and drew, tongue tip curled more upwards). Voice

ch

[t]

church

as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to nurture in American English, but stron

sh

[]

shirt

as in shoe, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to marsh in American English

[],
[]

ray

Similar to the English z in azure and r in reduce, but with the tongue curled upwards, like a cross betw
sound is rendered with the letter "".

[ts]

reads

unaspirated c, similar to something between suds and cats; as in suds in a toneless syllable

[ts]

hats

like the English ts in cats, but strongly aspirated, very similar to the Czech, Polish and Slovak c.

[s]

say

as in sun

[w]

way

as in water.*

[j],[] yea

as in yes. Before a u, pronounce it with rounded lips.*

* Note on y and w
Y and w are equivalent to the semivowel medials i, u, and (see
below). They are spelled differently when there is no initial consonant
in order to mark a new syllable: fanguan isfanguan, while fangwan is fang-wan (and equivalent to *fang-uan). With
this convention, an apostrophe only needs to be used to mark an
initial a, e, or o: Xi'an (two syllables:[i.an]) vs. xian (one
syllable: [i in]). In addition, y and w are added to fully vocalic i,

u, and when these occur without an initial consonant, so that they are
written yi, wu, and yu.Some Mandarin speakers do pronounce
a [j] or [w] sound at the beginning of such wordsthat
is, yi [i] or [ji], wu [u] or [wu], yu [y] or [y],so this is an intuitive
convention. See below for a few finals which are abbreviated after a
consonant plus w/u or y/i medial: wen C+un, wei C+ui, weng
C+ong, and you C+iu.
** Note on the apostrophe
The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting with a vowel (a, o,
or e) in a multiple-syllable word when the syllable does not start the
word (which is most commonly realized as []), unless the syllable
immediately follows a hyphen or other dash.[25] This is done to remove
ambiguity that could arise, as in Xi'an, which consists of the two
syllables xi("") an (""), compared to such words as xian ("").
(This ambiguity does not occur when tone marks are used: The two
tone marks in Xn unambiguously show that the word consists of two
syllables. However, even with tone marks, the city is usually spelled
with an apostrophe as X'n.)

Pronunciation of finals[edit]

This table may be a useful reference for IPA vowel symbols

The following is a list of finals in Standard Chinese, excepting most of

those ending with r.
To find a given final:
1.

Remove the initial consonant. Zh, ch, and sh count as initial

consonants.

2.

Change initial w to u and initial y to i. For weng, wen, wei,

you, look under ong, un, ui, iu.

3.
Pinyin

IPA

For u after j, q, x, or y, look under .

Form with zero

initial

Explanation
-i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant following z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- or r-.

-i

[], []

(n/a)
(In all other cases, -i has the sound of bee; this is listed below.)

[]

like English "father", but a bit more fronted

[], []

a diphthong consisting first of a back, unrounded semivowel (which can be formed by first pronounc
position of the tongue) followed by a vowel similar to English "duh". Many unstressed syllables in C

ai

[a]

ai

like English "eye", but a bit lighter

ei

[e]

ei

as in "hey"

ao

[ ]

ao

approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o

ou

[o ]

ou

as in "so"

an

[n]

an

like British English "ban", but more central

en

[n]

en

as in "taken"

ang

[]

ang

as in German Angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; like song in so

eng

[]

eng

like e in en above but with ng added to it at the back

er

[]

er

similar to the sound in "bar" in American English

Finals beginning with i- (y-)

[i]

yi

like English bee.

ia

[i]

ya

as i + a; like English "yard"

ie

[i]

ye

as i + ; but is very short; e (pronounced like ) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (sim

iao

[i ]

yao

as i + ao

iu

[io ]

you

as i + ou

ian

[in]

yan

as i + + n; like English yen

in

[in]

yin

as i + n

iang

[i]

yang

as i + ang

ing

[i]

ying

as i + ng
Finals beginning with u- (w-)

[u]

wu

like English "oo"

ua

[u ]

wa

as u + a

uo, o

[u ]

wo

as u + o where the o (compare with the o interjection) is pronounced shorter and lighter (spelled as o

uai

[u a]

wai

as u + ai like as in why

ui

[u e]

wei

as u + ei;

uan

[u n]

wan

as u + an;

un

[u n]

wen

as u + en; like the on in the English won;

uang

[u ]

wang

as u + ang;

ong

[], [u ] weng

starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing; as u + eng in zero in
Finals beginning with - (yu-)

u,

[y] (

ue, e [y]
uan

[yn]

listen)

yu

as in German "ber" or French "lune" (To pronounce this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)

yue

as + ; the is short and light

yuan

as + + n;

un

[yn]

yun

as + n;

iong

[i]

yong

as i + ong
Interjections

[]

(n/a)

as in "bet".

[]

(n/a)

Approximately as in "office" in British accent; the lips are much more rounded.

io

[i]

yo

as i + plain continental[clarification needed] "o".

Orthography[edit]
Letters[edit]
Pinyin differs from other romanizations in several aspects, such as the
following:

Syllables starting with u are written as w in place of u (e.g., uan is

written as wan). Standalone u is written as wu.

Syllables starting with i are written as y in place of i (e.g., ian is

written as yan). Standalone i is written as yi.

Syllables starting with are written as yu in place of (e.g., e is

written as yue).

is written as u when there is no ambiguity (such as ju, qu,

and xu), but written as when there are corresponding u syllables
(such as l and n). In such situations where there are
corresponding u syllables, it is often replaced with v on a
computer, making it easier to type on a standard keyboard.

When preceded by a consonant, iou, uei, and uen are simplified

as iu, ui, and un (which do not represent the actual pronunciation).

As in zhuyin, what are actually pronounced as buo, puo, muo,

and fuo are given a separate representation: bo, po, mo, and fo.

The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting with a vowel

(a, o, or e) in a multiple-syllable word when the syllable does not
start the word (which is most commonly realized as []), unless
the syllable immediately follows a hyphen or other dash.[25] This is
done to remove ambiguity that could arise, as in Xi'an, which
consists of the two syllables xi ("") an (""), compared to such
words as xian (""). (This ambiguity does not occur when tone
marks are used: The two tone marks in "Xn" unambiguously
show that the word consists of two syllables. However, even with

tone marks, the city is usually spelled with an apostrophe as

"X'n".)

Eh alone is written as ; elsewhere as e. Schwa is always written

as e.

zh, ch, and sh can be abbreviated as , , and (z, c, s with

a circumflex). However, the shorthands are rarely used due to
difficulty of entering them on computers, and are confined mainly
to Esperanto keyboard layouts.

ng has the uncommon shorthand of .

