现代标准汉语音系

本文总结了标准汉语的音系。

标准汉语是由以北京官话为基础音，广泛通行于华人地区的语言。标准汉语共有四种声调，并在弱音节中使用轻声。

本文使用国际音标为主要标音系统，并与拼音、注音二系统相互进行比较。关于其他的中文标音系统，请参见威妥玛拼音、国语罗马字与汉字拉丁化。

辅音

下表使用国际音标转录了标准汉语的辅音。括号中显示的声音通常不会作为独立音素进行分析（相关资讯请参考下文的龈腭音）。若不包括括号中的音，标准汉语中有19个辅音音素。

		唇	齿、 齿龈	卷舌	龈颚	软颚
鼻音		m	n			ŋ
塞音	送气	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ
	不送气	p	t			k
塞擦音	送气		t͡sʰ	ʈ͡ʂʰ	(t͡ɕʰ)
	不送气		t͡s	ʈ͡ʂ	(t͡ɕ)
擦音		f	s	ʂ	(ɕ)	x
流音			l	ɻ

同一个表格中的一对辅音使用同样的发音器官与发音方法，而两者之间的主要差别在于送气与否。虽然表格中并没有浊音，在弱音节的不送气清音也可能变浊音（参见下文的Syllable reduction）。这些辅音在拼音系统中的符号在罗曼语族中普遍都用以区分清／浊音（如[p] 和 [b]），在日耳曼语族中则用以区分强音与弱音（字首的不送气清音与浊音，如[pʰ] 与 [b]）。然而这在拼音系统中却用来区分送气／不送气音，例如/pʰ/ 与 /p/ 分别以 p 与 b 表示。

下方的表格是关于辅音的详细资讯，并与英语的辅音做比较：

音素	描述	拼音	注音	注解
/p/	同英语不送气的 p ，如 spy	b	ㄅ
/pʰ/	同英语送气的 p，如 pie	p	ㄆ
/m/	同英语的 m	m	ㄇ
/f/	同英语的 f	f	ㄈ
/t/	同英语不送气的 t ，如 sty	d	ㄉ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/tʰ/	同英语送气的 t, 如 tie	t	ㄊ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/n/	同英语的 n	n	ㄋ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。此音素（即不考虑国际音标以外的拼音系统）可以出现在音节首和／或音节尾。
/l/	同英语的“明l”音，如标准英音的 lay	l	ㄌ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/k/	同英语不送气的 k，如 sky	g	ㄍ
/kʰ/	同英语送气的 k，如 key	k	ㄎ
/ŋ/	同英语的 ng，如 sing	ng	ㄥ	只出现在音节尾
/x/ ([h ~ x])	音素 h 的发音在英语的 hat 与德语的 Bach之间。	h	ㄏ
/s/	同英语的 s，但通常舌头会抵住下排牙齿	s	ㄙ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/t͡s/	同英语不送气的 ts ，如 cats	z	ㄗ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/t͡sʰ/	同英语送气的 ts	c	ㄑ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
[ɕ]	与 sh 相似但用龈颚发音。	x	ㄒ	参见下文的龈腭音段落。
[t͡ɕ]	与英语不送气的 ch 相似但用龈颚发音。	j	ㄐ	参见下文的龈腭音段落。
[t͡ɕʰ]	同上，但送气	q	ㄑ	参见下文的龈腭音段落。
/ʂ/	类似英语的 sh 但卷舌	sh	ㄕ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/ʈ͡ʂ/	类似英语的 ch （如 chat）但不送气，且卷舌	zh	ㄓ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/ʈ͡ʂʰ/	同上，但送气	ch	ㄔ	参见下文的齿齿龈与卷舌音段落。
/ɻ/ （[ɻ～ʐ]）	与英语以 r 开头的字（如room）相似但卷舌	r	ㄖ	关于此音素在意字尾的使用，请参见下文的儿化段落。

以上几乎所有辅音都可能出现在音节首，唯一的例外是/ŋ/（除非在零声母的情况；见下文）。相对地，能够出现在音节尾的辅音仅有/n/以及/ŋ/而已（虽然[m]也可以作为/n/在唇音前的同位异音）。音节尾的/n/、/ŋ/音发音时，气流通路可能未被完全阻碍，导致字尾的鼻辅音与元音结合，变成一个鼻音化的长元音。参见下文的Syllable reduction段落。

齿齿龈音与卷舌音

上文第一个表格中的齿齿龈音（标注为齿、齿龈）有时候被当作是齿龈音，而有时候被当作是齿音. 这些擦音与塞擦音更常被当作是齿音，由于大多数的语言使用者在发此音时是使用舌头与下排牙齿。

而标准汉语的卷舌音，事实上是舌尖音而非舌尖下音，也因此部分学者认为这些辅音并非真的“卷舌”；更准确地来说，它们是齿龈后音。 许多标准汉语使用者的母语中并没有卷舌音，因此它们可能会将这些音发成齿音。

