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A: 18/20
a¹	a²	a³	a⁴
ai¹	ai²	ai³	ai⁴
an¹	an²	an³	an⁴
ang¹	ang²	ang³	ang⁴
ao¹	ao²	ao³	ao⁴

B :55/64
ba¹	ba²	ba³	ba⁴
bai¹	bai²	bai³	bai⁴
ban¹	ban²	ban³	ban⁴
bang¹	bang²	bang³	bang⁴
bao¹	bao²	bao³	bao⁴
bei¹	bei²	bei³	bei⁴
ben¹	ben²	ben³	ben⁴
beng¹	beng²	beng³	beng⁴
bi¹	bi²	bi³	bi⁴
bian¹	bian²	bian³	bian⁴
biao¹	biao²	biao³	biao⁴
bie¹	bie²	bie³	bie⁴
bin¹	bin²	bin³	bin⁴
bing¹	bing²	bing³	bing⁴
bo¹	bo²	bo³	bo⁴
bu¹	bu²	bu³	bu⁴

C: 107/140
ca¹	ca²	ca³	ca⁴
cai¹	cai²	cai³	cai⁴
can¹	can²	can³	can⁴
cang¹	cang²	cang³	cang⁴
cao¹	cao²	cao³	cao⁴
ce¹	ce²	ce³	ce⁴
cei¹	cei²	cei³	cei⁴
cen¹	cen²	cen³	cen⁴
ceng¹	ceng²	ceng³	ceng⁴
cha¹	cha²	cha³	cha⁴
chai¹	chai²	chai³	chai⁴
chan¹	chan²	chan³	chan⁴
chang¹	chang²	chang³	chang⁴
chao¹	chao²	chao³	chao⁴
che¹	che²	che³	che⁴
chen¹	chen²	chen³	chen⁴
chi¹	chi²	chi³	chi⁴
chong¹	chong²	chong³	chong⁴
chou¹	chou²	chou³	chou⁴
chu¹	chu²	chu³	chu⁴
chua¹	chua²	chua³	chua⁴
chuai¹	chuai²	chuai³	chuai⁴
chuan¹	chuan²	chuan³	chuan⁴
chuang¹	chuang²	chuang³	chuang⁴
chui¹	chui²	chui³	chui⁴
chun¹	chun²	chun³	chun⁴
chuo¹	chuo²	chuo³	chuo⁴
ci¹	ci²	ci³	ci⁴
cong¹	cong²	cong³	cong⁴
cou¹	cou²	cou³	cou⁴
cu¹	cu²	cu³	cu⁴
cui¹	cui²	cui³	cui⁴
cun¹	cun²	cun³	cun⁴
cuo¹	cuo²	cuo³	cuo⁴

D 64/92
da¹	da²	da³	da⁴
dai¹	dai²	dai³	dai⁴
dan¹	dan²	dan³	dan⁴
dang¹	dang²	dang³	dang⁴
dao¹	dao²	dao³	dao⁴
de¹	de²	de³	de⁴
dei¹	dei²	dei³	dei⁴
den¹	den²	den³	den⁴
deng¹	deng²	deng³	deng⁴
di¹	di²	di³	di⁴
dia¹	dia²	dia³	dia⁴
dian¹	dian²	dian³	dian⁴
diao¹	diao²	diao³	diao⁴
die¹	die²	die³	die⁴
ding¹	ding²	ding³	ding⁴
diu¹	diu²	diu³	diu⁴
dong¹	dong²	dong³	dong⁴
dou¹	dou²	dou³	dou⁴
du¹	du²	du³	du⁴
duan¹	duan²	duan³	duan⁴
dui¹	dui²	dui³	dui⁴
dun¹	dun²	dun³	dun⁴
duo¹	duo²	duo³	duo⁴

E: 14/20
e¹	e²	e³	e⁴
ei¹	ei²	ei³	ei⁴
en¹	en²	en³	en⁴
eng¹	eng²	eng³	eng⁴
er¹	er²	er³	er⁴

