CSL Sound Lab.

These diagrams are simplified teaching models. Real speech uses continuous, coordinated movement. Positions, airflow, and pitch sketches are illustrative, not medical or acoustic measurements.

Practice audio uses synthetic speech. Front and side views illustrate coordinated mouth movements. No microphone or pronunciation scoring is used.

Speech air comes from the lungs, through the windpipe and larynx. Ordinary speech breathing is enough. The tongue, lips, and palate shape the sound; vocal-fold vibration carries pitch.

Tone happens during the voiced sound, not afterward. Third tones often remain low in connected speech; before another third tone, the first typically changes. 一 and 不 also change in suitable contexts. Your vocabulary keeps its printed dictionary tones.

For aspiration, compare a light tissue held a few centimeters from the mouth. A more noticeable puff is a practice cue, not a measurement.

After j, q and x, written u belongs to the ü family. Y and w are treated here as spelling conventions for zero-initial syllables. Iu, ui and un may abbreviate longer finals; the ü series has its own rules. The written i in zi or zhi differs from i in mi.

Er is a separate syllable. An attached -r may indicate erhua, a change to the final; this edition flags it for instructor guidance instead of inventing a universal tongue animation.

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