A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese (view source)

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 [[File:Tone Circles.png|right|frame|The seven tones, and how they change due to tone sandhi.]]
-The basic unit of speech is the syllable, which can change tone depending on where it is spoken in a sentence. This is referred to as [[tone sandhi]], which is extensive in Taiwanese.
+The basic unit of speech is the syllable, which can change tone depending on its environment. This is referred to as [[tone sandhi]], which is extensive in Taiwanese.
-Syllables inside of a word almost always change tone. For example:
+Generally, a syllable inside of a word changes tone according to the Tone Circles. For example, the single-syllable word for "duck" (bird): ''{{x|aq}}''. Its original tone is low-short. After adding the suffix ''{{x|ar}}'', the tone becomes high-short: ''{{x|ah'ar}}''.
-* ''aq'' (duck) + ''ar'' (suffix) = ''{{x|ah'ar}}'' (duck)
+More examples:
 * ''jit'' (sun) + ''thaau'' (head) = ''{{x|jidthaau}}'' (the sun)
 * ''cit'' (one) + ''sud'' (a bit) + ''ar'' = ''{{x|cidsut'ar}}'' (a little amount of something)
-If a syllable is spoken in the middle of a word, phrase or sentence, it changes tone according to the Tone Circles. If a syllable is spoken at the end of a phrase or sentence, it does not change tone. The last syllable of most nouns don't change tone.
+Inside a sentence, the last syllable of most nouns don't change tone. But if that noun is actually used as an adjective, it will. For example, in ''cidsut'ar png'' (a bit of rice), the ''ar'' changes to high tone when spoken. Furthermore, in ''{{x|ciah}} cidsut'ar png'', the verb ''ciah'' (to eat) changes to low-short tone when spoken.
-These tone changes are probably by far the hardest part of learning Taiwanese.
+You may have realized by now that tone change is connected to grammar. These tone changes are probably by far the hardest part of learning Taiwanese.
 === Three special symbols ===