The letter v is unused (except in spelling foreign languages,

languages of minority nationalities, and some dialects), despite a
conscious effort to distribute letters more evenly than in Western
languages. However, sometimes, for ease of typing into a
computer, the v is used to replace a .

Most of the above are used to avoid ambiguity when writing words of
more than one syllable in pinyin. For example uenian is written
as wenyan because it is not clear which syllables make
up uenian; uen-ian, uen-i-an and u-en-i-an are all possible
combinations whereas wenyan is unambiguous because we, nya, etc.
do not exist in pinyin. See the pinyin table article for a summary of
possible pinyin syllables (not including tones).

Capitalization and word formation[edit]

Although Chinese characters represent single syllables, Mandarin
Chinese is a polysyllabic language. Spacing in pinyin is based on
whole words, not single syllables. However, there are often ambiguities
in partitioning a word. Orthographic rules were put into effect in 1988
by the National Educational Commission (,
pinyin: Guji Jioy Wiyunhu) and the National Language
Commission (, pinyin: Guji Yyn Wnz
Gngzu Wiyunhu).
1.

General
1.

Single meaning: Words with a single meaning,

which are usually set up of two characters
(sometimes one, seldom three), are written together

and not capitalized:rn (Chinese: ,

person); pngyou (Chinese: ,
friend), qiokl (Chinese: , chocolate)
2.

Combined meaning (2 characters): Same goes for

words combined of two words to one
meaning: hifng (simplified Chinese: ;
traditional Chinese: , sea
breeze); wnd (simplified Chinese: ; traditional
Chinese: , Q&A), qungu (simplified Chinese:
; traditional Chinese: , 'pan-national')

3.

Combined meaning (4 or more

characters): Words with four or more characters
having one meaning are split up with their original
meaning if possible: wfng gnggun (simplified
Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ,
seamless steel-tube); hunjng boh
guhu (simplified Chinese: ; traditional
Chinese: , environmental protection
planning)

2.

Duplicated words
1.

AA: Duplicated characters (AA) are written

together: rnrn (Chinese: ; ,
everybody), knkn (Chinese: ; , to have a
look), ninnin (Chinese: , every year)

2.

ABAB: two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written

separated: ynji ynji (Chinese: ; , to
study, to research), xubi xubi (Chinese:
, snow-white)

3.

AABB: A hyphen is used with the schema

AABB: lili-wngwng (simplified Chinese:
; traditional Chinese: , go by), qinqinwnwn (simplified Chinese: ; traditional
Chinese: , numerous)

3.

Nouns and names (mngc): Nouns are written in

one: zhuzi (Chinese: , table), mtou (simplified
Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: , wood)
1.

Even if accompanied by a prefix and

suffix: fbzhng (simplified Chinese: ;
traditional Chinese: , vice
minister), chngwyun (simplified Chinese: ;
traditional Chinese: ,
conductor), hizimen (simplified Chinese: ;
traditional Chinese: , children)

2.

Words of position are separated: mn wi (simplified

Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ,
outdoor), h li (simplified Chinese: ; traditional
Chinese: , under the river), huch
shngmian (simplified Chinese: ; traditional
Chinese: , on the train), Hung H
ynn (Chinese: , south of the Yellow River)
1.

Exceptions are words traditionally

connected: tinshang (Chinese: , in the
sky or outerspace), dxia (Chinese: , on
the ground), kngzhng (Chinese:, in
the air), hiwi (Chinese: , overseas)

3.

Surnames are separated from the given name: L

Hu, Zhng Sn. If the given name consists of two
syllables, it should be written as one: Wng
Jinggu.

4.

Titles following the name are separated and are not

capitalized: Wng bzhng (minister Wang), L
xinsheng (Mr. Li), Tin zhrn (director Tian), Zho
tngzh(comrade Zhao).

5.

The forms of addressing people

with Lo, Xio, D and A are capitalized: Xio
Li ([young] Ms./Mr. Liu), D L ([great;elder] Mr.
Li), A Sn (Ah San), Lo Qin([senior]
Mr. Qian), Lo W ([senior] Mr. Wu)

1.

Exceptions
are: Kngz (Master Confucius), Bogng (J
udge Bao), Xsh (a historical
person), Mngchngjn (a historical
person), among others

6.

Geographical names of China: Bijng Sh (City

of Beijing), Hbi Shng (Province of Hebei), Yl
Jing (Yalu River), Ti Shn (Mt. Taishan), Dngtng
H (Dongting Lake), Tiwn Hixi (Taiwan strait)

4.

Verbs (dngc): Verbs and their suffixes (-zhe, -le and -guo)
are written as one: knzhe/knle/knguo (to
see/saw/seen), jngxngzhe (to implement). Le as it appears in
the end of a sentence is separated though: Huch do
le (The train [has] arrived).
1.

Verbs and their objects are separated: kn xn (read

a letter), ch y (eat fish), ki wnxio (to be kidding).

2.

If verbs and their complements are each

monosyllabic, they are written together, if not,
separated: gohui (to make broken), ds (hit to
death), huwi (to become damp), zhngl ho (to
straighten out), gixi wi (rewrite a screenplay)

5.

Adjectives (xngrngc): A monosyllabic adjective and its

reduplication are written as
one: mngmngling (dim), lingtngtng (shining bright)
1.

Complements of size or degree

(as xi, yxi, dinr, ydinr) are written
separated: d xi (a little bigger), kui ydinr (a bit
faster)

6.

Pronouns (dic)
1.

The plural suffix -men directly follows

up: wmen (we), tmen (they)

2.

The demonstrative pronoun zh (this), n (that) and

the question pronoun n (which) are separated: zh

rn (this person), n c huy (that meeting), n

zhng bozh(which newspaper)
1.

Exceptions are: nli (there), zhbian (over

here), zhge (this
piece), zhme (so), zhmeyng (that
way)... and similar ones.

7.

Numerals and measure words (shc h lingc)

1.

Words like g/mi (every,

each), mu (any), bn (that), gi (that), w (mine,
our), are separated from the measure words
following them: g gu (every nation), g
g(everyone), mi nin (every year), mu
gngchng (a certain factory), w xio (our
school), ling ge rn (two people).

2.

Numbers up to 100 are written as single

words: snshsn (thirty-three). Above that, the
hundreds, thousands, etc. are written as separate
words: jiy qwn rqin snbi
wshli (900,072,356).

3.

The d of ordinal numerals is hyphenated: dy (first), d-356 (356th).

8.

Other function words (xc) are separated from their objects,

including:
1.

