Pinyin question

Purrfecdizzo
 December 27, 2011, 11:18 AM posted in General Discussion

I know that each pinyin syllable has 4 tones (sometimes a neutral one as well), but I also know that in some cases, not all four tones of a syllable are actually used in Mandarin. Is there a chart somewhere that has a list of sounds that are used and not used? Thanks.

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dennisliehappo
 December 27, 2011, 12:19 PM

There is a Pinyin Chart on this site.

Click on tools and then click on pronunciation.

There you can download the chart

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Purrfecdizzo

Thank you, I found the chart at the link that you gave. :)

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bodawei
 December 27, 2011, 12:28 PM

I'm not sure if John's chart includes unused sounds, but it would be difficult to remember so mechanically whether a dound is used or not used. You could go through the dictionary noting those sounds that are not used. For example there are many bīn and bìn words but I am not sure of bín and bǐn, with 2nd and 3rd tones. It is easier to use a paper dictionary for this.   

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Purrfecdizzo

It includes all the sounds (except 儿 and possibly some other exceptions). The thing is that the chart also includes all tones for each sound. I agree that it would be difficult to remember such a list, but I was hoping such a list existed on the Internet somewhere that I could use for reference.