Phonetics Tutorial of Mandarin

Author: Du Qing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: The vocabulary provided in each chapter of this book is very rich. More importantly, instead of relying on dead material, it uses vivid and comprehensive material to help you master the pronunciation you need to distinguish, allowing you to grasp it within specific, practical, detailed, and rich material. Then, it offers several suggestions for reflection and practice. It also takes the opportunity to summarize, consolidating what has been learned. I am truly amazed that the author could provide so many tongue twisters in this book—students will definitely enjoy them, and teachers will find it easier, as they won’t need to look elsewhere. This makes mastering the pronunciation that needs to be distinguished both effortless and enjoyable. At the same time, only within passages and sentences can one truly appreciate the correct flow of sounds, sound changes, and intonation. Most of the selected texts in this book are chosen from contemporary works, giving it a strong sense of the times, which is also a clear feature of its selection. The author has written a series of papers on the art of articulation, pronunciation, and expressive techniques, discussing aspects such as the vocal performance of literary language, the emotional expression and aesthetic value of spoken language, and more. Based on this, the book includes a dedicated chapter on articulation and pronunciation, emphasizing the importance of using pleasant and appropriate pronunciation to convey emotions and meaning, as well as how to achieve this—i.e., mastering the art of articulation. The author emphasizes that standard pronunciation is for the sake of better emotional expression, and the latter is particularly important. This is also a special chapter that reflects the book’s unique features. Although the book is not very long, it provides a large amount of practical reading material. This is the final chapter, "Comprehensive Practice." In addition to self-assessment exercises on pronunciation, it includes a wealth of ancient and modern poems and short passages. Overall, the material provided in the book is vivid and rich. However, I believe the quantity is a bit too large, as time is limited. Should it be further refined? This depends on the opinions of teaching colleagues online, as I have no say in the matter. The author raised several technical and theoretical questions with me, such as whether the modulation of words and sentences involves standard tones, and the classification of ong and iong rhymes. These are long-standing debated issues. I agree with her perspective. For example, as a pronunciation training textbook, at least standard tones could be treated as a flexible approach. Adhering strictly to standard tones always adds some burden to learners. As for ong and iong rhymes, classifying them as open vowels and alveolo-palatal vowels does not affect the relationship between initials and finals, and it is better to handle them according to the Chinese phonetic alphabet system, avoiding confusion for learners. This shows the author’s theoretical background and meticulous attention to pronunciation.