Adverbs: hn ho (very good), zu

kui (fastest), fichng d (extremely big)

2.

Prepositions: zi qinmin (at the front)

3.

Conjunctions: n h w (you and I/me), N li hishi

b li? (Are you coming or not?)

4.

"Constructive auxiliaries" (jigu zhc),

the enclitics such as de () and zhi ().: mnmn
de zou (go slowly)

5.

Modal auxiliaries at the end of a sentence: Zhdo

ma? (Y'know?), Kui q ba! (Git!)

6.

Exclamations and interjections: A, zhn mi! (Oh,

that's so beautiful!), P! (Bang!)

9.

Hyphenation In addition to the ordinals mentioned above,

there are three situations where words are hyphenated.
1.

Coordinate and disjunctive compound words, where

the two elements are conjoined or opposed, but
retain their individual meaning: gng-jin (bow and
arrow), kui-mn (speed: "fast-slow"), shq-b
su (1718 years old), d-m (beat and scold), YngHn (English-Chinese [dictionary]), Jng-Jn (BeijingTianjin), l-hi-kngjn(army-navy-airforce).

2.

Abbreviated compounds (luy): gnggng

gunx (public relations) gng-gun, chngt
dinhu (long-distance telephone call) chng-hu.
Exceptions are made when the abbreviated term has
become established as a word in its own right, as
in chzhng for chj zhngxu (junior high school).
Abbreviations of proper-name compounds, however,
should always be hyphenated: Bijng
Dxu (Beijing University) Bi-D.

3.

Four-syllable idioms: fngpng-lngjng (calm and

tranquil: "wind calm, waves down"), hujnrt (spend money like water: "throw gold like
dirt"), zh-b-m-yn (paper-brush-ink-inkstone [four
coordinate words]). (The AA-BB reduplication above
is an instance of this.)[26]

Tones[edit]

Relative pitch changes of the four tones

The pinyin system also uses diacritics to mark the four tones of
Mandarin. The diacritic is placed over the letter that represents
the syllable nucleus, unless that letter is missing (see below). Many
books printed in China use a mix of fonts, with vowels and tone marks
rendered in a different font from the surrounding text, tending to give
such pinyin texts a typographically ungainly appearance. This style,
most likely rooted in early technical limitations, has led many to believe
that pinyin's rules call for this practice and also for the use of a Latin
alpha () rather than the standard style of the letter (a) found in most
fonts. The official rules of Hanyu Pinyin, however, specify no such
practice.
1.

The first tone (Flat or High Level Tone) is represented by

a macron () added to the pinyin vowel:

( )
2.

The second tone (Rising or High-Rising Tone) is denoted by

an acute accent ():

( )
3.

The third tone (Falling-Rising or Low Tone) is marked by

a caron/hek (). It is not the rounded breve (), though a
breve is sometimes substituted due to font limitations.

( )
4.

The fourth tone (Falling or High-Falling Tone) is represented

by a grave accent ():

 ( )
5.

The fifth tone (Neutral Tone) is represented by a normal vowel

without any accent mark:

a () e i o u A E I O U
(In some cases, this is also written with a dot before the syllable;
for example, ma.)[citation needed]
These tone marks normally are only used in Mandarin textbooks
or in foreign learning texts, but they are essential for correct
pronunciation of Mandarin syllables, as exemplified by the
following classic example of five characters whose pronunciations
differ only in their tones:

The four main tones of Standard Mandarin pronounced with the syllable 'ma':

MENU
0:00

Traditional characters:

m m m m ma

Simplified characters:

m m m m ma

The words are "mother", "hemp", "horse", "scold" and a question
particle, respectively.

Numerals in place of tone marks[edit]

Before the advent of computers, many typewriter fonts did not
contain vowels with macron or caron diacritics. Tones were thus
represented by placing a tone number at the end of individual
syllables. For example, tng is written tong2. The number used for
each tone is as the order listed above, except the neutral tone,
which is either not numbered, or given the number 0 or 5,
e.g. ma5 for /, an interrogative marker.

Tone

Tone Mark

Number added to end of

syllable
in place of tone mark

Example
using
tone mark

Example
using
number

IPA

First

macron ( )

ma1

Second

acute accent ( )

ma2

Third

caron ( )

ma3

Fourth

grave accent ( ` )

ma4

no number
5
0

ma
ma

ma
ma5
ma0

No mark
"Neutral
or dot before syllable
"
()

Rules for placing the tone mark[edit]

Briefly, the tone mark should always be placed by the ordera, o,
e, i, u, , with the only exception being iu, where the tone mark is
placed on the u instead. Pinyin tone marks appear primarily above
the nucleus of the syllable, for example as in kui, where k is the
initial, u the medial, a the nucleus, and i the coda. The exception is
syllabic nasals like /m/, where the nucleus of the syllable is a
consonant, the diacritic will be carried by a written dummy vowel.
When the nucleus is // (written e or o), and there is both a medial
and a coda, the nucleus may be dropped from writing. In this case,
when the coda is a consonant n or ng, the only vowel left is the
medial i, u, or , and so this takes the diacritic. However, when the

coda is a vowel, it is the coda rather than the medial which takes
the diacritic in the absence of a written nucleus. This occurs with
syllables ending in -ui (from wei: (wi -u) and in -iu (from you:
yu -i.) That is, in the absence of a written nucleus the finals
have priority for receiving the tone marker, as long as they are
vowels: if not, the medial takes the diacritic.
An algorithm to find the correct vowel letter (when there is more
than one) is as follows:[27]
1.

If there is an a or an e, it will take the tone mark.

2.

If there is an ou, then the o takes the tone mark.

3.

Otherwise, the second vowel takes the tone mark.

Worded differently,
1.

If there is an a, e, or o, it will take the tone mark; in the

case of ao, the mark goes on the a.

2.

Otherwise, the vowels are -iu or -ui, in which case the

second vowel takes the tone mark.

If the tone is written over an i, the tittle above the i is omitted, as

in y.

Phonological intuition[edit]
The placement of the tone marker, when more than one of the
written letters a, e, i, o, and u appears, can also be inferred from
the nature of the vowel sound in the medial and final. The rule is
that the tone marker goes on the spelled vowel that is not a
(near-)semi-vowel. The exception is that, for triphthongs that are
spelled with only two vowel letters, both of which are the semivowels, the tone marker goes on the second spelled vowel.
Specifically, if the spelling of a diphthong begins with i (as in ia)
or u (as in ua), which here serves as a near-semi-vowel, this letter
does not take the tone marker. Likewise, if the spelling of a
diphthong ends with o or u representing a near-semi-vowel (as
in ao or ou), this letter does not receive a tone marker. In
a triphthong spelled with three of a, e, i,
o, andu (with i or u replaced by y or w at the start of a syllable), the

first and third letters coincide with near-semi-vowels and hence do

not receive the tone marker (as in iao or uai or iou). But if no letter
is written to represent a triphthong's middle (non-semi-vowel)
sound (as in ui or iu), then the tone marker goes on the final
(second) vowel letter.