龈腭音

龈腭音 [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ]（j/ㄐ, q/ㄑ, x/ㄒ）会被某些使用者发音成颚化的齿音：[t͡sʲ]、[t͡sʰʲ]与[sʲ]。这种情况在儿童和女性中尤为常见。

在音韵学的分析中时常假设：当龈腭音没有[i]或[y]等高元音紧接在后时，它们会自动产生一个与其相黏的半元音（[j]或[ɥ]）。也就是说，以ji-/ㄐㄧ-、qi-/ㄑㄧ-、 xi-/ㄒㄧ-、ju-/ㄐㄩ-、qu-/ㄑㄩ-、xu-/ㄒㄩ-为首的音节的音标是[t͡ɕj], [t͡ɕʰj], [ɕj], [t͡ɕɥ], [t͡ɕʰɥ], [ɕɥ]，而其实际发音更接近[t͡ɕ], [t͡ɕʰ], [ɕ], [t͡ɕʷ], [t͡ɕʰʷ], [ɕʷ]（或对把龈腭音念成齿音的使用者而言，则为[t͡sʲ], [t͡sʰʲ], [sʲ], [t͡sᶣ], [t͡sʰᶣ], [sᶣ]）。即音节中的半元音可以被当作是前一个辅音的颚化和/或唇化。

在以上分析中，龈腭音 are in 互补分布 with the dentals [t͡s, t͡sʰ, s], with the velars [k, kʰ, x], and with the retroflexes [ʈ͡ʂ, ʈ͡ʂʰ, ʂ], as none of these can occur before high front vowels or palatal glides, whereas the alveolo-palatals occur only before high front vowels or palatal glides. Therefore, linguists often prefer to classify [t͡ɕ, t͡ɕʰ, ɕ] not as independent phonemes, but as allophones of one of the other three series. The existence of the above-mentioned dental variants inclines some to prefer to identify the alveolo-palatals with the dentals, but identification with any of the three series is possible (unless the empty rime is identified with /i/, in which case the velars become the only candidate; see below). The Yale and Wade–Giles systems mostly treat the alveolo-palatals as allophones of the retroflexes; Tongyong Pinyin mostly treats them as allophones of the dentals; and 现行盲文 treats them as allophones of the velars. In standard pinyin and bopomofo, however, they are represented as a separate sequence.

龈颚音在历史上乃源于在高元音与滑音前齿音[t͡s, t͡sʰ, s]）与软颚音[k, kʰ, x]的合并。 before high front vowels and glides. Previously, some instances of modern [t͡ɕ(ʰ)i] were instead [k(ʰ)i], and others were [t͡s(ʰ)i] . The change took place in the last two or three centuries at different times in different areas, but not in the Jianghuai dialect used at the imperial court. This explains why some European transcriptions of Chinese names (especially in postal romanization) contain ki-, hi-, tsi- or si- where an alveolo-palatal might be expected. Examples are Peking for Beijing, Chungking for Chongqing, Fukien for Fujian, Tientsin for Tianjin; Sinkiang for Xinjiang, and Sian for Xi'an. The complementary distribution with the retroflex series arose when syllables that had a retroflex consonant followed by a medial glide lost the medial glide.

零声母

在像是 ai（ㄞ）的音节中，母音前并没有任何的辅音或半元音，这样的情况就称为零声母。即使汉语拼音与注音符号皆未标出，[ɣ]、[ʔ]、[ŋ]与[ɦ] 皆有可能是实际上的辅音，有人认为这样的开头当作为一种特殊的音素，or as an instance of the phoneme /ŋ/, although it can also be treated as no phoneme (absence of onset). By contrast, in the case of the particle 啊 a, which is a weak onsetless syllable, linking occurs with the previous syllable (as described under Syllable reduction, below).

When a stressed vowel-initial Chinese syllable follows a consonant-final syllable, the consonant does not directly link with the vowel. Instead, the zero onset seems to intervene in between. 棉袄 mián'ǎo ("cotton jacket") becomes [mjɛnʔau], [mjɛnɣau]. However, in connected speech none of these output forms is natural. Instead, when the words are spoken together the most natural pronunciation is [mjɛ̃ːau], in which there is no nasal closure or any version of the zero onset.

半元音

半元音[j]、[ɥ]和[w]的声音分别像是英语的 yes、法语的huit和英语的 we。（北京方言使用者当遇到[o]出现在[w]后时，会将[w]替换成唇齿近音[ʋ]。The glides are commonly analyzed not as independent phonemes, but as consonantal allophones of the high vowels: [i̯, y̯, u̯]. This is possible because there is no ambiguity in interpreting a sequence like yao/-iao as /iau/, and potentially problematic sequences such as */iu/ do not occur.

这些半元音可能出现在音节首。This occurs with [ɥ] in the syllables written yu, yuan, yue and yun in pinyin; with [j] in other syllables written with initial y in pinyin (ya, yi, etc.); and with [w] in syllables written with initial w in pinyin (wa, wu, etc.). When a glide is followed by the vowel of which that glide is considered an allophone, the glide may be regarded as epenthetic (automatically inserted), and not as a separate realization of the phoneme. Hence the syllable yi, pronounced [ji], may be analyzed as consisting of the single phoneme /i/, and similarly yin may be analyzed as /in/, yu as /y/, and wu as /u/.

