<p>Major dictionaries published in mainland China usually have the official Pinyin chart as appendix.</p>

<p>You can download the official pdf of the Pinyin system from the government site: <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf</a> </p>

<p>You can also find it on wikisource: <a href="https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88</a></p>

<p>You also need to have a basic understanding of Chinese phonology and the Pinyin system. For instance, when there is no initial, finals beginning with 'i' should be written as 'y', and finals beginning with 'ü' should be written as 'yu'. Hope this clears your questions about <code>yo is in the slot for "y+o" but in this article, it mentioned as a combination of i+o</code> and <code>some charts don't have "yun" but there are clearly hanzi that use it</code>. </p>

<p>In my personal experience, the character 唷 is not very commonly used. 哟 is perhaps more common. </p>

<p>On the whole, interjections are often exceptions from phonological rules. (Think of the English word 'hmm'.) In Chinese, the pronunciation of interjections are often fluid. If a sound combination is only used in interjections and no other character uses this sound combination, it could be considered not part of the normal phonology and thus is not included in the Pinyin chart. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-17T02:56:36.653Z
2020-02-17T02:56:36.653Z
Betty
<p>I have been searching for an official version of the Pinyin chart and I came across multiple variations of it. One of the charts I saw had the combination "yo". A quick search showed that one character it is used with is 唷 (yō).</p>

<p>The <a href="https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=yo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">definition</a> of 唷 is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>(interjection expressing surprise) Oh!<br>
  My!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>My question is, why is "yo" omitted from some Pinyin charts? Is it a rare combination or is there any other reason? (Judging from the above definition, it seems like the hanzi is used frequently enough?)</p>

<p>Also, in <a href="http://uiimage.superlgr.com/73022_0.jpg?x-oss-process=style/songshubangong" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this chart</a>, yo is in the slot for "y+o" but in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin#Pronunciation_of_finals" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a>, it mentioned as a combination of i+o. </p>

<p>That is but one inconsistency. There are many more differences from one chart to the other (For example, some charts don't have "yun" but there are clearly hanzi that use it). Is there an official set of combinations? (I found some <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19243/is-there-a-chart-of-all-possible-chinese-syllables-using-hanzi">compilations</a> of the combinations but I don't know if some initial-final combinations are in use now.)</p>

<p>P.S. I read an article about "er" being part of a group of four special vowels and about how erroneous it was to place it in the chart with other pinyin finals. Does anyone know more about this? I can't find the link for the article so I don't have enough information to create a new question. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-13T16:33:01.507Z
Is it actually supposed to be `you1`? That's how I hear it said anyway. In fact, I don't think I have heard of anyone say `yo1` or even know how to pronounce `yo1`. Is it like `bo1` but with a `y`?
cyanos
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-13T17:08:53.010Z
@cyanos I don't know either. In some charts(like the one I've linked), there's a "you" as well as a "yo" but in most of them, I've only seen "you".
Matte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T02:01:59.690Z
"Y" isn't an initial in Mandarin. It's a character used to indicate a final with no initial (along with "w" for some finals). "o" is a pinyin sound (being "no initial"+"o final"). Your chart shows "ya" and "wa", but "a" with no final is just "a", "ya" is "y" (no initial) + "ia" (same as jia), and "wa" doesn't exist. Similarly "o" is just "o", "yo" does not exist, and "wo" is "w" (no initial)+"uo" (like "duo").
Ben Jackson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T03:35:59.460Z
@BenJackson "wa" does exist though (see [Nüwa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCwa)). But I get what you mean. "Yo" is an onomatopoeia and it's common for onomatopoeiae to break phonotactic rules. 
OP: Bo/po/mo/fo is in practice pronounced more like buo/puo/muo/fuo. Pinyin is not phonetic and pinyin charts will always have some problems because of this.
范阮煌
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T04:46:06.787Z
@范阮煌 is correct, wa is w+ua, 我*挖*到自己的祖坟
Ben Jackson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T06:35:07.687Z
@BenJackson You're right. I was reading more about this."y" and "w" are semivowels used as placeholders or prefixed before i,u and ü to make it easier to determine the exact combination of initials-finals. "Yo" would just be a combination of "i+o" but it doesn't seem like it's a common occurrence.
Matte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T06:40:45.207Z
@范阮煌 Is there an official version of the pinyin chart? Which version do they use in Chinese schools? I've seen more than one chart which omits "yun" and it doesn't seem that rare for that pinyin to occur(?).
Matte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-21T19:23:37.327Z
@Matte Fascinating: When I compare the [唷](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%94%B7) vs [优](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BC%98/7043855) even the Zhuyin looks different. The Zhuyin on 唷 looks like it should have the same ending vowel as `bo1` and without the 'oo' sound. I'm still not sure how that would be pronounced (`yuhhh`?) but don't think I would go wrong pronouncing it the same as `you1`. To your question of why it's omitted, perhaps because it only comes up in particles suggests that it's dialectical or regional rather than standard.
cyanos
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-28T13:30:29.097Z
@cyanos Wow, interesting. Feels like there's a whole lot of stuff related to the Pinyin/Zhuyin charts that's still unexplored. Regarding some combos being omitted, is "yun" used in some dialects only? Why is it omitted as well?
Matte
<pinyin>
How common is the character 唷 (pinyin: yō) in Mandarin?
# How common is the character 唷 (pinyin: yō) in Mandarin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-13)

I have been searching for an official version of the Pinyin chart and I came across multiple variations of it. One of the charts I saw had the combination "yo". A quick search showed that one character it is used with is 唷 (yō).

