Daisuke Miyamoto: Changes in Meaning Based on Sound Intensity

2025/04/23

I am currently creating Chinese language teaching materials for use at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). In the process, I have rediscovered the fascination of the Chinese language, which I would like to share with you. As is well known, Chinese is a tonal language; therefore, even if the Romanized spelling of the pronunciation is the same, different tones refer to completely different things.

Ex: mǎi 买 (to buy), mài 卖 (to sell)

yǎnjing 眼 (eye), yǎnjìng 眼镜 (glasses)

Furthermore, when speaking in sentences, one must pay attention to the position of stress in addition to the tones. This is because the connotative meaning of a sentence changes slightly depending on where the stress is placed. For example, if example sentence (1) is spoken without stress anywhere, it is a sentence describing the fact that "He ate my cake." However, if stress is placed on "tā (他)" as in (a), it emphasizes that it was "he," and no one else, who ate the cake. Also, if stress is placed on "wǒ de (我的)" as in (b), it means that "my" cake was eaten, rather than someone else's. Finally, (c) is a somewhat special case; placing stress on "chīle (吃了)" implies that something was eaten that should not have been.

(1) 他吃了我的蛋糕。 (He ate my cake.)

a Tā chīle wǒ de dàngāo. (He ate my cake.)

b Tā chīle wǒ de dàngāo. (He ate my cake.)

c Tā chīle wǒ de dàngāo. (He ate my cake.)

In Chinese language education as a second foreign language, emphasis is placed on the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary, and content like the above is rarely covered. Consequently, learners either finish their studies without ever encountering these concepts, or they must acquire them through actual communication with native speakers upon visiting China.

Of course, grammar and vocabulary are essential elements in learning Chinese. However, when communicating with native speakers, it is vital to understand the linguistic habits of the language, grasp the connotative meanings of utterances, and avoid unnecessary friction.

Therefore, it is necessary to create more practical Chinese language teaching materials that allow for the study of utterances and their connotative meanings from an acoustic perspective.