<ol>
<li><p>It is called 隔音符號 (lit. symbol for sound segregation). When you group pinyin syllables by word, sometimes confusion may arise. With <code>fángài</code>, do you mean <code>fán gài</code> or <code>fáng ài</code>?</p>
</li>
<li><p>An apostrophe is needed before syllables that begin with <code>a</code>, <code>o</code>, or <code>e</code> to avoid confusion (because they have a silent initial, i.e. 零聲母). So if you write <code>fángài</code>, you only mean <code>fán gài</code> (there is no word for this), but if you write <code>fáng'ài</code>, you mean <code>fáng ài 妨礙</code>.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Other examples include: <code>Xī'ān 西安</code> vs <code>xiān 先</code>, <code>pí'ǎo 皮襖</code> vs the syllable <code>piao</code>.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Reference: <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">漢語拼音方案</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-23T11:34:55.760Z
it is just differentiator. understood. thanks for clarification 
user27485
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-23T11:29:04.030Z
2021-04-23T11:29:04.030Z
L Parker
<p>For any pronunciation the tone is on the vowel in sequence of a, e, i, o,u which appears first.If it is a two character  word, there will not be any symbol between two characters.</p>
<p>But in 妨碍 (fáng'ài), what is the character between fáng and ài. What differentiation it makes with this character “'”?</p>

<pronunciation>
Pronunciation of 妨碍 (fáng'ài)
# Pronunciation of 妨碍 (fáng'ài)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-04-23)

For any pronunciation the tone is on the vowel in sequence of a, e, i, o,u which appears first.If it is a two character word, there will not be any symbol between two characters.

But in 妨碍 (fáng'ài), what is the character between fáng and ài. What differentiation it makes with this character “'”?

**Tags:** pronunciation


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-04-23. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

1. It is called 隔音符號 (lit. symbol for sound segregation). When you group pinyin syllables by word, sometimes confusion may arise. With `fángài`, do you mean `fán gài` or `fáng ài`?
2. An apostrophe is needed before syllables that begin with `a`, `o`, or `e` to avoid confusion (because they have a silent initial, i.e. 零聲母). So if you write `fángài`, you only mean `fán gài` (there is no word for this), but if you write `fáng'ài`, you mean `fáng ài 妨礙`.
3. Other examples include: `Xī'ān 西安` vs `xiān 先`, `pí'ǎo 皮襖` vs the syllable `piao`.

Reference: [漢語拼音方案](http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: it is just differentiator. understood. thanks for clarification   

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