这些半元音也可能出现在medial position, ，也就是 after the initial consonant but before the main vowel. Here they are represented in pinyin as vowels: for example, the i in bie represents [j], and the u in duan represents [w]. There are some restrictions on the possible consonant-glide combinations: [w] does not occur after labials (except for some speakers in bo, po, mo, fo); [j] does not occur after retroflexes and velars (or after [f]); and [ɥ] occurs medially only in lüe and nüe and after alveolo-palatals (for which see above.) A consonant-glide combination at the start of a syllable is articulated as a single sound – the glide is not in fact pronounced after the consonant, but is realized as palatalization [ʲ], labialization [ʷ], or both [ᶣ], of the consonant. (The same modifications of initial consonants occur in syllables where they are followed by a high vowel, although normally no glide is considered to be present there. Hence a consonant is generally palatalized [ʲ] when followed by /i/, labialized [ʷ] when followed by /u/, and both [ᶣ] when followed by /y/.)

The glides [j] and [w] are also found as the final element in some syllables. These are commonly analyzed as diphthongs rather than vowel-glide sequences. For example, the syllable bai is assigned the underlying representation /pai̯/. (In pinyin, the second element is generally written i or u, but /au̯/ is written ao.)

音节辅音

标准汉语中共有七组音节 zi／ㄗ、ci／ㄘ、si／ㄙ、zhi／ㄓ、chi／ㄔ、shi／ㄕ 与 ri／ㄖ可以被视为音节辅音：

• [ɹ̩ ~ z̩]，即齿化的浊舌端齿龈持续音，用于zi／ㄗ、ci／ㄘ、si／ㄙ；
• [ɻ̩ ~ ʐ̩]，即浊舌端卷舌持续音，用于zhi／ㄓ、chi／ㄔ、shi／ㄕ 与 ri／ㄖ。

另一种理解方式则将其音节核当成元音，而非音节辅音：

• [ɯ]，即不圆唇的[u]，用于zi／ㄗ、ci／ㄘ、si／ㄙ；
• [ɨ]，即俄文的ы，用于zhi／ㄓ、chi／ㄔ、shi／ㄕ 与 ri／ㄖ。

Phonologically, these syllables may be analyzed as having their own vowel phoneme, /ɨ/. However, it is possible to merge this with the phoneme /i/ (with which it is historically related), since the two are in complementary distribution – provided that the alveolo-palatal series is either left unmerged, or is merged with the velars rather than the retroflex or alveolar series. (That is, [t͡ɕi], [t͡sɨ] and [ʈ͡ʂɨ] all exist, but there is neither *[ki] nor *[kɨ], so there is no problem merging both [i]~[ɨ] and [k]~[t͡ɕ] at the same time.)

Another approach is to regard the syllables assigned above to /ɨ/ as having (underlyingly) an empty nuclear slot ("empty rime", Chinese （中文）), i.e. as not containing a vowel phoneme at all. This is more consistent with the syllabic consonant description of these syllables.

当音节减弱时，音节辅音也可能出现（见下文）。在某些感叹词中也会听到鼻音化的音节辅音；这些词的发音包括[m]、[n]、[ŋ]、[hm]与[hŋ]等。

元音

• 标准汉语元音
• 
  北京使用的标准汉语单元音（来源：Lee & Zee (2003:110页)）。
• 
  北京使用的标准汉语双元音（第一部分，来源：Lee & Zee (2003:110页)）。
• 
  北京使用的标准汉语双元音（第二部分，来源：Lee & Zee (2003:110页)）。

标准汉语共有五个音素：/i, u, y, ǝ, a/。（有关其他可能的分析讨论，包括一些元音的数量应该更少等，请参阅下文。）/i, u, y/是高元音，/ǝ/是中元音，而/a/是低元音。

每个元音的实际发音取决于其语音环境。尤其是元音/ə/，它有两个宽泛的同位异音[e]与[o]（大多数情况下分别对应拼音e/ㄝ和o/ㄛ）。由于这三个元音具有互补分布的现象，故将其当成一个元音。然而，这种理论中也存在著反例：感叹词，如“喔”、“诶”、“唷”或“啰”等（IPA分别记成[ɔ]、[ɛ]、[jɔ]与[lɔ]）但这些例子通常被视为在正常语音系统之外的特殊情况。

