About light tone

Light tone means that in Mandarin, some syllables lose their original tone in words or sentences and become short and light.

Light tone is not the fifth tone besides the four tones in Putonghua, but the four tones become lighter and shorter than before under certain conditions. It can be considered as a special tone sandhi.

Light tone is an important phonetic feature of Putonghua. If you can't speak it well, Mandarin is not authentic.

Generally speaking, there is no light tone in southern dialects, so it is difficult for people in southern dialects to learn Mandarin. The difficulty lies in pronunciation and recognition. Therefore, to learn to speak softly, one is to master the method of reading softly, and the other is to know which words to read softly.

The characteristics and pronunciation of light tone have changed in pitch, length, timbre and strength of light tone syllables. But the main phonetic features of light tone are embodied in two aspects:

First, the sound length of light syllables is generally shorter than that of normal stressed syllables.

Secondly, the tone value (pitch form) of light tone syllables has changed, which is different from the original tone and forms a unique light tone value.

According to the phonetic characteristics of light tone, when practicing light tone words, you can lengthen the stressed syllables in front moderately, shorten the light tone syllables in the back as much as possible, and read the beat similar to the dot notes. If you just shorten the syllable length, it still sounds strange, not the standard light tone. While shortening the tone length, we must also change the original tone value and read the soft tone value.

The tone value of light syllables in Mandarin is determined by the tone of the previous syllable, and there are two forms of * *:

1. The light tone after the level tone, rising tone and falling tone is a short and low tone with a tone value of 3 1.

For example:

Flat tone+soft tone

Mr. xiānshenɡ clothes y and y and fu things d not n ɡ Xi delayed dānwu.

Yangping+softly

Student xuéshenɡ(renénji) knows that mínɡbɑi is cheaper than Piani.

Whispering softly+joking softly: Xiàohuà Polite kèqi Nurse Hê ê ê ê Shi's wife Tà it I.

2. The soft tone behind the treble is a short semi-Gao Pingtiao, with a key value of 44.

For example:

Wife l m: opo buys and sells m m: im ɑ i eyes y m: njin ɡ likes xǐ hu ɑ n.

Light words are commonly used in spoken language. There are generally no light words in written language, neologisms and technical terms.

In the dictionary, most light syllables are not marked with an upward sign, such as "window chuānɡhu, friend pénɡyou". These words are called light words that must be read, which means that they must be read gently.

There is another kind, which is marked with key signature, but the syllables are marked with dots, such as "Father fùqěn, birthday SH ē n ɡ ri, daytime Bá i ti ā n". Generally speaking, this kind of text should be read lightly, only occasionally (or occasionally) stressed. We call it "words that can be read lightly". However, if these words are stressed, they will have a stiff and unnatural sense of language, which will affect the phonetic characteristics of Putonghua, so they should be read lightly most of the time.

There are so many light words in Mandarin that it is impossible to look them up in the dictionary one by one. In order to facilitate people in dialect areas to learn and master, we divide light words and light words into "routine" and "established" categories:

The first category: routine. The light tone (or light reading) of Putonghua is mostly closely related to grammatical elements, with strong regularity. As long as you remember the regularity, it is easy to master.

1. Gently

The suffix "X Zi, X Tou, X Ba, X Men" of nouns or pronouns is light tone.

For example: son, wood, chin, us.

Note 1: Some words ending in "tou" are "lightly read words". Such as: axe, bitterness, potential and finger.

Note 2: "Zi" and "Tou" in men, women, princes, fathers and sons, electronics, big heads, cigarette butts, and wowotou all have real meanings and are real morphemes. Don't read softly. ?

(1) The auxiliary word "de, di, de, zhe, le, guo" is light tone.

For example:

Yes, it's a tree that strives for the upper reaches, with straight stems and straight branches.

Ground: It lies there quietly. ...

I know them well.

I patted you and touched you with my hand. ...

Father is angry.

It mended the sky, overheated and flashed in the sky. ...

(2) The modal particles "Ah, Ba, Mo, Na, Ya, Bai, La, La, Ma, Wow, Na" are generally lighter.

For example:

Ah: What a heavy snow! Sing, sing, rhyme, ...

Ok: ok. Is it too bad for primary school teachers?

Can I ask you a question?

What: It's so far! What can I compare with you? How to compare? ?

(3) The last word in overlapping words and verbs is light tone.

For example:

Dad, mom, old lady, Nana, Mingming, Guo Er, Guo Er, thank you, have a look and try to talk about it.

Note: Adverbs and onomatopoeic words overlap a lot, such as gradual, rustling and rushing.