Chinese alphabet: Pinyin system and its features

With the advent of writing in the Middle Kingdom, a hieroglyphic system for drawing text was firmly established, because the Chinese alphabet as such does not exist. Typically, this concept is covered by the "pinyin" method, created in the last century for the transcription of characters to the Latin alphabet.

Why the Chinese alphabet does not exist

To answer this question, you should refer to the definition. It says that the alphabet is a collection of characters in the writing system. It would seem, what is the catch?

Chinese writing is based on hieroglyphs that have semantic meaning separately from other signs in the text and, in turn, consisting of keys. With the latter, the situation is exactly the same. Moreover, the key can be used as an independent hieroglyph, that is, a word.

The alphabet, however, implies the meaninglessness of a single letter symbol and a small number of well-established, unchangeable letters. Chinese, or Putonghua, has more than 50,000 hieroglyphs, taking into account various modifications, while their numbers are for certain unknown and inclined to increase.

What is "pinyin"

Simply put, "Pinyin" is a romanization system for the Celestial language or a way of recording hieroglyphs in syllables. With its help, any word can be represented in Latin, which makes it easier to understand the phonetic component.

Thus, it turns out that the Chinese alphabet does not exist, and applying this term to this set of signs is nothing more than a common mistake. Nevertheless, because of the frequency of its use with it sometimes have to be considered.

However, the question of how many letters in the Chinese alphabet does not have an answer for all of the above reasons.

Initial "pinyin"

As it was said earlier, this system (hereinafter "the Chinese alphabet") consists of Latin symbols. Syllables, basically, form consonants, vowels and their combinations. The pronunciation of the initials, like the finals, has a lot of nuances:

• For example, "m", "f", "s", "h" is similar to Russian "m", "f", "c" and "x".
• There are aspirate consonants ("p", "t", "k", "c", "sh", "ch"), when pronounced requiring a strong expiration.
• "N" in "Pinyin" is more alveolar, and "l" and "j" is similar to English reprimand.
• "Q" is read as "tys", "x" is like "cb", and "z" and "zh" are for "tsz" and "zh".
• Consonant "b", "d", "g" is extremely difficult to pronounce correctly, because they represent something in between the Russian counterparts of these sonorous and deaf sounds.
• "R" at the beginning of the word replaces "f".

Finaly

The Chinese alphabet (hieroglyphs are not included in it) also contains vowels, called "finals". They often consist of diphthongs and obey such rules of pronunciation:

• "An", "en", "ao", "uo", "ou", "ei", "ai", "a" are transcribed as "an", "en", "ao", "wo," " Ou "," hey "," ah "and" a "respectively.
• Complex finalists ia, ian, iao, iang, i, iu, , "Yu", "yin".
• "I" is similar to Russian "and", but does not soften consonants. If it is the only vowel in the syllable, it is written as "yi".
• "Y" is pronounced as "y" or "wu" (identical to the previous case).
• "Er" replaces "er".

When the romanization system is used

Typically, "Pinyin", it's the Chinese alphabet (the hieroglyphs in it are replaced by syllables in the Latin alphabet), is used as an auxiliary element for tourists in the form of signatures on various indexes or if there is a rare sign in the text.

Also Romanization is used to write messages on the English keyboard. Typically, this is an automated process, and the typed transcription "Pinyin" is itself transformed into a hieroglyph.

The last, most popular variant is intended for structuring information in lists and databases: it is much more expedient to break down words by first syllables with the help of transliteration into the Latin alphabet. This will facilitate the search not only for foreigners, but also for the Chinese.

"Pinyin" as a means of learning the language

Romanization system in Latin contains 29 syllables and is used as an auxiliary step in the study of Chinese. It allows you to familiarize yourself with the correct reading and pronunciation of vowel tones, thanks to the presence of diacritical marks. In the Middle Kingdom study of "Pinyin" is compulsory for foreign students and is included in the program of all modern schools.

Often, the phrase "Chinese alphabet with translation" refers to the transcription of syllables for ease of pronunciation. Diacritical signs are present for the same purpose.

Tone

In Putonghua, each vowel has its own specific intonation.

The same syllables in a different manner of pronunciation are able to form words, radically different in meaning from each other. To do this, it is extremely important to master the tones - without them you can not speak the language. Often, an alien with an incorrectly set intonation, no one understands and his speech is taken for some unknown dialect.

To avoid such a problem, learn to speak directly with the teacher. Naturally, the Chinese alphabet with the Russian translation here does not help (the transcription does not convey diacritical marks) and will have to go directly to the "pinyin" system.

There are four tones in total:

1. High level.
2. Ascending from medium to high.
3. Low with further decrease and subsequent increase to medium tone.
4. High with a decrease.

The video lessons or the teacher will help to understand them, but the latter, as it was said earlier, is preferable.

In conclusion about the Chinese alphabet

Returning to the subject of the Celestial Empire, it is worth noting that the Chinese, like other languages that have hieroglyphic writing, are not too similar to the European one.

Its features exclude the existence of a standard alphabet. Moreover, early attempts to replace the usual way of writing the text with alphabetic combinations quickly failed. Simply put, such methods came out of use in a short time and are unlikely to revive again.