F: 31/40
fa¹	fa²	fa³	fa⁴
fan¹	fan²	fan³	fan⁴
fang¹	fang²	fang³	fang⁴
fei¹	fei²	fei³	fei⁴
fen¹	fen²	fen³	fen⁴
feng¹	feng²	feng³	feng⁴
fiao¹	fiao²	fiao³	fiao⁴
fo¹	fo²	fo³	fo⁴
fou¹	fou²	fou³	fou⁴
fu¹	fu²	fu³	fu⁴

G: 59/76
ga¹	ga²	ga³	ga⁴
gai¹	gai²	gai³	gai⁴
gan¹	gan²	gan³	gan⁴
gang¹	gang²	gang³	gang⁴
gao¹	gao²	gao³	gao⁴
ge¹	ge²	ge³	ge⁴
gei¹	gei²	gei³	gei⁴
gen¹	gen²	gen³	gen⁴
geng¹	geng²	geng³	geng⁴
gong¹	gong²	gong³	gong⁴
gou¹	gou²	gou³	gou⁴
gu¹	gu²	gu³	gu⁴
gua¹	gua²	gua³	gua⁴
guai¹	guai²	guai³	guai⁴
guan¹	guan²	guan³	guan⁴
guang¹	guang²	guang³	guang⁴
gui¹	gui²	gui³	gui⁴
gun¹	gun²	gun³	gun⁴
guo¹	guo²	guo³	guo⁴

H 65/76
ha¹	ha²	ha³	ha⁴
hai¹	hai²	hai³	hai⁴
han¹	han²	han³	han⁴
hang¹	hang²	hang³	hang⁴
hao¹	hao²	hao³	hao⁴
he¹	he²	he³	he⁴
hei¹	hei²	hei³	hei⁴
hen¹	hen²	hen³	hen⁴
heng¹	heng²	heng³	heng⁴
hong¹	hong²	hong³	hong⁴
hou¹	hou²	hou³	hou⁴
hu¹	hu²	hu³	hu⁴
hua¹	hua²	hua³	hua⁴
huai¹	huai²	huai³	huai⁴
huan¹	huan²	huan³	huan⁴
huang¹	huang²	huang³	huang⁴
hui¹	hui²	hui³	hui⁴
hun¹	hun²	hun³	hun⁴
huo¹	huo²	huo³	huo⁴

J 46/56
ji¹	ji²	ji³	ji⁴
jia¹	jia²	jia³	jia⁴
jian¹	jian²	jian³	jian⁴
jiang¹	jiang²	jiang³	jiang⁴
jiao¹	jiao²	jiao³	jiao⁴
jie¹	jie²	jie³	jie⁴
jin¹	jin²	jin²	jin⁴
jing¹	jing²	jing³	jing⁴
jiong¹	jiong²	jiong³	jiong⁴
jiu¹	jiu²	jiu³	jiu⁴
ju¹	ju²	ju³	ju⁴
juan¹	juan²	juan³	juan⁴
jue¹	jue²	jue³	jue⁴
jun¹	jun²	jun³	jun⁴

K 48/76
ka¹	ka²	ka³	ka⁴
kai¹	kai²	kai³	kai⁴
kan¹	kan²	kan³	kan⁴
kang¹	kang²	kang³	kang⁴
kao¹	kao²	kao³	kao⁴
ke¹	ke²	ke³	ke⁴
kei¹	kei²	kei³	kei⁴
ken¹	ken²	ken³	ken⁴
keng¹	keng²	keng³	keng⁴
kong¹	kong²	kong³	kong⁴
kou¹	kou²	kou³	kou⁴
ku¹	ku²	ku³	ku⁴
kua¹	kua²	kua³	kua⁴
kuai¹	kuai²	kuai³	kuai⁴
kuan¹	kuan²	kuan³	kuan⁴
kuang¹	kuang²	kuang³	kuang⁴
kui¹	kui²	kui³	kui⁴
kun¹	kun²	kun³	kun⁴
kuo¹	kuo²	kuo³	kuo⁴

