Chinese speakers of English face challenges in grammar, reading, spelling, and especially pronunciation. Chinese is a tone language. The meaning of a word is expressed by the rise and fall of the voice applied to a single word or syllable. This is referred to as lexical tone.
English is a stress language. There are less changes in tone within a word and a more monotone sound when speaking.
Tone
Tone is the essence of speech sounds. The voice uses pitch-the rise and fall of the voice-to determine the meaning of a word.
Chinese speakers of English face challenges with grammar, reading, spelling, and especially pronunciation. By learning what the differences in pronunciation and especially tone and intonation, students can rapidly improve the ability to be understood by others.
Chinese is a tone language. The meaning of a word is identified by the rise and fall of the voice applied to a single word or syllable. This is referred to as lexical tone. The pitch fluctuations made are at the end of a word, as well as the beginning and middle. However, emphasis is placed at the end.
English is a stress language. Stress occurs within a syllable of a word or a word in a phrase or sentence. There are less changes in tone within a word and a more monotone sound when speaking.
Tone
Tone is present in all speech sounds. The voice uses pitch-the rise, fall, fluctuation and level sound to determine the meaning of a word.
A tone language uses the rise and fall of pitch to identify the meaning of a word.
ma high level tone
ma mid to high rising tone
ma low tone with a slight fall
ma short, sharply falling tone
ma neutral tone, used for weak syllables
English tone is expressed in variations of tone within a sentence.
Intonation
It is said that a person’s intonation is what distinguishes an advanced speaker of English and a native speaker. The Chinese intonation system is different than the English intonation system. It’s the use of intonation patterns that are the most different.
Intonation patterns in Chinese use pitch variation at the end of a tone segment or unit, the beginning, as well as the center. English (American English tone patterns) emphasizes the main part of tone unit, which is the vowel. The vowel located in the center, or body of a unit is where pitch fluctuations occur the most.
What can Chinese Students Do about Intonation Differences?
Chinese students can learn American intonation patterns. Just being aware of the differences is a big step. Then find someone to help with training in pronunciation and prosody. General things to be aware of:
- emphasize vowels
- stress nouns (but not pronouns) first
- then stress verbs in phrases and statements