同位异音

同位异音（即同一元音在特定语音环境中的不同发音方式）在不同来源之间有不同的转录方式。下表提供了一组典型的描述（不包括儿化音）。

音节核		/i/		/u/				/y/		/ə/								/a/								音节化辅音
中间位		∅		∅		/j/		∅		∅		/j/		/zhwiki/w/		/ɥ/		∅		/j/		/zhwiki/w/		/ɥ/
音节尾	∅	[i]		[u]				[y]		[ɤ]		[je]		[wo]		[ɥe]		[a]		[ja]		[wa]				[ɨ]
		yi	ㄧ	wu	ㄨ			yu	ㄩ	e	ㄝ	ye	ㄧㄝ	wo	ㄨㄛ	yue	ㄩㄝ	a	ㄚ	ya	ㄧㄚ	wa	ㄨㄚ				ㄭ3
		-i		-u				-ü1		-e		-ie		-uo/-o2	ㄨㄛ/ㄛ2	-üe1		-a		-ia		-ua				-i
	/i/									[ei̯]				[wei̯]				[ai̯]				[wai̯]
										ei	ㄟ			wei	ㄨㄟ			ai	ㄞ			wai	ㄨㄞ
										-ei				-ui				-ai				-uai
	/u/									[ou̯]		[jou̯]						[au̯]		[jau̯]
										ou	ㄡ	you	ㄧㄡ					ao	ㄠ	yao	ㄧㄠ
										-ou		-iu						-ao		-iao
	/n/	[in]						[yn]		[ən]				[wən]				[an]		[jɛn]		[wan]		[ɥɛn]
		yin	ㄧㄣ					yun	ㄩㄣ	en	ㄣ			wen	ㄨㄣ			an	ㄢ	yan	ㄧㄢ	wan	ㄨㄢ	yuan	ㄩㄢ
		-in						-ün1		-en				-un				-an		-ian		-uan		-üan1
	/ŋ/	[iŋ]		[ʊŋ]		[jʊŋ]				[əŋ]				[wəŋ]				[aŋ]		[jaŋ]		[waŋ]
		ying	ㄧㄥ			yong	ㄩㄥ			eng	ㄥ			weng	ㄨㄥ			ang	ㄤ	yang	ㄧㄤ	wang	ㄨㄤ
		-ing		-ong	ㄨㄥ	-iong				-eng								-ang		-iang		-uang

¹ 拼音ü 在 j、q或x后写成 u，注音则皆为ㄩ。

² 拼音uo在b、p、m或f后写成o；注音ㄨㄛ在ㄅ、ㄆ、ㄇ或ㄈ后写成ㄛ。

³ 符号“ㄭ”仅作为发音辅助说明用，实际上于拼写时不写出。

下表提供了关于单一元音之同位异音的更多细节。

音素	同位异音	描述（英文）
/i/	[i]	如英文be
/u/	[u]	如英文do
	[ʊ]	根据使用者的语音习惯，此音介于[o]与[u]之间。
/y/	[y]	如法语的u或德语的ü
/ǝ/	[e]	如英文bed
	[o]	如英式英语的awe
	[ɤ]	发音同[ɰɤ].
	[ə]	Schwa, 如英文about.
/a/	[a]	如英文father
	[ɛ]	根据使用者的语音习惯，此音介于[e]与[a]之间。

作为通则，在开音节（指元音后没有音节尾的音节）中的元音长度较长，其他情况中则较短。此规则并不适用于弱音节（即声调为轻声的字），在弱音节中，所有元音都非常短。

音节尾对中央元音的影响

在标准汉语中，元音 [a] 与 [ə] 的元音舌位在音节尾时和谐。 如 [a]，在 /i, n/ 之前读成较前的 [a̟]，而在 /u, ŋ/ 之前则读成较后的 [a̠] 。同理， [ə] 在 /n/之前读成较前的 [ə̟] ，而在 /ŋ/ 前则读成较后的 [ə̠] 。

声调对中元音的影响

一些汉语母语者在第一声与第二声时，会将[wei̯]、[jou̯] 与 [wən] 分别念成 [ui]、[iu] 与 [un] 。

其他分析

Some linguists prefer to reduce the number of vowel phonemes still further (at the expense of including underlying glides in their systems). Edwin G. Pulleyblank has proposed a system which includes underlying glides, but no vowels at all. More common are systems with two vowels; for example, in Mantaro Hashimoto's system, there are just two vowel nuclei, /ə, a/, which may be preceded by a glide /j, w, ɥ/, and may be followed by a coda /i, u, n, ŋ/ (additional sequences are afforded by the rhotic coda /ɚ̯/; see Erhua). The various combinations of glide, vowel, and coda have different surface manifestations, as shown in the table below. Any of the three positions may be empty, i.e. occupied by a null meta-phoneme ∅; for example, the high vowels [i, u, y] are analyzed as glide + ∅, and the vowel [ɨ] or empty rime is analyzed as having all three values null, e.g. si [sɨ] is analyzed as an underlying syllabic /s̩/.