L 83/100
la¹	la²	la³	la⁴
lai¹	lai²	lai³	lai⁴
lan¹	lan²	lan³	lan⁴
lang¹	lang²	lang³	lang⁴
lao¹	lao²	lao³	lao⁴
le¹	le²	le³	le⁴
lei¹	lei²	lei³	lei⁴
leng¹	leng²	leng³	leng⁴
li¹	li²	li³	li⁴
lia¹	lia²	lia³	lia⁴
lian¹	lian²	lian³	lian⁴
liang¹	liang²	liang³	liang⁴
liao¹	liao²	liao³	liao⁴
lie¹	lie²	lie³	lie⁴
lin¹	lin²	lin³	lin⁴
ling¹	ling²	ling³	ling⁴
liu¹	liu²	liu³	liu⁴
long¹	long²	long³	long⁴
lou¹	lou²	lou³	lou⁴
lu¹	lu²	lu³	lu⁴
lyu¹	lyu²	lyu³	lyu⁴
luan¹	luan²	luan³	luan⁴
lyue¹	lyue²	lyue³	lyue⁴
lun¹	lun²	lun³	lun⁴
luo¹	luo²	luo³	luo⁴

M 58/76
m¹	m²	m²	m⁴
ma¹	ma²	ma³	ma⁴
mai¹	mai²	mai³	mai⁴
man¹	man²	man³	man⁴
mang¹	mang²	mang³	mang⁴
mao¹	mao²	mao³	mao⁴
mei¹	mei²	mei³	mei⁴
men¹	men²	men³	men⁴
meng¹	meng²	meng³	meng⁴
mi¹	mi²	mi³	mi⁴
mian¹	mian²	mian³	mian⁴
miao¹	miao²	miao³	miao⁴
mie¹	mie²	mie³	mie⁴
min¹	min²	min³	min⁴
ming¹	ming²	ming³	ming⁴
miu¹	miu²	miu³	miu⁴
mo¹	mo²	mo³	mo⁴
mou¹	mou²	mou³	mou⁴
mu¹	mu²	mu³	mu⁴

N 60/100
n¹	n²	n³	n⁴
na¹	na²	na³	na⁴
nai¹	nai²	nai³	nai⁴
nan¹	nan²	nan³	nan⁴
nang¹	nang²	nang³	nang⁴
nao¹	nao²	nao³	nao⁴
ne¹	ne²	ne³	ne⁴
nei¹	nei²	nei³	nei⁴
nen¹	nen²	nen³	nen⁴
neng¹	neng²	neng³	neng⁴
ng¹	ng²	ng³	ng⁴
ni¹	ni²	ni³	ni⁴
nian¹	nian²	nian³	nian⁴
niang¹	niang²	niang³	niang⁴
niao¹	niao²	niao³	niao⁴
nie¹	nie²	nie³	nie⁴
nin¹	nin²	nin³	nin⁴
ning¹	ning²	ning³	ning⁴
niu¹	niu²	niu³	niu⁴
nong¹	nong²	nong³	nong⁴
nou¹	nou²	nou³	nou⁴
nu¹	nu²	nu³	nu⁴
nyu¹	nyu²	nyu³	nyu⁴
nuan¹	nuan²	nuan³	nuan⁴
nyue¹	nyue²	nyue³	nyue⁴
nuo¹	nuo²	nuo³	nuo⁴

O 7/8
o¹	o²	o³	o⁴
ou¹	ou²	ou³	ou⁴

P 60/68
pa¹	pa²	pa³	pa⁴
pai¹	pai²	pai³	pai⁴
pan¹	pan²	pan³	pan⁴
pang¹	pang²	pang³	pang⁴
pao¹	pao²	pao³	pao⁴
pei¹	pei²	pei³	pei⁴
pen¹	pen²	pen³	pen⁴
peng¹	peng²	peng³	peng⁴
pi¹	pi²	pi³	pi⁴
pian¹	pian²	pian³	pian⁴
piao¹	piao²	piao³	piao⁴
pie¹	pie²	pie³	pie⁴
pin¹	pin²	pin³	pin⁴
ping¹	ping²	ping³	ping⁴
po¹	po²	po³	po⁴
pou¹	pou²	pou³	pou⁴
pu¹	pu²	pu³	pu⁴

