This article summarizes the phonology (the sound system, or in more general terms, the pronunciation) of Standard Chinese (Standard Mandarin).
Consonants[]
The following table shows the consonant sounds of Standard Chinese, transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The sounds shown in parentheses are sometimes not analyzed as separate phonemes. Excluding these, and excluding the glides [j], [ɥ] and [w], there are 19 consonant phonemes in the inventory.
| Labial | Denti- alveolar |
Retroflex | Alveolo- palatal |
Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | ||
| unaspirated | p | t | k | |||
| Affricate | aspirated | t͡sʰ | ʈ͡ʂʰ | (t͡ɕʰ) | ||
| unaspirated | t͡s | ʈ͡ʂ | (t͡ɕ) | |||
| Fricative | f | s | ʂ | (ɕ) | x | |
| Liquid | l | ɻ | ||||