User:Remsense/Standard Chinese phonology

Consonants

Initials

The conventional lexicographic order derived from bopomofo is:

b

p

m

f

d

t

n

l

g

k

h

j

q

x

zh

ch

sh

r

z

c

s

In each cell below, the pinyin letters assigned to each initial are accompanied by their phonetic realizations in brackets, notated according to the International Phonetic Alphabet.

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Velar
Plosive	unaspirated	b [p]	d [t]			g [k]
	aspirated	p [pʰ]	t [tʰ]			k [kʰ]
Nasal		m [m]	n [n]
Affricate	unaspirated		z [ts]	zh [ʈʂ]	j [tɕ]
	aspirated		c [tsʰ]	ch [ʈʂʰ]	q [tɕʰ]
Fricative		f [f]	s [s]	sh [ʂ]	x [ɕ]	h [x]
Liquid			l [l]	r [ɻ]~[ʐ]
Semivowel		y [j], [ɥ] and w [w]

Pinyin	IPA	Description
b	[p]	Unaspirated p, like in English spark.
p	[pʰ]	Strongly aspirated p, like in English pay.
m	[m]	Like the m in English may.
f	[f]	Like the f in English fair.
d	[t]	Unaspirated t, like in English stop.
t	[tʰ]	Strongly aspirated t, like in English take.
n	[n]	Like the n in English nay.
l	[l]~[ɾ]	Like the l in English lay.
g	[k]	Unaspirated k, like in English skill.
k	[kʰ]	Strongly aspirated k, like in English kiss.
h	[x]~[h]	Varies between the h in English hat, and the ch in Scottish English loch.
j	[tɕ]	Alveolar-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English churchyard.
q	[tɕʰ]	Alveolar-palatal, aspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the ch in English punchy.
x	[ɕ]	Alveolo-palatal, unaspirated. No direct equivalent in English, but similar to the sh in English push.
zh	[ʈʂ]~[d͡ʒ]	Retroflex, unaspirated. Like j in English jack.
ch	[ʈʂʰ]~[ʃ]	Retroflex, aspirated. Like ch in English church.
sh	[ʂ]~[ɹ̠̊˔]	Retroflex, unaspirated. Like sh in shirt.
r	[ɻ~ʐ]~[ɹ]	Retroflex. No direct equivalent in English, but varies between the r in English reduce and the s in English measure.
z	[ts]	Unaspirated. Like the zz in English pizza.
c	[tsʰ]	Aspirated. Like the ts in English bats.
s	[s]	Like the s in English say.
w	[w]	Like the w in English water.
y	[j], [ɥ]	Either like the y in English yes—or when followed by a u, see below.

The sounds shown in parentheses are sometimes not analyzed as separate phonemes; for more on these, see § Alveolo-palatal series below. Excluding these, and excluding the glides [j], [ɥ], and [w], there are 19 consonant phonemes in the inventory.

		Labial	Denti-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n			ŋ
Stop	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ
	unaspirated	p	t			k
Affricate	aspirated		t͡sʰ	ʈ͡ʂʰ	(t͡ɕʰ)
	unaspirated		t͡s	ʈ͡ʂ	(t͡ɕ)
Fricative		f	s	ʂ	(ɕ)	x~h
Liquid			l	ʐ~ɻ

Between pairs of stops or affricates having the same place of articulation and manner of articulation, the primary distinction is not voiced vs. voiceless (as in French or Russian), but unaspirated versus aspirated (as in Scottish Gaelic or Icelandic). The unaspirated stops and affricates may however become voiced in weak syllables. Such pairs are represented in the pinyin system mostly using letters which in Romance languages generally denote voiceless/voiced pairs (for example [p] and [b]), or in Germanic languages often denotes fortis and lenis pairs—for example, initial aspirated voiceless/unaspirated voiced pairs like [pʰ] and [b]). However, aspiration pairs like /pʰ/ and /p/ are represented with p and b respectively in pinyin. The largest inventory of phonemes generally analyzed are given in the following table:

Phoneme	Description	Example	Pinyin	Zhuyin	Wade–Giles	Notes
/p/	Like English p but unaspirated – as in English spy		b	ㄅ	p
/pʰ/	An aspirated p – as in pie		p	ㄆ	p῾
/m/	Like English m		m	ㄇ	m
/f/	Like English f		f	ㄈ	f
/t/	Like English t but unaspirated – as in sty		d	ㄉ	t	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series.
/tʰ/	Like aspirated English t – as in tie		t	ㄊ	t῾	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series
/n/	Like English n		n	ㄋ	n	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series; can occur in the onset or coda of a syllable.
/l/	Like English clear l – as in RP lay; never "dark", i.e. velarized		l	ㄌ	l
/k/	Like English k, but unaspirated – as in scar		g	ㄍ	k
/kʰ/	Like an aspirated English k – as in car		k	ㄎ	k῾
/ŋ/	Like English ng – as in sing		ng	-	ng	Occurs only in the coda
/x/	Varies between ([h ~ x]) h in English hat and ch in Scottish English loch		h	ㄏ	h
[t͡ɕ]	Like unaspirated English ch but with a softer alveolo-palatal pronunciation		j	ㄐ	ch	See § Alveolo-palatal series.
[t͡ɕʰ]	As above with aspiration		q	ㄑ	ch῾	See § Alveolo-palatal series.
[ɕ]	Similar to English sh but with softer alveolo-palatal pronunciation		x	ㄒ	hs	See § Alveolo-palatal series
/ʈ͡ʂ/	Similar to ch in English chat but with retroflex articulation and without aspiration		zh	ㄓ	ch	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series
/ʈ͡ʂʰ/	As above but with aspiration		ch	ㄔ	ch῾	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series
/ʂ/	Similar to English sh but with retroflex articulation		sh	ㄕ	sh	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series
/ʐ/	Similar to z in zoo in English, but with a retroflex articulation. ([ʐ ~ ɻ]) L2 learners may pronounce it as an English r, but lips are unrounded.	rì	r	ㄖ	j	For pronunciation in syllable-final position, see § Rhotic coda.
/t͡s/	Like English ts in cats, without aspiration	zǐ	z	ㄗ	ts	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series.
/t͡sʰ/	As above, but with aspiration	cǐ	c	ㄘ	ts῾	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series.
/s/	Like English s, but usually with the tongue on the lower teeth.	sī	s	ㄙ	s	See § Denti-alveolar and retroflex series.

All of the consonants may occur as the initial sound of a syllable, with the exception of /ŋ/ (unless the zero initial is assigned to this phoneme; see below). Excepting the rhotic coda, the only consonants that can appear in syllable coda (final) position are /n/ and /ŋ/ (although [m] may occur as an allophone of /n/ before labial consonants in fast speech). Final /n/, /ŋ/ may be pronounced without complete oral closure, resulting in a syllable that in fact ends with a long nasalized vowel. See also § Syllable reduction, below.