音节核		∅		/ə/										/a/
音节尾				∅		/i/		/u/		/n/		/ŋ/		∅		/i/		/u/		/n/		ŋ/
中间位	∅	[ɨ]		[ɤ]		[ei̯]		[ou̯]		[ən]		[əŋ]		[a]		[ai̯]		[au̯]		[an]		[aŋ]
			ㄭ	e	ㄝ	ei	ㄟ	ou	ㄡ	en	ㄣ	eng	ㄥ	a	ㄚ	ai	ㄞ	ao	ㄠ	an	ㄢ	ang	ㄤ
		-i		-e		-ei		-ou		-en		-eng		-a		-ai		-ao		-an		-ang
	/j/	[i]		[je]				[jou̯]		[in]		[iŋ]		[ja]				[jau̯]		[jɛn]		[jaŋ]
		yi	ㄧ	ye	ㄧㄝ			you	ㄧㄡ	yin	ㄧㄣ	ying	ㄧㄥ	ya	ㄧㄚ			yao	ㄧㄠ	yan	ㄧㄢ	yang	ㄧㄤ
		-i		-ie				-iu		-in		-ing		-ia				-iao		-ian		-iang
	/zhwiki/w/	[u]		[wo]		[wei̯]				[wən]		[wəŋ], [ʊŋ]		[wa]		[wai̯]				[wan]		[waŋ]
		wu	ㄨ	wo	ㄨㄛ	wei	ㄨㄟ			wen	ㄨㄣ	weng	ㄨㄥ	wa	ㄨㄚ	wai	ㄨㄞ			wan	ㄨㄢ	wang	ㄨㄤ
		-u		-uo2		-ui				-un		-ong		-ua		-uai				-uan		-uang
	/ɥ/	[y]		[ɥe]						[yn]		[jʊŋ]								[ɥɛn]
		yu	ㄩ	yue	ㄩㄝ					yun	ㄩㄣ	yong	ㄩㄥ							yuan	ㄩㄢ
		-ü1		-üe1						-ün1		-iong								-üan1

¹ ü 在j、q 或 x 后写成 u 。

² uo 在 b、p、m 或 f 后写成 o。

³ 符号“ㄭ”仅作为发音辅助说明用，实际上于拼写时不写出。

这个音位系统用常用于台湾的注音符号。

儿化

主条目：儿化

Standard Chinese features syllables that end with a rhotic coda /ɚ/. This feature, known in Chinese as erhua, is particularly characteristic of the Beijing dialect; many other dialects do not use it as much, and some not at all. It occurs in two cases:

1. In a small number of independent words or morphemes pronounced [ɚ] or [aɚ̯], written in pinyin as er (with some tone), such as 二 èr "two", 耳 ěr "ear", and 儿 (traditional 儿) ér "son".
2. In syllables in which the rhotic coda is added as a suffix to another morpheme. This suffix is represented by the character 儿 [儿] ("son"), to which meaning it is historically related, and in pinyin as r. The suffix combines with the final sound of the syllable, and regular but complex sound changes occur as a result (described in detail under erhua).

The r final is pronounced with a relatively lax tongue, and has been described as a "retroflex vowel".

In dialects that do not make use of the rhotic coda, it may be omitted in pronunciation, or in some cases a different word may be selected: for example, Beijing 这儿 zhèr "here" and 那儿 nàr "there" may be replaced by the synonyms 这里 zhèli and 那里 nàli.

音节

在标准汉语中，一个音节的最大形式可以表现为 CGVX^T，其中C是音节首（辅音），G是中间位（滑音，为 [j, w, ɥ] 其中之一），V是音节核（元音），X是音节尾（辅音，为 [n, ŋ, ɚ̯, i̯, u̯] 其中之一），^T是声调，且C、G 与 X （在一些研究中甚至包含 V）在一个音节中可以不存在。在传统的分析中，则习惯将一个音节划分为声母（即C与G）与韵母（即V与X，有时包含^T） 。

Many of the possible combinations under the above scheme do not actually occur. There are only some 35 final combinations (medial+rime) in actual syllables (see pinyin finals). In all, there are only about 400 different syllables when tone is ignored, and about 1300 when tone is included. This is a far smaller number of distinct syllables than in a language such as English. Since Chinese syllables usually constitute whole words, or at least morphemes, the smallness of the syllable inventory results in large numbers of homophones. However, in Standard Chinese, the average word length is actually almost exactly two syllables, practically eliminating most homophony issues even when tone is disregarded, especially when context is taken into account as well.

For a list of all Standard Chinese syllables (excluding tone and rhotic coda) see the pinyin table or zhuyin table.

Full and weak syllables

Syllables can be classified as full (or strong), and weak. Weak syllables are usually grammatical markers such as 了 le, or the second syllables of some compound words (although many other compounds consist of two or more full syllables).

A full syllable carries one of the four main tones, and some degree of stress. Weak syllables are unstressed, and have neutral tone. The contrast between full and weak syllables is distinctive; there are many minimal pairs such as 要事 yàoshì "important matter" and 钥匙 yàoshi "key", or 大意 dàyì "main idea" and (with the same characters) dàyi "careless", the second word in each case having a weak second syllable. Some linguists consider this contrast to be primarily one of stress, while others regard it as one of tone. For further discussion, see under Neutral tone and Stress, below.

There is also a difference in syllable length. Full syllables can be analyzed as having two morae ("heavy"), the vowel being lengthened if there is no coda. Weak syllables, however, have a single mora ("light"), and are pronounced approximately 50% shorter than full syllables. Any weak syllable will usually be an instance of the same morpheme (and written with the same character) as some corresponding strong syllable; the weak form will often have a modified pronunciation, however, as detailed in the following section.

