Tones of Taiwanese

Tones of Taiwanese. In MTL, the tone is indicated by f, r, or x or modified spelling of the vowel.

The seven tones of Taiwanese, written in Peh-oe-ji (POJ)

File:Seven Tones.mp3

1. af, 2. ar, 3. ax, 4. aq, 5. aa, 7. a, 8. ah

File:Say, hor, pax, piq, hiim, chviu, lok.mp3

say, hor, pax, piq, hiim, chviu, lok (MoeDict)

File:Ty, bea, pax, aq, zoaa, chviu, lok.mp3

ty, bea, pax, aq, zoaa, chviu, lok (MoeDict)

svaf, tea, khox, khoaq, laang, ea, phvi, tit (衫 短 褲 闊 人 矮 鼻 直)

Table

Tone number	Name	Description	Pitch	MTL	Example
1	dark level (ym-pviaa 陰平)	high (køtiau-ym 高平音)	55	af	say 獅
2	rising (siorng 上)	shouting-out (sioxngtut-ym 高降音)	51	ar	hor 虎
3	dark departing (ym-khix 陰去)	low falling (extut-ym 下突音)	31	ax	pax 豹
4	dark entering (ym-jip 陰入)	low short (tef-chiok'ym 低促音)	3ʔ	aq	piq 鱉, aq 鴨
5	light level (ioong-pviaa 陽平)	curving (hoesoaan-ym 迴旋音)	24	aa	hiim 熊, guu 牛
7	light departing (ioong-khix 陽去)	basic (kitiau-ym 基調音)	33	a	chviu 象
8	light entering (ioong-jip 陽入)	high short (køf-chiok'ym 高促音)	5ʔ	ah	lok 鹿

• "level, rising, departing, entering" or "pviaa, siorng, khix, jip" refer to the original four tones of Middle Chinese
• Not shown: Tone 6 (pitch 22/33) is not widely used. Lukang accent still has the 6th tone, which has merged with the 2nd and 7th tones in other dialects of Taiwanese. Tone 9 (pitch 35) is used in Japanese loanwords and contractions. See TRS for diacritics.

See also

• Table of all finals in MTL
• tng'ym (long tone), tefym (short tone)
• Tone sandhi
• Reduplication
• Taiwanese Romanization System