Tone sandhi

Tone sandhi (Zoafntiau) in Taiwanese is the process of altering the tone of a syllable depending on the surrounding words and grammatical function. Most nouns in Taiwanese do not change tone. However, almost all verbs and adjectives do change tone when not at the end of a phrase.

Basic Rules (Tone Circle)

• If the original tone number is 5 (curving up), pronounce it as tone number 7 (basic).
• If the original tone number is 7 (basic), 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 out), pronounce it as tone number 1 (high).
• If the original tone number is 1 (high), pronounce it as tone number 7 (basic).

• If the original tone number is 8, pronounce it as tone number 4.
• If the original tone number is 4, pronounce it as tone number 8.

See diagram and [1] for a more detailed explanation.

• Exception: basic+ar, where basic retains original tone.

External Links

• Tone sandhi