Tones of Taiwanese

Below is a chart of the Tones of Taiwanese and correspondence to Tones of Middle Chinese (yin/yang, im'ioong). 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

Order (順序)	Name (調名)	Description	調值		POJ	MTL	Example
1	陰平 (yin level)	Køtiau-ym (高平音; High Tone)	˥˥	55	a	af	獅 （say）
2	上 (rising)	Sioxngtut-ym (高降音; Shouting-Out Tone)	˥˩	51	á	ar	虎 （hor）
3	陰去 (yin departing)	Extut-ym (下突音; Low Falling Tone)	˧˩	31	à	ax	豹 （pax）
4	陰入 (yin entering)	Tef-Chiok'ym (低促音; Low Short Tone)	˧ʔ	3ʔ	ah	aq	鱉 （piq），鴨 （aq）
5	陽平 (yang level)	Hoesoaan-ym (迴旋音; Curving Tone)	˨˦	24	â	aa	熊 （hiim），牛 （guu）
7	陽去 (yang departing)	Kitiau-ym (基調音; Basic Tone)	˧˧	33	ā	a	象 （chviu）
8	陽入 (yang entering)	Køf-Chiok'ym (高促音; High Short Tone)	˥ʔ	5ʔ	a̍h	ah	鹿 （lok）

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

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

• Tone 6 used to be a distinct tone, but has long since merged with tone 2
  • (Lukang still has the 6th tone (陽上聲; ǎ), which has merged with the 2nd and 7th tones in other dialects of Taiwanese.)
  • Tone 6 is used in reduplication
• Chart adapted from 臺灣話#.E8.81.B2.E8.AA.BF

Examples

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)

See Also

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