Q 48/56
qi¹	qi²	qi³	qi⁴
qia¹	qia²	qia³	qia⁴
qian¹	qian²	qian³	qian⁴
qiang¹	qiang²	qiang³	qiang⁴
qiao¹	qiao²	qiao³	qiao⁴
qie¹	qie²	qie³	qie⁴
qin¹	qin²	qin³	qin⁴
qing¹	qing²	qing³	qing⁴
qiong¹	qiong²	qiong³	qiong⁴
qiu¹	qiu²	qiu³	qiu⁴
qu¹	qu²	qu³	qu⁴
quan¹	quan²	quan³	quan⁴
que¹	que²	que³	que⁴
qun¹	qun²	qun³	qun⁴

R 29/56
ran¹	ran²	ran³	ran⁴
rang¹	rang²	rang³	rang⁴
rao¹	rao²	rao³	rao⁴
re¹	re²	re³	re⁴
ren¹	ren²	ren³	ren⁴
reng¹	reng²	reng³	reng⁴
ri¹	ri²	ri³	ri⁴
rong¹	rong²	rong³	rong⁴
rou¹	rou²	rou³	rou⁴
ru¹	ru²	ru³	ru⁴
ruan¹	ruan²	ruan³	ruan⁴
rui¹	rui²	rui³	rui⁴
run¹	run²	run³	run⁴
ruo¹	ruo²	ruo³	ruo⁴

S 97/140
sa¹	sa²	sa³	sa⁴
sai¹	sai²	sai³	sai⁴
san¹	san²	san³	san⁴
sang¹	sang²	sang³	sang⁴
sao¹	sao²	sao³	sao⁴
se¹	se²	se³	se⁴
sen¹	sen²	sen³	sen⁴
seng¹	seng²	seng³	seng⁴
sha¹	sha²	sha³	sha⁴
shai¹	shai²	shai³	shai⁴
shan¹	shan²	shan³	shan⁴
shang¹	shang²	shang³	shang⁴
shao¹	shao²	shao³	shao⁴
she¹	she²	she³	she⁴
shei¹	shei²	shei³	shei⁴
shen¹	shen²	shen³	shen⁴
sheng¹	sheng²	sheng³	sheng⁴
shi¹	shi²	shi³	shi⁴
shou¹	shou²	shou³	shou⁴
shu¹	shu²	shu³	shu⁴
shua¹	shua²	shua³	shua⁴
shuai¹	shuai²	shuai³	shuai⁴
shuan¹	shuan²	shuan³	shuan⁴
shuang¹	shuang²	shuang³	shuang⁴
shui¹	shui²	shui³	shui⁴
shun¹	shun³	shun³	shun⁴
shuo¹	shuo²	shuo³	shuo⁴
si¹	si²	si³	si⁴
song¹	song²	song³	song⁴
sou¹	sou²	sou³	sou⁴
su¹	su²	su³	su⁴
suan¹	suan²	suan³	suan⁴
sui¹	sui²	sui³	sui⁴
sun¹	sun²	sun³	sun⁴
suo¹	suo²	suo³	suo⁴

T 68/84
ta¹	ta²	ta³	ta⁴
tai¹	tai²	tai³	tai⁴
tan¹	tan²	tan³	tan⁴
tang¹	tang²	tang³	tang⁴
tao¹	tao²	tao³	tao⁴
te¹	te²	te³	te⁴
tei¹	tei²	tei³	tei⁴
teng¹	teng²	teng³	teng⁴
ti¹	ti²	ti³	ti⁴
tian¹	tian²	tian³	tian⁴
tiao¹	tiao²	tiao³	tiao⁴
tie¹	tie²	tie³	tie⁴
ting¹	ting²	ting³	ting⁴
tong¹	tong²	tong³	tong⁴
tou¹	tou²	tou³	tou⁴
tu¹	tu²	tu³	tu⁴
tuan¹	tuan²	tuan³	tuan⁴
tui¹	tui²	tui³	tui⁴
tun¹	tun²	tun³	tun⁴
tuo¹	tuo²	tuo³	tuo⁴

W 33/36
wa¹	wa²	wa³	wa⁴
wai¹	wai²	wai³	wai⁴
wan¹	wan²	wan³	wan⁴
wang¹	wang²	wang³	wang⁴
wei¹	wei²	wei³	wei⁴
wen¹	wen²	wen³	wen⁴
weng¹	weng²	weng³	weng⁴
wo¹	wo²	wo³	wo⁴
wu¹	wu²	wu³	wu⁴

