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A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions
A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese (view source)
Revision as of 13:51, 17 September 2019
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=== Tones === | === Tones === | ||
Taiwanese is a tonal language which means that pitch is used to convey meaning. Many words are differentiated solely by tone. Learning to speak and hear the [[tones of Taiwanese]] correctly is often difficult for | Taiwanese is a tonal language which means that pitch is used to convey meaning. Many words are differentiated solely by tone. Learning to speak and hear the [[tones of Taiwanese]] correctly is often difficult for beginners. With practice you will be able to hear and speak them. Again most speakers of Taiwanese are not aware of the different tones but they can all understand you when you pronounce them correctly. | ||
Taiwanese | As you may have noticed from the [[:File:Seven Tones of Taiwanese.pdf|''Seven Tones'' chart]], there are five long tones and two short tones. | ||
* ''f'', ''x'' and ''r'' are silent tone indicators for long tones | |||
* short tones always end with a stop letter that tells both consonant and pitch | |||
[[File:af,_a,_ax,_ar,_aa,_ah,_aq.mp3|thumb|none|af, a, ax, ar, aa, ah, aq]] | [[File:af,_a,_ax,_ar,_aa,_ah,_aq.mp3|thumb|none|af, a, ax, ar, aa, ah, aq]] | ||
{| class="wikitable sortable" | {| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
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|} | |} | ||
[[File:af, ar, ax, aq, aa, a, ah.mp3|thumb|none| | [[File:af, ar, ax, aq, aa, a, ah.mp3|thumb|none|the [[tones of Taiwanese]] in their classic order: 1. ''{{x|af}}'', 2. ''{{x|ar}}'', 3. ''ax'', 4. ''{{x|aq}}'', 5. ''aa'', 7. ''a'', 8. ''{{x|ah}}'']] | ||
==== Short tones ==== | |||
Let's look at the [[short tone]]s first: | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! Pitch !! -h !! -p !! -t !! -k | |||
|- | |||
| 8. high || {{x|ciah}} (''to eat'') || {{x|ap}} (''a box'') || {{x|lat}} (''strength'') || {{x|bak}} (''ink'') | |||
|- | |||
| 4. low || {{x|phaq}} (''to hit'') || {{x|ciab}} (''juice'') || {{x|kad}} (''knot'') || {{x|kag}} (''horn'') | |||
|} | |||
* high short tones end with ''h'' ({{w|glottal stop}}), ''p'', ''t'' and ''k'', which are stops sounding similar to how they're used as an initial consonant | |||
* low short tones end with ''q'', ''b'', ''d'', and ''g'', which are the same stops as above, but signal the vowel is low pitch | |||
==== Long tones ==== | ==== Long tones ==== | ||
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The tone indicators always come to the right of the vowel, with one exception. To indicate the curving tone of a compound vowel, normally its last letter is repeated. But when there is an ''a'', it is the one repeated, even when it doesn't sit at the very end of the vowel. For example: ''{{x|gaau}}'', ''{{x|jidthaau}}'', ''{{x|na'aau}}''. | The tone indicators always come to the right of the vowel, with one exception. To indicate the curving tone of a compound vowel, normally its last letter is repeated. But when there is an ''a'', it is the one repeated, even when it doesn't sit at the very end of the vowel. For example: ''{{x|gaau}}'', ''{{x|jidthaau}}'', ''{{x|na'aau}}''. | ||
=== Review all the tones === | === Review all the tones === | ||