Using tone colors[edit]

In addition to tone number and mark, tone color has been
suggested as a visual aid for learning. Although there are no
formal standards, there are a number of different color schemes in
use.

Dummitt's color scheme was one of the first to be used. It is

tone 1 - red, tone 2 - orange, tone 3 - green, tone 4 - blue and
neutral tone - black.[28]

The Unimelb color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2 - green,

tone 3 - purple, tone 4 - red, neutral tone - grey

The Hanping color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2 - green,

tone 3 - orange, tone 4 - red, neutral tone - grey.[29]

The Pleco color scheme is tone 1 - red, tone 2 - green, tone 3

- blue, tone 4 - purple, neutral tone - grey

The Thomas color scheme is tone 1 - green, tone 2 - blue,

tone 3 - red, tone 4 - black, neutral tone - grey

Third tone exceptions[edit]

In spoken Chinese, the third tone is often pronounced as a "half
third tone," in which the pitch does not rise. Additionally, when two
third tones appear consecutively, such as in (nho, hello),
the first syllable is pronounced with the second tone. In Pinyin,
words like "hello" are still written with two third tones (nho).

The sound[edit]
An umlaut is placed over the letter u when it occurs after the
initials l and n in order to represent the sound [y]. This is
necessary in order to distinguish the front high rounded vowel
in l (e.g. / donkey) from the back high rounded vowel

in lu (e.g. / oven). Tonal markers are added on top of the

trema, as in l.
However, the is not used in the other contexts where it could
represent a front high rounded vowel, namely after the
letters j, q, x and y. For example, the sound of the word / (fish)
is transcribed in pinyin simply as y, not as y. This practice is
opposed to Wade-Giles, which always uses , and Tongyong
pinyin, which always uses yu. Whereas Wade-Giles needs to use
the trema to distinguish between ch (pinyin ju)
and chu (pinyin zhu), this ambiguity cannot arise with pinyin, so
the more convenient form ju is used instead ofj. Genuine
ambiguities only happen with nu/n and lu/l, which are then
distinguished by a trema (diacritic).
Many fonts or output methods do not support a trema for or
cannot place tone marks on top of . Likewise, using in input
methods is difficult because it is not present as a simple key on
many keyboard layouts. For these reasons v is sometimes used
instead by convention. For example, it is common for cellphones
to use v instead of . Additionally, some stores in China
use v instead of in the transliteration of their names. The
drawback is that there are no tone marks for the letter v.
This also presents a problem in transcribing names for use on
passports, affecting people with names that consist of the
sound l or n, particularly people with the surname (L), a
fairly common surname, particularly compared to the surname
(L), (L), (L) and (L). Previously, the practice varied
among different passport issuing offices, with some transcribing as
"LV" and "NV" while others used "LU" and "NU". On 10 July 2012,
the Ministry of Public Security standardized the practice to use
"LYU" and "NYU" in passports.[30][31]
Although ne written as nue, and le written as lue are not
ambiguous, nue or lue are not correct according to the
rules; ne and le should be used instead. However, some
Chinese input methods (e.g. Microsoft Pinyin IME) support
both nve/lve (typing v for ) and nue/lue.

Pinyin in Taiwan[edit]

Taiwan (Republic of China) adopted Tongyong pinyin, a

modification of Hanyu pinyin, as the official romanization system
on the national level between October 2002 and January 2009,
when it switched to Hanyu pinyin. Tongyong pinyin ("official
phonetic"), a variant of Pinyin developed in Taiwan, was designed
to romanize languages and dialects spoken on the island in
addition to Mandarin Chinese. The Kuomintang (Chinese
Nationalist Party) resisted its adoption, preferring the Hanyu
pinyin system used in China and in general use internationally.
Romanization preferences quickly became associated with issues
of national identity. Preferences split along party lines:
the Kuomintang and its affiliated parties in the pan-blue coalition
supported the use of Hanyu Pinyin while the Democratic
Progressive Party and its affiliated parties in the pan-green
coalition favored the use of Tongyong Pinyin.
Tongyong pinyin was made the official system in an administrative
order that allowed its adoption by local governments to be
voluntary. A few localities with governments controlled by
the Kuomintang (KMT), most notably Taipei, Hsinchu, and Kinmen
County, overrode the order and converted to Hanyu pinyin before
the January 1, 2009 national-level switch, [4][5]though with a slightly
different capitalization convention than mainland China. Most
areas of Taiwan adopted Tongyong Pinyin, consistent with the
national policy. Many street signs in Taiwan today still
display Tongyong pinyin but some, especially in northern Taiwan,
display Hanyu pinyin. It is still not unusual to see spellings on
street signs and buildings derived from the older WadeGiles, MPS2 and other systems.
The adoption of Hanyu pinyin as the official romanization system
in Taiwan does not preclude the official retention of earlier
spellings. International familiarity has led to the retention of the
spelling Taipei ("Taibei" in Pinyin systems) and even to its
continuation in the name of New Taipei, a municipality created in
2010. Personal names on Taiwanese passports honor the choices
of Taiwanese citizens, who often prefer the Wade-Giles
romanization of their personal names. Transition to Hanyu pinyin
in official use is also necessarily gradual. Universities and other
government entities retain earlier spellings in long-established

names, budget restraints preclude widespread replacement of

signage and stationery in every area, and questions remain about
the ability of the national government to enforce the standard
island-wide.[32] Primary education in Taiwan continues to teach
pronunciation usingzhuyin (MPS or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols).

Comparison with other orthographies[edit]

Pinyin is now used by foreign students learning Chinese as a
second language.
Pinyin assigns some Latin letters sound values which are quite
different from that of most languages. This has drawn some
criticism as it may lead to confusion when uninformed speakers
apply either native or English assumed pronunciations to words.
However this is not a specific problem of pinyin, since many
languages that use the Latin alphabet natively assign different
values to the same letters. A recent study on Chinese writing and
literacy concluded, "By and large, Pinyin represents the Chinese
sounds better than the Wade-Giles system, and does so with
fewer extra marks."[33]
Pinyin is purely a representation of the sounds of Mandarin,
therefore it lacks the semantic cues that Chinese characters can
provide. It is also unsuitable for transcribing someChinese spoken
languages other than Mandarin.