音节简化

除了声调，元音长度和轻重音的不同之外，弱音节还会受到某些其他发音变化的影响

• 如果一个音节的音节首是个不送气的阻碍音（如 b, d, g, z, j），则该音可能会由清音转变为浊音。例如“嘴巴”（zuǐba）的 b 很可能发音成 [b]，而非不送气的 [p]。
• 弱音节的元音时常会弱化，而使发音位置变得更靠近中央。举例，“嘴巴”（zuǐba）的 a 发音接近中央元音 [ə]。
• 弱音节的音节尾常常会脱落（这与上面提到弱音节的较短单音节性质有关），且若脱落的是一个鼻音，则元音很可能会被鼻音化。 举例，“脑袋”（nǎodai ）的结尾会读成单元音 [ɛ] ，而非原本的双元音 [ai̯] ；“春天”（chūntian）的结尾会读成鼻化的中央元音 [ə̃]。
• 在某些情况下，元音可能会完全丢失。这在元音为高元音、音节首是擦音或送气音时特别容易发生。例如可以将“豆腐”（dòufu）说成dòu-f，“问题” （wènti ）说成 wèn-t （元音丢失后，留下的音节首变为音节辅音）。同样的情况可能发生在半三声的字词：元音（与音节尾）在鼻音后可能丢失，如将我们（wǒmen）与“什么”（shénme）念成wǒm 与 shém – 这种两个音节合并成一个音节的例子时常出现在自然的对话当中。

“什么”shénme → shém 的过程也涉及了语音同化，这在快速谈话时时常出现（如广播 guǎngbō → guǎmbō）. A particular case of assimilation is that of the sentence-final exclamatory particle 啊 a, a weak syllable, which has different characters for its assimilated forms:

Preceding sound	Form of particle (pinyin)	Character
[ŋ], [ɨ]	a	啊
[i], [y], [e], [o], [a]	ya (from ŋja)	呀
[u]	wa	哇
[n]	na	哪
le (grammatical marker)	combines to form la	啦

声调

参见：四声和五度标记法

Relative pitch changes of the four full tones

现代标准汉语，如同大部分的汉语方言，是声调语言的一种。这意味著标准汉语中除了辅音和元音之外，音调的不同也会影响单词的意义。 This means that in addition to consonants and vowels, the pitch contour of a syllable is used to distinguish words from each other. Many non-native Chinese speakers have difficulties mastering the tones of each character, but correct tonal pronunciation is essential for intelligibility because of the vast number of words in the language that only differ by tone (i.e. are minimal pairs with respect to tone). Statistically, tones are as important as vowels in Standard Chinese.

声调类别

下表显示标准汉语的四种主要音调以及轻声（或称中性调、第五声）。

调值	1	2	3	4	5
调名	阴平	阳平	上	去	轻声
拼音	ā	á	ǎ	à	a
注音	ㄚˉ	ㄚˊ	ㄚˇ	ㄚˋ	˙ㄚ
声调记号	˥ (55)	˧˥ (35)	˨˩, ˩, ˩˧, ˨˩˦ (21, 11, 13, 214)	˥˩ (51)	-
IPA	/á/	/ǎ/ [a᷄]	/à/ [à̤, a̤᷆, a̤᷅, a̤᷉]	/â/	-

标准汉语中四个主要的声调，使用ma这个音节发音。

四种声调的正式名称依序分别是阴平、阳平、上（shǎng、ㄕㄤˇ）、去。由于这套名称系统乃承袭自中古汉语，故其字面意思与实际声调并不符，参见下文。现代标准汉语的声调如下：

1. 第一调, or high-level tone, is a steady high sound, produced as if it were being sung instead of spoken. (In a few syllables the quality of the vowel is changed when it carries first tone; see the vowel table, above.)
2. 第二调，又称升调或高升调，从中音升至高音。In a three-syllable expression, if the first syllable has first or second tone and the final syllable is not weak, then a second tone on the middle syllable may change to first tone.
3. 第三调, low or dipping tone, descends from mid-low to low; between other tones it may simply be low. This tone is often demonstrated as having a rise in pitch after the low fall; however, when a third-tone syllable is not said in isolation, this rise is normally heard only if it appears at the end of a sentence or before a pause, and then usually only on stressed monosyllables. The third tone without the rise is sometimes called half third tone. Third tone syllables that include the rise are significantly longer than other syllables. For further variation in syllables carrying this tone, see Third tone sandhi, below. Unlike the other tones, third tone is pronounced with breathiness or murmur.
4. 第四调，又称降调或高降调， features a sharp fall from high to low (as is heard in curt commands in English, such as "Stop!"). When followed by another fourth-tone syllable, the fall may be only from high to mid-level.
5. For the neutral tone or fifth tone, see the following section.

