Changzhou Dialect - Phonetics and Phonology - Tones - Tone Sandhi

Tone Sandhi

Sandhi in Wu dialects tends to be fairly complex as compared to Mandarin. While not nearly as complex as the Suzhou dialect of Wu, Changzhou dialect is no exception.

In the case of pairs of syllables have the stress on the second syllable, the only notable changes are the second syllable changing from (523) to (52) in the case of the fourth tone or from (13) to (11) with the second tone.

Tone sandhi for Changzhou dialect
1st 3rd 4th 6th 2nd 5th 7th
first 33:33 55:32 55:32 55:3 33:33 55:32 55:3
third 53:22 53:22 53:22 53:2 53:22 53:22 53:2
fourth 55:55 53:22 55:55 55:5 55:55 55:55 55:5
sixth 5:55 5:55 5:42 5:5 5:55 5:42 5:5
second 11:33 11:55 11:33 11:5 11:33 11:33 1:3
fifth 32:23 32:23 35:32 32:23 32:13 35:32 32:23
seventh 23:33 23:33 23:42 23:3 23:33 23:32 23:3

Read more about this topic:  Changzhou Dialect, Phonetics and Phonology, Tones

Famous quotes containing the word tone:

    ...I ... believe that words can help us move or keep us paralyzed, and that our choices of language and verbal tone have something—a great deal—to do with how we live our lives and whom we end up speaking with and hearing; and that we can deflect words, by trivialization, of course, but also by ritualized respect, or we can let them enter our souls and mix with the juices of our minds.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)