Differences between initials like j/q/x and zh/ch/sh
Chinese Pronunciation Simplified: A Beginner's Guide: Differences between initials like j/q/x and zh/ch/sh
The main differences between the Chinese initials j, q, x and zh, ch, sh lie in the tongue position, aspiration, and sound quality:
- Tongue position: For j, q, x, the middle of the tongue raises high against the hard palate near the roof of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue down behind the lower front teeth. For zh, ch, sh, the tongue tip curls up to touch or approach the hard palate (retroflex position) with the middle of the tongue lower.
- Aspiration and voicing: j and zh are unaspirated (no strong burst of air), but zh is retroflex; q and ch are aspirated (strong burst of air), but ch is retroflex; x and sh are both unvoiced fricatives but x is with tongue middle raised high, sh is retroflex.
- Sound quality: j, q, x produce softer, palatalized sounds somewhat like the English sounds in “jeans” (j), “cheese” (q), and a soft “sh” (x). The retroflex zh, ch, sh produce harder, more “retroflexed” sounds pronounced with the tongue curled back toward the palate.
- Vowel differences: j, q, x and zh, ch, sh tend not to be followed by the same vowels in pinyin, which helps distinguish them.
In summary, the difference is mainly anatomical in how the tongue is placed (top middle for j/q/x vs curled back for zh/ch/sh), combined with aspiration and resulting sound quality differences. 2, 5, 6, 8, 10