Chart of comparison with other

Romanizations[edit]
Vowels a, e, o, i

IPA

a e ou n n i

iou

in

in

Pinyin

ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er yi ye

you yan yin

ying

Tongyong
Pinyin

o e

ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er yi ye

you yan yin

ying

WadeGiles

o eh o/ ai ei ao ou an n ang ng rh i

yeh yu

yen yin

ying

Zhuyin

example

Vowels u, y

IPA

Pinyin

ue

un u y

yn

yn

wu wo/o

wei

wen weng ong yu yue

yuan yun

yong

Tongyong Pinyin wu wo/o

wei

wun wong ong yu yue

yuan yun

yong

WadeGiles

wu wo/o

wei

wn wng ung y yeh yan yn

yung

Zhuyin

example

t
ny

ly

Non-sibilant consonants

IPA

pu pu mu f

tio

tue

tun

k
x

ger

ke

he

Pinyin

bo

po

mo

feng diu

dui

dun

te

Tongyong
Pinyin

bo

po

mo

fong diou

duei

dun

te

nyu lyu

ger

ke

he

WadeGiles

po

p'o

mo

fng tiu

tui

tun

t'

krh

k'o

ho

Zhuyin

example

Sibilant consonants

IPA

ti
ti y

ts tsu ts ts ts s
ti

s
n
n
n

Pinyin jian jiong qin xuan zhe zhi che chi she shi re

ri ze

zuo zi

Tongyo
syua
shi
ng
jian jyong cin
jhe jhih che chih she
re
n
h
Pinyin

rih ze

zuo zih ce

cih se

sih

Wade chie chiun ch'i hsa

chi
ch'i
shi
ch
ch'
sh
j
Giles n
g
n
n
h
h
h

jih ts

tso tzu ts'

tz'u s

szu

Zhuyin

exampl

ci

se

si

Tones

m m

m
m

Pinyin

ma

Tongyong Pinyin

ma

WadeGiles

ma1

ma2

ma3

ma4

ma0

Zhuyin

IPA

ce

example (traditional/simplified) / / / / /

Computer input systems[edit]

Simple computer systems, able to display only 7-bit ASCII text

(essentially the 26 Latin letters, 10 digits and punctuation marks),
long provided a convincing argument in favor of pinyin over hanzi.
Today, however, most computer systems are able to display
characters from Chinese and many other writing systems as well,
and have them entered with a Latin keyboard using an input
method editor. Alternatively, some PDAs, tablet
computers and digitizing tablets allow users to input characters
directly by writing with a stylus.

Other languages[edit]
See also: SASM/GNC romanization and Tibetan pinyin
Pinyin-like systems have been devised for other variants of
Chinese. Guangdong Romanization is a set of romanizations
devised by the government of Guangdong province
forCantonese, Teochew, Hakka (Moiyen dialect), and Hainanese.
All of these are designed to use Latin letters in a similar way to
pinyin.
In addition, in accordance to the Regulation of Phonetic
Transcription in Hanyu Pinyin Letters of Place Names in Minority
Nationality Languages ()
promulgated in 1976, place names in non-Han languages
like Mongolian, Uyghur, and Tibetan are also officially transcribed
using pinyin in a system adopted by the State Administration of
Surveying and Mapping and Geographical Names Committee
known as SASM/GNC romanization. The pinyin letters (26 Roman
letters, , ) are used to approximate the non-Han language in
question as closely as possible. This results in spellings that are
different from both the customary spelling of the place name, and
the pinyin spelling of the name in Chinese:

Customary

Official (pinyin for

local name)

Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Pinyin for Chinese

name
name
name

Shigatse

Xigaz

Rkz

Urumchi

rmqi

Wlmq

Lhasa

Lhasa

Ls

Hohhot

Hohhot

Hhhot

Golmud

Golmud

G'rm

Tongyong pinyin was developed in Taiwan for use in rendering not

only Mandarin Chinese, but other languages and dialects spoken
on the island such as Taiwanese, Hakka andaboriginal languages.

See also[edit]

Transcription into Chinese characters

Bopomofo

Chinese Postal Map Romanization

Combining character

Erhua ()

Jyutping (most similar to IPA)

Legge romanization

List of ISO romanizations

Pee h-e-j

Pinyin input method

Pinyin table

Romanization of Japanese

Simplified Wade

Tibetan pinyin

Tone number

Tongyong Pinyin

WadeGiles

References[edit]
1.

^ Jump up to:a b Snowling, Margaret J.; Hulme, Charles

(2005). The science of reading: a handbook. Blackwell
handbooks of developmental psychology) 17. WileyBlackwell. pp. 32022. ISBN 1-4051-1488-6.

2.

Jump up^ "Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday". Xinhua News

Agency. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.

3.

Jump up^ "ISO 7098:1982 Documentation

Romanization of Chinese". Retrieved 2009-03-01.

4.

^ Jump up to:a b "Hanyu Pinyin to be standard system in

2009". Taipei Times. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-20.

5.

^ Jump up to:a b "Government to improve English-friendly

environment". The China Post. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 200809-20.

6.

Jump up^ The on-line version of the canonical Guoyu

Cidian () defines this term as:
(A system of
symbols for notation of the sounds of words rather than for
their meanings that is sufficient to accurately record some
language.) See http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgibin/newDict/dict.sh?cond=++%AB%F7%AD
%B5&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&ukey=2123466121&serial=
1&recNo=2&op=f&imgFont=1, accessed 14 September
2012.

7.

Jump up^ John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact

and Fantasy (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984),
pp. 246-247.

8.

Jump up^ "Father of pinyin". China Daily. 26 March 2009.

Retrieved 12 July 2009. Reprinted in part as Simon, Alan
(21-27 Jan 2011). "Father of Pinyin". China Daily Asia
Weekly(Hong Kong). Xinhua. p. 20.

9.

Jump up^ "Zhou Youguang". China Digital Times. China.

