Tone sandhi

Tone sandhi ("sandhi" is from the Sanskrit word for "joining") is the change of tone based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes.

• In Taiwanese, most syllables will have to change tone (pierntiau) depending on the surrounding words and grammatical function. The rules for this are extensive. Basically, it's a way to join syllables into words as well as to join larger units.
• Almost all verbs and adjectives will change tone to "join" them to whatever is coming next in the sentence, if present.
• The final syllable in a noun doesn't change tone, as long as it's standing alone. (If it's being used as an adjective, see above.)

Basic rules (tone circles)

Taiwanese tones in isolation, and the changes they undergo when they precede another tone.

• If the original tone number is 5 (curving-up tone), pronounce it as tone number 7 (basic).
• If the original tone number is 7 (basic tone), pronounce it as tone number 3 (low-falling).
• If the original tone number is 3 (low-falling), pronounce it as tone number 2 (shouting out).
• If the original tone number is 2 (shouting tone), pronounce it as tone number 1 (high).
• If the original tone number is 1 (high tone), pronounce it as tone number 7 (basic).

• If the original tone number is 8 (high-short), pronounce it as tone number 4 (low-short).
• If the original tone number is 4 (low-short), pronounce it as tone number 8 (high-short).

We admit this is a simplification. Please see Taiwanese Hokkien#Tone sandhi for a more detailed explanation.

Examples in Modern Literal Taiwanese

In MLT, most multisyllabic words are written with internal tones already changed. This way, the spelling explicitly reflects tone sandhi and thus grammar. For example:

• chviar-mng → chviaf'mng → chviafmng
• køea-cie → køef'cie → køefcie
• siør-ciar → siøf'ciar → siøfciar

Try using the MTL Toolbox to "unjoin" these example words into the original syllables:

• bahzaxng
• Taioaan
• hibang (See MTL words with double reverse mapping for more post-tone-sandhi homophones.)

Of course, there is still plenty of tone change that is not explicitly written.

Exceptions

• most nouns
• ciaf, hiaf, zef, hef, ciahniq', hiahniq'
• symmih, ui-symmih, (see Taiguo_Siong'iong_460-ji#Demonstrative_pronouns)
• basic tone + ar. (The basic tone syllable is excepted).
• surnames before siensvy: Taan`Siensvy
• some compound words: tøe-tang, thvy-kngf, sym-sngf

Further details

• more details on double tone sandhi, cases involving suffix ar (仔), and adjective triplication can be found at Wikipedia: Taiwanese Hokkien#Tone sandhi
• syllables ending in "h" are usually pronounced in shouting tone, such as in bahzaxng, but not bøeq
• khix ("to go") is usually treated as if originally "khiq"

See also

• Tones of Taiwanese
• Banlaam-guo