Unstressed morphemes in Mandarin: a short note

Unstressed morphemes in Mandarin: a short note

轻声词素简介

Youxuan Wang

2011-11-27

This article discusses: (a) the notion of “unstressed morphemes”(qīngshēng zì  轻声字 or more strictly qīngshēng císù 轻声词素),  (b) the intonation of an unstressed syllable, and (c) a classified list of words which are normally unstressed in oral Chinese.It makes two general points:

(i)   The unstressed syllable tends to be a structural word;

(ii)  There are mainly four different ways in which a structural word is unstressed.

Most of the general points and the examples presented here come from the widely acclaimed modern Chinese grammar book Xiàndài Hànyǔ  《现代汉语》 co-authored by Huáng Bóróng  黄柏荣 and Liào Xùdōng 廖序东 first published in 1991 (with a 2nd edition in 2002). The presentation of these materials by re-writing in English and errors thus incurred here are mine.

1.  The meaning of the term qīngshēng ( “轻声”)

Mandarin Chinese textbooks for non-native students tend to translate the technical term qīngshēng by 'neutral tone', as if the practice of rendering certain types of structural morphemes unstressed in speech has created a fifth tone type in Mandarin Chinese on top of the four tone types. However, qīngshēng is not a tone type; it only refers to a practice of modulating the intonation of a syllable so that its sound has the following features:

(i)      A shorter duration: it is uttered briefly, and it does not have a complete beat;

(ii)     A weaker aspiration: it is uttered softly, and there is smaller amount of air breathing out when the syllable is pronounced;

(iii)    A modified tonal patter: the original tonal of the syllable is modified by the tone type of the preceding syllable.

The unstressed syllable tends to be a morpheme rather than a word. A word is the basic unit of meaning in a sentence. For example, in ‘我们 学习 汉语’，there are three words: 我们，学习，汉语.  A morpheme is the basic unit of meaning in a word. For example, each character are component parts of these two-character words. Not all morphemes are unstressed. Only particles, such as characters used as suffixes etc. which change the number of a noun or the tense of a verb etc., are unstressed. In the above three words, the character "们" is a suffix, and it is used to generate the plural of the first person pronoun. As such a particle is unstressed.

2. The intonation of an unstressed syllable

The manner in which of a weakened syllable is pronounced depends on the tone type of the word which precedes it. For example, the suffix “头” in the following four phrases is invariably to be modulated:  “跟头”，“石头”，“里头” and“木头”，since it has only a structural function without any reference. As the tone type of the word proceeding it changes, the intonation of the suffix “头” varies accordingly. If the tone of the preceding word belongs to the first type, the short and weak unstressed syllable “头” would sound as if having the second pitch. The following table lists four ways in which the intonation of the suffix “头” could change:

Therefore, the tone the unstressed syllabe is not neutral. It has a definite tone in a specific lexical context, though it is uttered softly and quickly.

3. Lists of unstressed words 
Generally, suffixes, particles and functional words which are no referentiality are unstressed. A complete list of unstressed words could be very long, but it would be more efficient to take note of some exemplary cases.

In each of the lists given below, I'll spell out the pinyin of the first phrase, hoping the students will follow my example and write down the pinyin of all other phrases.

3.1.Particles

 Structural particles such as“的”，“地” and “得” are unstressed:

高兴得很  gāoxìng de hěn
洗得干净  红的  慢慢地走  悄悄地     

Aspect particles such as“着”，“了” and  “过”which are suffixed to verbs are unstressed:

吃了   chīle
去过了  见过  坐着看 

Modal particles  such as “了”， “吧”，“嘛”，“呢” and  “啊” which appear at the end of a sentence are unstressed：

对吗  duìma
干什么呢 说吧  他呢 疼吗  好啊  行啊

3.2. The second A in the AA-type reduplication of a simple term is to be unstressed：

尝尝 chángchang
催催  看看  蛐蛐  劝劝  试试  听听  星星  猩猩  学学  坐坐  


妈妈  māma
奶奶  姥姥  弟弟 哥哥  姑姑  叔叔  太太  宝宝  娃娃 

In a ABAB-type reduplication, the second AB are to be unstressed:

考虑考虑  kǎolǜ-kaolü
研究研究  锻炼锻炼  

3.3. Suffixes such as“子”, “头”, “们”, “么”and “巴”are unstressed：

孩子  háizi
面子  日子  燕子  椅子 桌子

客人们   你们  他们  同学们  我们  先生们  咱们  

骨头  罐头  看头   苦头  馒头  木头  盼头  拳头  石头  甜头  枕头

什么  尾巴 

Note that the words “ 子” and 头” in“电子” , “女子” , “男子” , “窝窝头” and “烟头” are substantial terms (实词). As such they should be stressed when read or spoken.

