The phonetic features of Chinese

The syllables of modern Chinese are generally divided into two parts: initials and finals. The slightly special part is the zero vowel, which is not pronounced in the way of spelling. Generally speaking, it shows the characteristics of distinct syllables, more musical sounds, high and low tone changes and the cadence of intonation. Therefore, modern Chinese has the characteristics of strong musicality.

The specific performance is as follows:

(1) There are no consonants. In a syllable, no matter the beginning or the end, there are no two or three consonants linked together. Therefore, Chinese syllable sound in the front, rhyme in the back, consonants only appear at the beginning and end of the syllable, syllable boundaries, the structure is relatively neat, different from English, Russian and other languages, two or more consonants connected.

(2) Vowels predominate. There are 21 initials and 39 finals in the common language of modern Chinese. Judging from the combination of Chinese syllables, there can be no consonants in Chinese syllables, but not vowels. A syllable can be made up of only one vowel or one compound vowel. At the same time, there are more syllables made up of compound vowels. In terms of the proportion of consonants and vowels, vowels are dominant. Because vowels are musical sounds, Chinese language has a large proportion of musical components, with more rhymes and less sounds, which sounds loud and pleasant.

(3) There's a tone. Every syllable in Putonghua has a tone. Tone is an indispensable component of Chinese syllables. From the functional point of view, the main function of tone is to distinguish the meaning. Syllables with the same rhyme but different tones represent different meanings, such as "flower, stroke and change". Tone can also make the boundaries between syllables clear, such as "Jie" is one syllable and "ji'e" is two syllables. In terms of sound effect, different tones and different tonal values make the Chinese language full of ups and downs, as well as ups and downs, thus forming a special style of Chinese music.

The expressions of Chinese double tone, rhyme and reduplication, which are created by means of phonetic forms, fully reflect the unique beauty of Chinese phonetics, such as neat syllables, harmonious rhythm and undulating cadence.