The [definition](https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=yo) of 唷 is:

> (interjection expressing surprise) Oh!  
> My!

My question is, why is "yo" omitted from some Pinyin charts? Is it a rare combination or is there any other reason? (Judging from the above definition, it seems like the hanzi is used frequently enough?)

Also, in [this chart](http://uiimage.superlgr.com/73022_0.jpg?x-oss-process=style/songshubangong), yo is in the slot for "y+o" but in [this article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin#Pronunciation_of_finals), it mentioned as a combination of i+o.

That is but one inconsistency. There are many more differences from one chart to the other (For example, some charts don't have "yun" but there are clearly hanzi that use it). Is there an official set of combinations? (I found some [compilations](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19243/is-there-a-chart-of-all-possible-chinese-syllables-using-hanzi) of the combinations but I don't know if some initial-final combinations are in use now.)

P.S. I read an article about "er" being part of a group of four special vowels and about how erroneous it was to place it in the chart with other pinyin finals. Does anyone know more about this? I can't find the link for the article so I don't have enough information to create a new question.

**Tags:** pinyin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is it actually supposed to be `you1`? That's how I hear it said anyway. In fact, I don't think I have heard of anyone say `yo1` or even know how to pronounce `yo1`. Is it like `bo1` but with a `y`?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I don't know either. In some charts(like the one I've linked), there's a "you" as well as a "yo" but in most of them, I've only seen "you".  
> **username_2**: "Y" isn't an initial in Mandarin. It's a character used to indicate a final with no initial (along with "w" for some finals). "o" is a pinyin sound (being "no initial"+"o final"). Your chart shows "ya" and "wa", but "a" with no final is just "a", "ya" is "y" (no initial) + "ia" (same as jia), and "wa" doesn't exist. Similarly "o" is just "o", "yo" does not exist, and "wo" is "w" (no initial)+"uo" (like "duo").  
> **username_3**: @username_2 "wa" does exist though (see [Nüwa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCwa)). But I get what you mean. "Yo" is an onomatopoeia and it's common for onomatopoeiae to break phonotactic rules.  OP: Bo/po/mo/fo is in practice pronounced more like buo/puo/muo/fuo. Pinyin is not phonetic and pinyin charts will always have some problems because of this.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 is correct, wa is w+ua, 我*挖*到自己的祖坟  
> **username_0**: @username_2 You're right. I was reading more about this."y" and "w" are semivowels used as placeholders or prefixed before i,u and ü to make it easier to determine the exact combination of initials-finals. "Yo" would just be a combination of "i+o" but it doesn't seem like it's a common occurrence.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 Is there an official version of the pinyin chart? Which version do they use in Chinese schools? I've seen more than one chart which omits "yun" and it doesn't seem that rare for that pinyin to occur(?).  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Fascinating: When I compare the [唷](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%94%B7) vs [优](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BC%98/7043855) even the Zhuyin looks different. The Zhuyin on 唷 looks like it should have the same ending vowel as `bo1` and without the 'oo' sound. I'm still not sure how that would be pronounced (`yuhhh`?) but don't think I would go wrong pronouncing it the same as `you1`. To your question of why it's omitted, perhaps because it only comes up in particles suggests that it's dialectical or regional rather than standard.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Wow, interesting. Feels like there's a whole lot of stuff related to the Pinyin/Zhuyin charts that's still unexplored. Regarding some combos being omitted, is "yun" used in some dialects only? Why is it omitted as well?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-02-17. Score: 2

Major dictionaries published in mainland China usually have the official Pinyin chart as appendix.

You can download the official pdf of the Pinyin system from the government site: <http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/03/02/20150302165814246.pdf>

You can also find it on wikisource: <https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88>

You also need to have a basic understanding of Chinese phonology and the Pinyin system. For instance, when there is no initial, finals beginning with 'i' should be written as 'y', and finals beginning with 'ü' should be written as 'yu'. Hope this clears your questions about `yo is in the slot for "y+o" but in this article, it mentioned as a combination of i+o` and `some charts don't have "yun" but there are clearly hanzi that use it`.

In my personal experience, the character 唷 is not very commonly used. 哟 is perhaps more common.

On the whole, interjections are often exceptions from phonological rules. (Think of the English word 'hmm'.) In Chinese, the pronunciation of interjections are often fluid. If a sound combination is only used in interjections and no other character uses this sound combination, it could be considered not part of the normal phonology and thus is not included in the Pinyin chart.


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