3.4. In noun phrases, morphemes indicating location (such as “ 上”, “下” and “里” etc) should be unstressed：

马路上 mǎlù shang
墙上  桌上 

底下  地底下 地下  楼下  山下 

村子里   屋里  箱子里  

里面  外面 火车上面  外面   

窗外 

村边 前边  这边  左边 

3.5. Directional words following verbs and adjectives (such as“来”, “去”, “起来” and “下去”) are unstressed：

送来  sònglai
拿来  送来  进来  起来 下来 回来  
搬下来    走上来
走进来  坐起来  冷起来  热起来

说出来  夺回来

上去  寄去  

回去  跑回去 

出去  出去   

过去   过去  跑过去     跳过去  

走下去  冷下去    热下去

走进去  

3.6. The second syllable in each of the following common disyllabic phrases is unstressed:

便宜  piányi
部分  窗户  东西  耳朵  告诉  姑娘  护士  姐夫  合同  精神  客气 

困难  力量  萝卜  马虎  买卖  牡丹  脑袋  暖和  朋友  玫瑰  明白  漂亮  

清楚  热闹  容易  扫帚  石榴  事情  天气  头发  西瓜  先生  消息  行李 

眼睛  意思  丈夫  招呼 

包袱  bāofu
宝贝 关系   玻璃  风筝  宽敞  亮堂  毛病  蘑菇  用处  云彩  喜鹊  养活 
报酬  辈分  扁担  残疾  动静  吩咐 干部  胳膊 工夫  葫芦  晃荡  搅和   
苦处  磨蹭  琵琶 使唤  伺候  算盘  体面  笤帚  稀罕  应付 

In this list, each of the disyllabic expressions is counted as a single term (shící 实词), but each of the two characters in a term is counted only as a morpheme (císù 词素). In this kind of terms, the first morpheme is stressed, and the second is unstressed.

3.7. The second and fourth words in the following four-character phrases are unstressed：

来来去去  láilai-qùqu
打打闹闹  黑不溜秋  傻不愣登  胡里胡涂   啰里啰嗦

3.8. Measure words are normally unstressed:

几个人 jǐ ge rén  

两个人  哪个人  每个人  

五本词典  七件毛衣  十支铅笔  十只小狗

4. How are unstressed syllables transcribed in pinyin?

When annotating a book, an editor might have to provide the pinyin of a phrase which contains an unstressed word. But he does not have to specially mark the change in intonation. Instead, he can the dictionary and mark the tone of the unstressed word just as it is described in official C-C dictionaries. This practice is recommended in the official publication entitled Basic rules for Hanyu pinyin orthography (《汉语拼音正词法基本规则》; URL: <http://china-and-west.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-transcribe-chinese-text-in.html>).

In language textbooks, educators sometimes specially mark the intonation of an unstressed syllable by removing the original tone mark, or by putting a small circle “°” over a vowel. This is for the sake of helping beginners.

In language exams, if a question is specifically intended to test the student's sensitivity to unstressed syllables, the student would be asked to show her awareness of tone modulation in her/his answers. If the general pinyin question is not specifically about tone modulations, the student can write down the original tone mark as given in dictionaries.

Please note that some words (such the aspect particle “了” and modal particle “吗”) are actually marked as unstressed in dictionaries. It is generally safe to follow the official C-C dictionaries.

Exercises:

Create a classified database of the phrases in which a syllable is unstressed.

References:

Books:

Bao, Zhiming. The structure of tone. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Huáng Bóróng 黄柏荣; Liào Xùdōng 廖序东.  Xiàndài hànyǔ  《现代汉语》（上册）. Beijing  北京: Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe 高等教育出版社, 2002年7月第三版.

Hanyu pinyin zhengzifa jiben guize (《汉语拼音正词法基本规则》, Basic rules for Hanyu pinyin orthography). Beijing: China General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, 1996.

Internet articles:

“读轻声的音节” 。汉典网。2011-11-27。 <http://bbs.zdic.net/redirect.php?goto=findpost&ptid=114475&pid=203474 >.

“轻声现象及规则”。 无名小站。2005-08-22。<http://www.wretch.cc/blog/chinese19/17321813>。