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. Let us illustrate the tone change process with some examples:

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

Initially, the hyphen keeps syllables separate. In all three cases, we know the first syllable needs to change tone. After the first step, the apostrophe delimits syllables that are already joined. In the next step, unneeded apostrophes are removed.

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

• bahzaxng
• Taioaan
• hibang (see polysyllables that become homonyms after conversion to MLT)

Usually, disyllables in MLT are written with the first syllable already changed. However, on the sentence level, plenty of tone change is not explicitly written and must be considered by the speaker.

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 (the hyphen is used to hint)

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