X 50/56
xi¹	xi²	xi³	xi⁴
xia¹	xia²	xia³	xia⁴
xian¹	xian²	xian³	xian⁴
xiang¹	xiang²	xiang³	xiang⁴
xiao¹	xiao²	xiao³	xiao⁴
xie¹	xie²	xie³	xie⁴
xin¹	xin²	xin³	xin⁴
xing¹	xing²	xing³	xing⁴
xiong¹	xiong²	xiong³	xiong⁴
xiu¹	xiu²	xiu³	xiu⁴
xu¹	xu²	xu³	xu⁴
xuan¹	xuan²	xuan³	xuan⁴
xue¹	xue²	xue³	xue⁴
xun¹	xun²	xun³	xun⁴

Y 55/60
ya¹	ya²	ya³	ya⁴
yan¹	yan²	yan³	yan⁴
yang¹	yang²	yang³	yang⁴
yao¹	yao²	yao³	yao⁴
ye¹	ye²	ye³	ye⁴
yi¹	yi²	yi³	yi⁴
yin¹	yin²	yin³	yin⁴
ying¹	ying²	ying³	ying⁴
yo¹	yo²	yo³	yo⁴
yong¹	yong²	yong³	yong⁴
you¹	you²	you³	you⁴
yu¹	yu²	yu³	yu⁴
yuan¹	yuan²	yuan³	yuan⁴
yue¹	yue²	yue³	yue⁴
yun¹	yun²	yun³	yun⁴

Z 106/148
za¹	za²	za³	za⁴
zai¹	zai²	zai³	zai⁴
zan¹	zan²	zan³	zan⁴
zang¹	zang²	zang³	zang⁴
zao¹	zao²	zao³	zao⁴
ze¹	ze²	ze³	ze⁴
zei¹	zei²	zei³	zei⁴
zen¹	zen²	zen³	zen⁴
zeng¹	zeng²	zeng³	zeng⁴
zha¹	zha²	zha³	zha⁴
zhai¹	zhai²	zhai³	zhai⁴
zhan¹	zhan²	zhan³	zhan⁴
zhang¹	zhang²	zhang³	zhang⁴
zhao¹	zhao²	zhao³	zhao⁴
zhe¹	zhe²	zhe³	zhe⁴
zhei¹	zhei²	zhei³	zhei⁴
zhen¹	zhen²	zhen³	zhen⁴
zheng¹	zheng²	zheng³	zheng⁴
zhi¹	zhi²	zhi³	zhi⁴
zhong¹	zhong²	zhong³	zhong⁴
zhou¹	zhou²	zhou³	zhou⁴
zhu¹	zhu²	zhu³	zhu⁴
zhua¹	zhua²	zhua³	zhua⁴
zhuan¹	zhuan²	zhuan³	zhuan⁴
zhuang¹	zhuang²	zhuang³	zhuang⁴
zhui¹	zhui	zhui³	zhui⁴
zhun¹	zhun²	zhun³	zhun⁴
zhuo¹	zhuo²	zhuo³	zhuo⁴
zi¹	zi²	zi³	zi⁴
zong¹	zong²	zong³	zong⁴
zou¹	zou²	zou³	zou⁴
zu¹	zu²	zu³	zu⁴
zuan¹	zuan²	zuan³	zuan⁴
zui¹	zui²	zui³	zui⁴
zun¹	zun²	zun³	zun⁴
zuo¹	zuo²	zuo³	zuo⁴

Twenty-three tables, from table A to Z, except the letters of 'I', 'U' and 'V' which are not working as initials, are listed in the left-hand part of this page. There are totally 1648 cells in the tables. An alphabetic spelling in a cell indicates the sound has at least one written form in the ideographic Chinese writing system, while a blank cell tells the sound is not represented by any ideograph.

Chinese is a tonal language with 4 different tones. Each syllable carries a tone. All syllables in the tables are tonal syllables. Of these 1648 possible syllables, 1270 have written form in the ideographic Chinese writing system, while the other 378 don't. This is an important difference between the ideographic Chinese and phonetic western writing systems. In the former, only some, but not all, of the possible sounds, have written forms, but in the latter, all possible sounds have written forms which are spellings consisting of alphabetic letters.

