stress patterns

[Guest sjj17]

Hi

I was wondering if somebody could suggest somewhere on the internet that I might be able to learn about the stress patterns and tune for speaking chinese. There is a section in my textbook on this but it isnt very clear so I want to have a look at some other sources.

Thanks

Sarah

[wix]

This may not exactly be the answer that you're looking for but here goes... The best source of information is listening to the Chinese people around you speak. It is something you can learn with your ears. The more you are exposed to the language the more you will pick up the natural sounds and intonations of the language.

Of course if you are trying to write a linguistics paper then you may need some reference, but if you only want to speak Chinese then follow your ears.

[sfr@rcn.com]

Great question. I wish someone could produce a formula we could all follow, sort of like the one for latin (the stress is on the ante-penult). Since I certainly haven't found any regularity or system, I've taken to underlying the stressed syllable whenever I learn a new word. Doesn't help for words I learn from reading, though.