Chinese Tones

[hicarch]

The pinyin system also incorporates suprasegmental graphemes to represent the four tones of Mandarin. Each tone is indicated by a diacritical mark above a non-medial vowel. Many books printed in China mix fonts, with vowels and tone marks rendered in a different font than 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 "α" (with no curl over the top) rather than the standard style of the letter "a" found in most fonts. The official rules of Hanyu Pinyin, however, specify no such practice. Note that tone marks can also appear on consonants in certain vowelless exclamations.

The first tone (Flat or High Level Tone) is represented by a macron (ˉ) added to the pinyin vowel:

(ᾱ) ā ē ī ō ū ǖ Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū Ǖ
The second tone (Rising or High-Rising Tone) is denoted by an acute accent (ˊ):

(ά) á é í ó ú ǘ Á É Í Ó Ú Ǘ
The third tone (Falling-Rising or Low Tone) is symbolized by a caron/háček ( ˇ ). Note, it is officially not a breve ( ˘ ), which lacks a downward angle, although this misuse is somewhat common on the Internet.

(α̌) ǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ ǚ Ǎ Ě Ǐ Ǒ Ǔ Ǚ
The fourth tone (Falling or High-Falling Tone) is represented by a grave accent (ˋ):

(ὰ) à è ì ò ù ǜ À È Ì Ò Ù Ǜ
The fifth or neutral tone (Neutral Tone) is represented by a normal vowel without any accent mark:

(ɑ) a e i o u ü A E I O U Ü
(In some cases, this is also written with a dot before the syllable; for example, ·ma.)
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:

Traditional characters:

媽(mā) 麻(má) 馬(mǎ) 罵(mà) 嗎(·ma)

Simplified characters:

妈(mā) 麻(má) 马(mǎ) 骂(mà) 吗(·ma)
mā má mǎ mà


A sound sample of the four tones
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