Mandarin has four main lexical tones and a neutral tone.
Tone-mark guide#
| Mark | Introductory pitch description |
|---|---|
| ā | high and level |
| á | rising |
| ǎ | low, with a rise in an isolated full reading |
| à | falling |
Suggested practice#
Listen to a reference recording before imitating the marks. Then compare the same syllable in isolation and in a phrase. A printed accent is a lexical guide, not a measurement of the speaker’s pitch at every moment.
Reference#
Pronunciation reference. The practice instructions here are newly written. Recordings, charts and illustrations from the reference are not reproduced.