ch flattens to tsh
ʈ͡ʂʰ → t͡sʰHow: A plain ts, tongue tip forward and flat.
The tongue does not curl. Taiwanese Hokkien has no retroflexes, and the Mandarin spoken on top of it lost them.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 吃 chī | |||
| 车 chē |
Taiwan
The Mandarin of Taiwan, shaped by Taiwanese Hokkien underneath it: the retroflexes flatten to plain s, ts and tsh, so shi and si merge; final ng often becomes n; there is no erhua at all; and the neutral tone is rarely used, so every syllable keeps its pitch. Softer, more even, and instantly recognisable to a northerner.
Where: Taiwan — Guoyu
Try a word
Anything the spelling engine can transcribe, the accent can move. Slow it down to hear the shape.
Reference
Taiwan
Some letters fell through the spelling rules and were copied as-is, so the reference may be off.
Which rules fired
Melody and rhythm
Every syllable keeps its tone — the neutral tone that Beijing uses freely is rare, so two-syllable words sound more even. The overall pitch is softer and the fourth tone falls less steeply. No erhua anywhere.
What moves, one rule at a time
In the order the mouth applies them. Every before-and-after is playable — click the IPA. The pattern is the rule as the engine runs it, for the curious.
Consonants
zh flattens to ts
ʈ͡ʂ → t͡s| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 知 zhī | |||
| 中 zhōng |
sh flattens to s
ʂ → s'Shi' and 'si' are one syllable. Beijing hears every 十 as 四 and has to use context.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 是 shì | now identical to 四 sì | ||
| 十 shí |
r flattens to z
ʐ → zHow: A buzzing z, no curl.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 人 rén | |||
| 日 rì |
Final ng becomes n
ŋ(?=[˥˦˧˨˩]|$) → nWhen: at the end of a syllable
The n/ng contrast weakens across the whole south. In Taiwan 'feng' and 'fen' are hard to tell apart.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 风 fēng | now identical to 分 fēn | ||
| 中 zhōng |
Other accents of Mandarin Chinese: Beijing · all accents