Most romanization systems, including pinyin, represent the tones as diacritics on the vowels (as does zhuyin), although some, like Wade–Giles, use superscript numbers at the end of each syllable. The tone marks and numbers are rarely used outside of language textbooks: in particular, they are usually absent in public signs, company logos, and so forth. Gwoyeu Romatzyh is a rare example of a system where tones are represented using normal letters of the alphabet (although without a one-to-one correspondence).

轻声

Also called fifth tone or zeroth tone (in Chinese 轻声 [轻声] qīngshēng, literal meaning: "light tone"), neutral tone is sometimes thought of as a lack of tone. It is associated with weak syllables, which are generally somewhat shorter than tonic syllables. The pitch of a syllable with neutral tone is determined by the tone of the preceding syllable. The following table shows the pitch at which the neutral tone is pronounced in Standard Chinese after each of the four main tones. The situation differs by dialect, and in some regions, notably Taiwan, the neutral tone is relatively uncommon.

Realization of neutral tones

Tone of preceding syllable	Pitch of neutral tone (5=high, 1=low)	举例	拼音	Overall tone pattern
First ˥	˨ ( ꜋ ) 2	玻璃	bōli	˥.˨ ( ˥꜋ )
Second ˧˥	˧ ( ꜊ ) 3	伯伯	bóbo	˧˥.˧ ( ˧˥꜊ )
Third ˨˩	˦ ( ꜉ ) 4	喇叭	lǎba	˨˩.˦ ( ˨˩꜉ )
Fourth ˥˩	˩ ( ꜌ ) 1	兔子	tùzi	˥˩.˩ ( ˥˩꜌ )

Although the contrast between weak and full syllables is often distinctive, the neutral tone is often not described as a full-fledged tone; some linguists feel that it results from a "spreading out" of the tone on the preceding syllable. This idea is appealing because without it, the neutral tone needs relatively complex tone sandhi rules to be made sense of; indeed, it would have to have four allotones, one for each of the four tones that could precede it. However, the "spreading" theory incompletely characterizes the neutral tone, especially in sequences where more than one neutral-tone syllable is found adjacent. Some words with a toneless final syllable variant (重·次轻词语) can be read with neutral tone or with the original tone.

与中古汉语声调的关系

中古汉语的声调与现代标准汉语的声调并没有一对一的关系，下表显示了中古汉语至现代标准汉语声调的演变。字词音调的演变取决于音节首，可以分为清音（voiceless consonant，记为 v−）、浊阻碍音（voiced obstruent，记为 v+）或响音（soronant，记为 s）。（现代标准汉语已经失去了清浊音的区别。）

中古汉语	声调	平			上			去			入
	音节首	v−	s	v+	v−	s	v+	v−	s	v+	v−	s	v+
现代标准汉语	调名	阴平 (一声)	阳平 (二声)		上 (三声)		去 (四声)				不规则	去 (四声)	阳平 (二声)
	声调轮廓	55	35		21(4)		51					51	35

变调

Pronunciation also varies with context according to the rules of 变调 Some such changes have been noted above in the descriptions of the individual tones; however, the most prominent phenomena of this kind relate to consecutive sequences of third-tone syllables. There are also a few common words that have variable tone.

三声变调

三声变调的主要规则是：

• 在一个词组中有连续两个三声的字时，第一个字发成二声。

举例说明，“老鼠”（lǎoshǔ）发成 láoshǔ [lau̯˧˥ʂu˨˩]。It has been investigated whether the rising contour (˧˥) on the prior syllable is in fact identical to a normal second tone; it has been concluded that it is, at least in terms of auditory perception.

When there are three or more third tones in a row, the situation becomes more complicated, since a third tone that precedes a second tone resulting from third tone sandhi may or may not be subject to sandhi itself. The results may depend on word boundaries, stress, and dialectal variations. General rules for three-syllable third-tone combinations can be formulated as follows:

1. If the first word is two syllables and the second word is one syllable, then the first two syllables become second tones. For example, bǎoguǎn hǎo takes the pronunciation báoguán hǎo [pau̯˧˥kwan˧˥xau̯˨˩˦].
2. If the first word is one syllable, and the second word is two syllables, the second syllable becomes second tone, but the first syllable remains third tone. For example: lǎo bǎoguǎn takes the pronunciation lǎo báoguǎn [lau̯˨˩pau̯˧˥kwan˨˩˦].

Some linguists have put forward more comprehensive systems of sandhi rules for multiple third tone sequences. For example, it is proposed that modifications are applied cyclically, initially within rhythmic feet (trochees; see below), and that sandhi "need not apply between two cyclic branches."

