The chinese syllable--汉语的音节（1）
一个汉语音节包括三部分：声母，韵母和声调。比如，“妈，mā”由声母m、韵母a、和第一声声调“-”组成。
Chinese syllable consists of three parts: initials, finals, and tones. For example, 'mā' is made up of the initials 'm', the final 'a' and the level tone '-'.
今天我们先学习声调。
Today we learn tone first.
声调指整个音节的高低升降的变化。汉语中一共有五个声调，下面分别举例说明：
Tone is the pitch contour of the syllable. there are five tones. Here are examples:
第一声：妈 mā 音高而平，基本没有升降变化。
第二声：麻 má 由中音升到高音。
第三声：马 mǎ 由半低音降到低音，再升到半高音。
第四声：骂 mà 由高音降到低音。
轻 声： 吗 ma 字音很轻很短。
- The first tone: mā (mother) This tone is high and fiat with no change in the pitch, using '-' as its tone mark.
- The second tone: má (numb) This tone rises from the middle to the top, using '/' as its tone mark.
- The third tone: mǎ (horse) This tone curves mid-low to low and rises to mid-high, using 'V' as its tone mark.
- The fourth tone: mà (scold) This tone falls sharply from the top to the bottom, using '\' as its tone mark.
The neutral tone: ma(sentence final interrogative particle ) This tone is light and short with no tone mark.
请注意：当两个音节都是三声时，前面的第三声读成第二声。比如：你好，很好。
Please be ware that when a third tone is followed by another third tone, the first one should be pronounced as a second tone. e.g. nǐ hǎo— ní hǎo， hěn hǎo— hén hǎo.
2018年5月1日