10. Jump up^ "Tag: Zhou Youguang". Chinadigitaltimes.net.

2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
11. Jump up^ Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21). "Sound
Principles". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
12. Jump up^ Rohsenow, John S. 1989. Fifty years of script
and written language reform in the PRC: the genesis of the

language law of 2001. In Zhou Minglang and Sun Hongkai,

eds.Language Policy In The People's Republic Of China:
Theory And Practice Since 1949, p. 23
13. Jump up^ Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21). "Sound
principles". The Guardian (London).
14. ^ Jump up to:a b "Hanyu Pinyin system turns 50". Straits
Times. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
15. Jump up^ Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China
and the Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 632. Retrieved
from Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356X, 9780765603562.
16. Jump up^ Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China
and the Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 633. Retrieved
from Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356X, 9780765603562.
17. Jump up^ "New Pinyin Standards (2012). On Derk Zechs
blog, with links to PDF documents". 2012-12-31. Retrieved
2013-11-10.
18. Jump up^ Lin Mei-chun (2000-10-08). "Official challenges
Romanization". Taipei Times.
19. Jump up^ Ao, Benjamin (1997-12-01). "History and
Prospect of Chinese Romanization".Chinese Librarianship:
an International Electronic Journal (Internet Chinese
Librarians Club) (4). ISSN 1089-4667. Retrieved 2008-0920.
20. Jump up^ R.F. Price (2005). Education in Modern China.
Volume 23 of "China : history, philosophy, economics". (2,
illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 0-415-36167-2.
21. Jump up^ Price (2005), pp. 206208
22. Jump up^ Hashimoto, Mantaro (1970). "Notes on Mandarin
Phonology". In Jakobson, Roman; Kawamoto,
Shigeo. Studies in General and Oriental Linguistics. Tokyo:
TEC. pp. 207220

23. Jump up^ You can hear recordings of the Finals here
24. Jump
up^ http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/topics/pinyin/pinyin.ht
ml
25. ^ Jump up to:a b "Apostrophes in Hanyu Pinyin: when and
where to use them".
26. Jump up^ "Use of the Hyphen; Abbreviations and Short
Forms". Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
27. Jump up^ Swofford, Mark. "Where do the tone marks go?".
Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
28. Jump up^ Nathan Dummitt, Chinese Through Tone & Color
(2008)
29. Jump up^ "Hanping Chinese Dictionary color scheme".
2013-01-10. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
30. Jump up^ Huang, Rong. " ""
"YU"". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
31. Jump up^ Li, Zhiyan. """
"LYU"". Retrieved 23 August 2012.
32. Jump up^ "Google Reader". Google.com. Retrieved 201005-17.
33. Jump up^ Taylor, Insup and Maurice M. Taylor
(1995), Writing and literacy in Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese, Volume 3 of Studies in written language and
literacy, John Benjamins, p. 124.

Further reading[edit]

Yin Binyong and Mary Felley (1990). Chinese

Romanization. Pronunciation and Orthography (Hanyu pinyin
he zhengcifa ). Beijing: Sinolingua. ISBN 780052-148-6 / ISBN 0-8351-1930-0.

Gao, J. K. (2005). Pinyin shorthand: a bilingual handbook =

[Pinyin su ji fa]. Dallas, TX: Jack Sun. ISBN 1-59971-251-2

Kimball, R. L. (1988). Quick reference Chinese: a practical

guide to Mandarin for beginners and travelers in English,
Pinyin romanization, and Chinese characters. San Francisco,
CA: China Books & Periodicals. ISBN 0-8351-2036-8

Uy, Dr. Tim and Jim Hsia (ed.) (2009). Webster's Digital
Chinese Dictionary: Advanced Reference Edition. Mountain
View, CA: Loqu8 Press.

Wu, C.-j. (1979). The Pinyin ChineseEnglish dictionary.

Hong Kong: Commercial Press. ISBN 0-471-27557-3

External links[edit]

(Proper sound of pinyin from zdic.net with sounds, require

java script turned on)

Pinyin-Hanzi-English Chinese-English dictionary

Pinyin-English news summary for learners of Chinese

language

Free Pinyin Tutorial (Chinese & Beyond)

Basic Rules of Hanyu Pinyin Orthography by Zhou

Youguang (Pinyin.info. Now superseded by GB/T 16159-2012
below.)

Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography (National Standard

of the People's Republic of China (ICS 01.140.10), 1996. Now
superseded by GB/T 16159-2012 below.)

Basic rules of the Chinese phonetic alphabet

orthography (The official standard GB/T 16159-2012 in
Chinese. PDF version from the Linguistic Society of Hong
Kong.)

The Chinese phonetic alphabet spelling rules for Chinese

names (The official standard GB/T 28039-2011 in Chinese.
PDF version from the Chinese Ministry of Education.)

Interactive Pinyin Table

Standard Mandarin Pinyin Chart

pinyinAID

Table of Combinations of Initials and Finals (Pinyin.info)

Chinese text annotation

Free Chinese Pronunciation Online

Pinyin Listening Test for 4 Tones

Pinyin Tone Recognition Test

Pinyin audio of Google Translate (mp3 files) 1243 different

syllables and tones

Refresh how to pronounce a word in Pinyin

Pinyin Chart for iPad Pinyin Chart app for iPad, every
available tones in the Chinese language included.

Pinyin Chart for iPhone Pinyin Chart app for iPhone, every
available tones in the Chinese language included.

Preceded by
Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Official romanization adopted

by the People's Republic of China
1958-

Succeeded by
current

Preceded by
Wade-Giles

de facto used romanization

by the People's Republic of China
1978-

Succeeded by
current

Preceded by
Tongyong Pinyin

Official romanization adopted

by the Republic of China (Taiwan)
2009-

Succeeded by
current

[show]

ISO standards

Categories:

ISO standards

Romanization of Chinese

Phonetic alphabets

Chinese words and phrases

Mandarin words and phrases

Phonetic guides

Ruby characters

Chinese language

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Introduccin

0.1. Etimologa

FONTICA: del griego phonetiks "relativo al sonido", derivado de phn "hago or la voz,
hablo", y ste de phon "voz" .

FONOLOGA: v. phno. -loga-: tomado del griego lgos "argumento, discusin", "razn".

Fonologa

>

Fontica

fonemas
>

sonidos

La fontica se ocupa de la descripcin del sonido (anlisis descriptivo), mientras que la

fonologa va ms all del nivel fontico y ya no se ocupa de los sonidos (lo fsico, concreto,
medible) sino de los fonemas (lo abstracto). Supone un nivel de abstracccin que no trabaja
con unidades fsicas (sonidos), sino con entidades abstractas (fonemas). Por ejemplo, en la
secuencia /'dado/, se distinguen fonticamente dos sonidos consonnticos (['dao]), pero en
el nivel fonolgico se identifican los dos sonidos en un slo fonema /d/.

