Tone table
A quick reference for Teochew tones.
Main features
The Teochew tone system historically corresponds to the four Middle Chinese tone classes (level, rising, departing, and checked), which later split into yin and yang registers to form about eight basic tone categories.
Specifically:
- Level, rising, and departing tones are non-checked tones whose contours can be prolonged
- Checked tones end abruptly in -b / -d / -g / -h
Yin tones
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Level | Rising | Departing | Checked |
| Example | ||||
| Value | 33 | 51 | 213 | 2 |
Yang tones
| Number | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Level | Rising | Departing | Checked |
| Example | ||||
| Value | 55 | 25 | 21 | 5 |
Tone sandhi
Teochew has systematic tone sandhi: in connected speech, citation tones change according to the relationship between adjacent syllables.
Mandarin has a related process: when two third tones occur together, the first is pronounced close to a second tone, as in 很好.
Tone sandhi is much more pervasive in Teochew and produces three additional derived tones:
| Number | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 23 | 31 | 3 |
Main sandhi rules
In connected speech, the final syllable normally keeps its citation tone; a preceding syllable changes according to the following syllable’s citation tone.
Use the table to find the sandhi tone of the preceding syllable: columns show its citation tone, rows show the following syllable’s citation tone, and each intersection gives the resulting tone.
| Yin level (1) | Yin rising (2) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) | Yang level (5) | Yang rising (6) | Yang departing (7) | Yang checked (8) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yin level (1) | A | A | B | C | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yin rising (2) | A | Yang rising (6) | Yin rising (2) | Yang checked (8) | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yin departing (3) | A | A | B | C | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yin checked (4) | A | A | B | C | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yang level (5) | A | Yang rising (6) | Yin rising (2) | Yang checked (8) | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yang rising (6) | A | A | B | C | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yang departing (7) | A | A | B | C | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |
| Yang checked (8) | A | Yang rising (6) | Yin rising (2) | Yang checked (8) | Yin departing (3) | Yang departing (7) | Yin departing (3) | Yin checked (4) |