* Tonal Languages: Chinese is a tonal language, meaning the same consonant can have different meanings depending on the tone used. This makes counting consonants more complex.
* Initial and Final Consonants: Chinese syllables often consist of an initial consonant followed by a vowel and sometimes a final consonant. The final consonants are often considered to be part of the vowel, not a separate consonant.
* Pinyin Transcription: The most common way to transcribe Chinese uses Pinyin, which has 21 initial consonants and 6 final consonants. However, these are not all truly distinct consonants.
To sum up:
* 21 initial consonants: These are the consonants that start a syllable, such as "b", "p", "m", "f", etc.
* 6 final consonants: These are the consonants that occur at the end of a syllable, such as "n", "ng", "r", etc.
Therefore, it's more accurate to say that Chinese has 21 initial consonants and 6 final consonants, rather than a specific number of total consonants.