0.2. Oralidad

La oralidad se encuentra en la base de todas las lenguas, es inherente al lenguaje natural

humano. Todas las lenguas se estructuran a partir de un cdigo oral, lo que se oye. La
escritura y la ortografa, en cambio, no son rasgos inherentes al lenguaje natural humano. De
hecho, existen en el mundo lenguas sin cdigo escrito: el ajumawi y el wappo (lenguas

indgenas de California), el burera y el nunggubuyu (Australia), elkagate y el naapa

sherpa (Nepal), etc. Ninguno de los cdigos escritos conocidos actualmente transcriben con
fidelidad el cdigo oral, atendiendo a todos los cambios que se producen en el nivel fontico.
A modo de ejemplo, citamos los siguientes casos:

francs

mademoiselle

headboard

camin

zgria

conjointement

achievement

ordenador

transferabil

ingls

espaol

rumano

El ingls y el francs utilizan una ortografa etimolgica, alejndose por ello de su

pronunciacin; la escritura del espaol y del rumano, en cambio, es de tipo fonolgico pero
tampoco da cuenta fielmente de la pronunciacin, aunque se acerca ms a ella que la
ortografa de tipo etimolgico. La ortografa intenta reflejar el cdigo oral, sin llegar a ser una
transcripcin fiel del mismo. Otros sistemas ortogrficos ni siquiera tienen como objetivo
reflejar el cdigo oral, como el del chino y japons, que utilizan un sistema conceptual
(jeroglfico).

0.3. El proceso de comunicacin

El lenguaje natural humano no es el nico elemento del que nos servimos para transmitir y
para atribuir a una cadena fnica un significado concreto: intervienen tambin otros procesos
extralingsticos (pero igualmente significativos, como por ejemplo el contacto visual o la
gesticulizacin) que contribuyen al entendimiento entre emisor y receptor. Asimismo, una
palabra aislada de su contexto puede no tener ningn sentido a pesar de ser claro su
significado.

Todo texto oral nace de un propsito (saludar, contar algo, preguntar, etc.) y se realiza en una
determinada situacin de comunicacin que condiciona a su vez el mensaje. Por ejemplo,
generalmente nos expresamos de distinta manera cuando estamos en familia (registro
informal) que cuando estamos hablando en el trabajo con un superior (registro formal). El
proceso de comunicacin pone en funcionamiento todo un sistema de habilidades
involuntarias que actan durante la percepcin del texto oral.

0.3.1. Procesos de comprensin

reconocer ---------------------> anticipar

seleccionar

interpretar<--------------------- retener -----> MEMORIA A LARGO PLAZO

inferir -----> MEMORIA A CORTO PLAZO

-conocimientos de morfosintaxis, fonologa,...

-"diccionario" (mental)

-conocimiento del mundo

Reconocer: en la cadena fnica reconocemos que se trata de un texto.

Seleccionar: de lo que se ha dicho seleccionamos lo que interesa para llegar a la

comprensin.

Anticipar lo que creemos que ser dicho con ayuda del contexto, tema... (no escuchamos
linealmente sino que anticipamos).

Inferir: completamos la comprensin con otros factores no verbales del hablante (la
entonacin, sus gestos, la posicin ...).

Interpretar: gracias a la memoria a largo plazo interpretamos la unidad que hemos

seleccionado previamente, damos un sentido a las unidades seleccionadas.

Retener: factor importante porque el texto puede hacer referencia a l mismo con
posterioridad.

A informacin ms extraa, ms atencin ponemos y ms entran en juego estas habilidades.

El dominio del cdigo es slo una parte del proceso de comprensin oral.

0.3.2. Modelo de comprensin oral

A su vez, durante la produccin de un texto, se activan otras habilidades. Supongamos una

situacin como la siguiente: un joven de 15 aos le pide permiso a su padre para ir a una
fiesta. Tambin le quiere pedir dinero. Supongamos tambin que por las razones x su padre
est enfadado con l. Imaginemos el dilogo:

Pap, tienes un momento?

Qu quieres?

Es que, vers, es que esta noche es el cumpleaos de un amigo

Y?

Bueno, pues quera saber si me dejaras ir

Con tal de que no vuelvas tarde ...

Y, tambin, es que sabes necesitara algo de dinero ()

En este dilogo ficticio, el joven empieza su intervencin en el momento adecuado (sabe que
su padre no hace nada importante y que le va a escuchar), es decir, conoce las rutinas de
conversacin; el padre y el hijo saben cundo deben tomar la palabra (habilidades de
conduccin: despus de una pregunta pero tambin cuando el hijo deja frases sin acabar,
en el aire; esto es interpretado por el padre como un signo de que puede intervenir). El

padre, a su vez, entiende que el hijo quiere pedirle algo probablemente de alguna
importancia para su hijo, pero no obstante finge que no entiende (Y?); por su experiencia
de vida el padre sabe que su hijo le va a pedir permiso para salir, pero no se lo da a
entender, con lo cual el hijo tiene que explicitar su propsito (pedir permiso). Decimos
entonces que el hijo debe renegociar el significado de su texto, pues tiene que plantearlo
de una manera ms clara. El hijo, desde el principio y conociendo el estado de la relacin
con su padre, formula sus peticiones de la manera que cree ms conveniente, evitando ir
directamente al grano y escogiendo las palabras que cree mejores para transmitir lo que
quiere decir. Por consiguiente, planifica su intervencin.

Efectivamente, cuando producimos un texto, sabemos que podemos intervenir (rutina de

interaccin), planificamos lo que vamos a decir en funcin de la situacin, cedemos la
palabra y sabemos cundo nos ceden la palabra, renegociamos el significado si no se ha
comprendido el texto y tambin nuestro texto se ajusta a las reglas gramaticales y de
pronunciacin del idioma con que nos expresamos.

Hay que sealar que estas habilidades y conocimientos actan inconscientemente, sin que
nos demos cuenta. Por ejemplo, generalmente sabemos cuando nos han cedido la palabra
sin que sea necesario que nos digan ahora es tu turno, puedes hablar. Del mismo modo,
escogemos la manera en que queremos expresarnos y cmo lo queremos expresar (por
ejemplo, si con un registro coloquial o si con uno ms elaborado) etc. Es importante resaltar
que cuando nos comunicamos oralmente la actividad cerebral es mxima e inconsciente. Un
ltimo ejemplo: en una conversacin telefnica, es habitual que el oyente diga s aunque no
se le haya preguntado nada. No obstante, estos s tienen una clara funcin comunicativa
(comunicar al hablante que seguimos su discurso). De la misma manera no es extrao que el
oyente no preste mucha atencin a lo que dice el hablante y slo cundo aparece un
elemento nuevo, inesperado, sorpresivo para l, interrogue al hablante. Es decir, el oyente
selecciona lo que le interesa del conjunto del texto del hablante. En el proceso de
comunicacin intervienen procesos y habilidades de naturaleza distinta a la puramente
lingstica pero que ayudan al entendimiento entre hablante y oyente. Estas habilidades
actan de manera inconsciente: cuando empezamos a hablar no planificamos lo que diremos
ni cmo lo diremos de manera consciente. En cambio, insconscientemente seleccionamos
cmo vamos a expresarnos, qu vamos a expresar, con qu fin, etc. Estas habilidades son el
objeto de estudio de la pragmtica.