The counting of syllables comes from A Chinese-English Dictionary which contains more than 6000 entries of Chinese character. Another two Chinese dictionaries are also used to confirm the spellings and counting.

In Chinese linguistics, a tonal syllable consists of an initial, a final, and a tone. It is generally believed that there are 22 initials with the zero initial included, 36 finals with [i] and [ɨ] conveniently treated as a single final for accurate counting of syllables, and 4 tones. Thereafter, there are totally 22 X 36 X 4 = 3168 possible tonal syllables, of which only 1270 have ideographic written forms, while the other 1898, or 60% of the set, have not. On the other hand, when a phonetic writing system is adopted, all the 3168 possible syllable, including the 1898 currently having not represented by ideographic characters, will immediately obtain written forms or spellings.

In fact, there are more possible sounds in Chinese. For instance, the initials [ŋ] and [v], and final [ar] are actually present in the language, but merely not officially taken as they should be. For more discussion on this topic, please go to another page on my web site. Chinese is a sea of homophonic words. It is common for a tonal syllable to represent several words. Their meanings are distinguished from one another by the shapes of different Chinese characters rather than phonetic values. There are extremes. For example, in A Chinese-English Dictionary I am using for this essay, the syllable yi⁴ is shared by 51 ideographs, and zhi⁴ by 35.

There were about 3000 syllables in the standard language of the tang² dynasty (618 - 907AD). And the number is reduced to less than the current 1300. The language in tang² was much more distinct. Many homophonic word nowadays were phonetically distinct in the early stages of the language. Following table provides an example in this regard:

sound comparison: now and tang² dynasty
HZ	PinYin & IPA	LMC
颜 (face)	yan² [ian²]	[ŋja:n]
言 (speech)	yan² [ian²]	[ŋjan]
延 (extend)	yan² [ian²]	[jian]
沿 (along)	yan² [ian²]	[jyan]
炎 (flame)	yan² [ian²]	[iam]
盐(salt)	yan² [ian²]	[jiam]
LMC: Late Middle Chinese ( Pulleyblank)

It can be seen in above table that many current homophones were not so in an early period of the language. Had a phonetic system been adopted for the language at that time, there would have been about 3000 distinct syllabic spellings, rather than less than 1300 as now, the homonymy would not be so severe.

This is not to say that the Chinese language must return to an early stage of development, to obtain phonemic and syllabic diversity. The starting point must be the current language. And diversity can be achieved as well, because there are lots of possible sounds available. Since China started the effort of romanization more than a century ago, the set of sounds represented by the ideographs has always been taken for granted, and other possible sounds have never been investigated and integrated into the language. This is an important reason for the failure of the romanization movement. Unless taking language into consideration, a Chinese alphabetic writing system is hopeless.

China boasts a long tradition of language planning for more than two thousand years, from the unification of ideographs by the first emperor of the qin² dynasty, to the modifications of lexicon in various dynasties, to designing the phonetic symbols and standardizing the sounds of the characters during the republican government, to the Communist work on the simplified characters and PinYin in 1950s. Now China needs a new language planning, in which language change must be taken into account, in order to advance an alphabetic writing. The most fatal mistake that China's romanization movement has made is the failure to associate the development of alphabetic writing with language change.

Besides the four distinct tones, a neutral tone is also defined in the standard Chinese. Neutral tone is not an independent tone, but merely weaker form of a tone. Syllables in Neutral tone are not listed in the tables.

REFERENCES

English Department. Beijing Foreign Language Institute. 1978. A Chinese-English Dictionary. shang¹wu⁴yin⁴ shu¹guan³.

Pulleyblank, E. G. 1991. Lexicon of Reconstruced Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin. Vancouver: UBC Press.

she⁴ke¹yuan⁴. yu³yan²suo³. 1978. xian⁴dai⁴yu³ci²dian³. shang¹wu⁴yin⁴ shu¹guan³.

xin¹hua²zi⁴dian³. 1998 xiu¹ding⁴ben³. shang¹wu⁴.

The Chinese Sounds Written in HanZi