特殊音节的声调

一些常用的字拥有自己的特殊变调规则，如不（bù）与 一（yī）。

不 bù：

1. “不”的后面若接著四声的字，则读作二声。

   例： 不是（bù+shì）念作 búshì [pu˧˥ʂɻ̩˥˩]。

2. 其他情况下，不则维持原本的声调，读作第四声。然而，在 A-not-A 问句中，则读作轻声（如：是不是 shìbushì）。

一 yī：

1. “一”后面若接著四声的字，则读作二声。

   例：一定（yī+dìng）念作 yídìng [i˧˥tiŋ˥˩]。

2. “一”后面若接著第一、三、四声的字，则读作四声。

   例：一天（yī+tiān）念作 yìtiān [i˥˩tʰjɛn˥]、一年（yī+nián）念作 yìnián [i˥˩njɛn˧˥], 一起（yī+qǐ）念作 yìqǐ [i˥˩t͡ɕʰi˨˩˦]。

3. “一”用于句尾、多音节词组的词尾（不管下一个单词的第一个音）时， 读作一声。 It also has first tone when used as an ordinal number (or part of one), and when it is immediately followed by any digit (including another 一; hence both syllables of the word 一一 yīyī and its compounds have first tone).
4. When 一 is used between two reduplicated words, it may become neutral in tone (e.g. 看一看 kànyikàn).

The numbers 七 qī ("seven") and 八 bā ("eight") sometimes display similar tonal behavior as 一 yī, but for most modern speakers they are always pronounced with first tone. (All of these numbers, and 不 bù, were historically Ru tones, and as noted above, that tone does not have predictable reflexes in modern Chinese; this may account for the variation in tone on these words.)

重音、韵律与腔调

标准汉语中字词的轻重音对于母语者来说不太明显，但相对重音（contrastive stress）则很容易就察觉的出来。One of the reasons for the weaker perception of stress in Chinese may be that variations in the fundamental frequency of speech, which in many other languages serve as a cue for stress, are used in Chinese primarily to realize the tones.尽管如此，压力和音高之间仍然存在著联系—在加重音的音节上，给定音调的变化范围会比不加重音时更大。

As discussed above, weak syllables have neutral tone and are unstressed. Although this property can be contrastive, the contrast is interpreted by some as being primarily one of tone rather than stress. (Some linguists analyze Chinese as lacking word stress entirely.)

Apart from this contrast between full and weak syllables, some linguists have also identified differences in levels of stress among full syllables. In some descriptions, a multi-syllable word or compound is said to have the strongest stress on the final syllable, and the next strongest generally on the first syllable. Others, however, reject this analysis, noting that the apparent final-syllable stress can be ascribed purely to natural lengthening of the final syllable of a phrase, and disappears when a word is pronounced within a sentence rather than in isolation. San Duanmu takes this view, and concludes that it is the first syllable that is most strongly stressed. He also notes a tendency for Chinese to produce trochees – feet consisting of a stressed syllable followed by one (or in this case sometimes more) unstressed syllables. On this view, if the effect of "final-lengthening" is factored out:

• 在两个音节的复合词中，第一个音节有主要重音，第二个音节则无重音。
• 在三个音节的复合词中，第一个音节有主要重音，第二个音节无重音，第三个音节则可能无重音或者有次重音。
• 在四个音节的复合词中，第一个音节有最强的重音，第二个音节无重音，第三个或第四个音节则可能无重音或者有次重音，取决于该词的复合句法结构。

The positions described here as lacking stress are the positions in which weak (neutral-tone) syllables may occur, although full syllables frequently occur in these positions also.

This preference for a trochaic metrical structure is also cited as a reason for certain phenomena of word order variation within complex compounds, and for the strong tendency to use disyllabic words rather than monosyllables in certain positions. Many Chinese monosyllables have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually identical meaning – see Chinese grammar § Word formation.

Another function of voice pitch is to carry intonation. Chinese makes frequent use of particles to express certain meanings such as doubt, query, command, etc., reducing the need to use intonation. However, intonation is still present in Chinese (expressing meanings rather similarly as in standard English), although there are varying analyses of how it interacts with the lexical tones. Some linguists describe an additional intonation rise or fall at the end of the last syllable of an utterance, while others have found that the pitch of the entire utterance is raised or lowered according to the desired intonational meaning.

参考资料

引文

参考文献

• Chao, Yuen Ren. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese 2nd. University of California Press. 1968. ISBN 978-0-520-00219-7. 
• Duanmu, San. The Phonology of Standard Chinese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. 
• ———. The Phonology of Standard Chinese 2nd. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. 
• Lin, Yen-Hwei. The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007. 
• Ladefoged, Peter; Wu, Zongji. Places of Articulation: An Investigation of Pekingese Fricatives. Journal of Phonetics. 1984, 12: 267–78. 
• ———; Maddieson, Ian. The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. 1996. 
• Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric. Standard Chinese (Beijing). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 2003, 33 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001208. 
• Norman, Jerry. Chinese. Cambridge University Press. 1988. ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3. 
• Zhu, Xiaonong; Wang, Caiyu. Tone. Wang, William S.-Y.; Sun, Chaofen (编). The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics. Oxford University Press. 2015: 503–515. ISBN 978-0-19-985633-6. 
• 国立台湾师范大学, 国音教材编辑委员会. 國音學 8th. 正中书局. 2008. ISBN 978-9-570-91808-3. 

外部链结

• 维基共享资源上的相关多媒体资源：官话发音
• 维基共享资源上的相关多媒体资源：中文发音