La lengua: fenmeno social

El habla: fenmeno individual

modelo general y constante

materializacin de ese modelo en

para todos los miembros de

cada miembro de una

una colectividad lingstica

colectividad lingstica

Por ejemplo, a las hablas propias de colectivos urbanos de nivel socio-cultural bajo y a las
maneras de hablar acadmicas corresponde una sola lengua (el espaol, el rumano) a

pesar de sus evidentes diferencias. Los rasgos comunes que comparten constituyen la
lengua, que es un modelo abstracto. Este modelo abstracto se actualiza en cada hablante
(habla). Cuando hablamos de la lengua espaola, catalana, rumana, francesa en realidad
nos referimos a ese modelo abstracto que se concretiza cada vez que alguien lo utiliza. Por
ello decimos que la lengua es un fenmeno social (modelo abstracto compartido por los
individuos) y el habla individual (actualizaciones individuales de ese modelo abstracto). Por
colectividad lingstica entendemos el conjunto de hablantes de una lengua.

0.3.3. El lenguaje

El signo lingstico est compuesto por el significante y el significado (Saussure, F., Curso de
lingstica general,1969, Ed. Losada , Buenos Aires)

En cada lengua identificamos un significante (lo que percibimos u omos) y un significado que
atribuimos a cada significante Los dos constituyen el signo lingstico. As, en la palabra
casa distinguimos el significante ['kasa] y el significado edificio para habitar.

0.4. La fontica y la fonologa en la gramtica

Expresin oral

nivel semntico

nivel gramatical

nivel lxico

nivel fonolgico

nivel fontico

nivel acstico

Comprensin auditiva

Este es el orden en que suceden los niveles de la gramtica durante la comunicacin: al

hablar, expresamos lo que queremos decir (nivel semntico) de manera correcta segn la
gramtica de nuestro idioma, lo cual nos lleva a seleccionar las palabras que utilizaremos.
Cada palabra tiene su forma fonolgica (abstracta, mental) que nos lleva a su forma fontica,
que se expresa mediante ondas acsticas. Para la recepcin, se recorren estos mismos
niveles pero en sentido opuesto (la primera informacin que percibimos es la onda acstica,
que transmite la forma fontica del mensaje, que ).

Lxicon: es el inventario de unidades en que se recoge toda su informacin mnima

semntica, sintctica, morfolgica y fonolgica. Cada palabra aparece caracterizada por su
significado, la funcin que pueda ocupar dentro de la frase (sujeto, predicado, etc.), sus
formas flectivas (de masculino o femenino, singular y plural, por ejemplo, para los
sustantivos) y su forma fonolgica, que no da cuenta, por ejemplo, de las diferencias entre
las dos consonantes /d/ de la palabra dado, correspondientes a un mismo fonema. La
informacin contenida en el lxicon debe ser mnima y para ello debe eliminar la mayor
cantidad posible de redundancias. Por ejemplo, no es necesario que contenga el valor
[+sonoro] para cada vocal pues todas las vocales son sonoras. No as el caso inverso, pues
no todos los fonemas sonoros son voclicos.

Reglas categoriales: establecen las estructuras sintcticas bsicas que sin el lxicon no
podramos llenar de contenido lxico. Una vez cubiertas estas estructuras, tenemos
la estructura profunda (las reglas categoriales llenas de material lxico).

Estructura superficial: la estructura profunda que ha sufrido algunos cambios, llevados a cabo
por las reglas transformacionales. Por ejemplo, si alguien dice qu dices?, el cambio
provocado por el modo interrogativo (el modo enunciativo postula el orden sujeto-verboobjeto, t dices qu) es una regla transformacional. Permiten la elipsis (Mi coche es verde;
el (coche) tuyo marrn). Ahora tenemos oraciones todava no pronunciadas.

nivel lxico (lxicon) + reglas categoriales = estructura profunda

estructura profunda + reglas transformacionales = estructura superficial

Nivel fonolgico: lleva al campo fsico estas oraciones. Antes de pronunciarlas, nuestro
cerebro crea lo que sera su forma ideal, antes de que entren en juego las reglas del nivel
fontico, que pueden comportar algunos cambios (por ejemplo, el caso visto anteriormente
de la palabra dado, en que fonticamente aparecen dos sonidos distintos correspondientes a
un nico fonema /d/).

Por tanto, la fonologa opera en el nivel lxico (aporta la informacin mnima para que las
unidades no se confundan, es decir, caracteriza los fonemas de cada palabra) y en el nivel
fonolgico dando la forma de la oracin a pronunciar antes de que entren en juego los
cambios que se producen en el nivel fontico (as, el nivel fonolgico no recoge las distintas
realizaciones o sonidos de un mismo fonema).

0.5. Elementos universales del lenguaje

Cuando observamos las lenguas, encontramos, en efecto, muchos rasgos que implican la
existencia de una naturaleza comn fundamental. Entre las cosas comunes a toda la
humanidad estn, en primer lugar, las bases fisiolgicas. Los rganos del habla son los
rasgos esenciales semejantes en todas las razas. Parece que las pequeas diferencias que
evidentemente se pueden observar en el arco del paladar, en la medida y en la forma de la
cavidad nasal, etc. no tienen ninguna importancia. Nadie ha conseguido sealar un solo
rasgo lingstico que se pueda atribuir a estas causas anatmicas.

Tambin est demostrado que, por ejemplo, los nios de origen europeo que pasan la
infancia entre los esquimales de Groenlandia o entre los bants de Sudfrica acaban
hablando la lengua groenlandesa o zul tal como los nativos y al revs.

Cmo aprendemos el idioma o idiomas maternos? Los estudios sobre el lenguaje infantil
demuestran que el nio est dotado de un mecanismo que le permite aprender
perfectamente el idioma materno sin necesidad de estudiarlo, como hacemos los adultos a la
hora de aprender un nuevo idioma. Al nacer (o antes?) se filtran todos los ruidos a travs de
este mecanismo que le ayuda a discriminar lo que es experiencia lingstica (lengua) de lo
que no lo es (ruidos). La informacin lingstica resultante de este filtro es la gramtica.