Tones
Shanghainese has five phonetically distinguishable tones for single syllables said in isolation. These tones are illustrated below in Chao tone names. In terms of Middle Chinese tone designations, the Yin tone category has three tones (yinshang and yinqu tones have merged into one tone), while the Yang category has two tones (the yangping, yangshang, and yangqu have merged into one tone).
| Ping (平) | Shang (上) | Qu (去) | Ru (入) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yin (陰) | 52 (T1) | 34 (T2) | 44ʔ (T4) | |
| Yang (陽) | 14 (T3) | 24ʔ (T5) | ||
The conditioning factors which led to the yin-yang split still exist in Shanghainese, as they do in other Wu dialects: yang tones are only found with voiced initials, while the yin tones are only found with voiceless initials.
The ru tones are abrupt, and describe those rimes which end in a glottal stop /ʔ/. That is, both the yin-yang distinction and the ru tones are allophonic (dependent on syllabic structure). Shanghainese has only a two-way phonemic tone contrast, falling vs rising, and then only in open syllables with voiceless initials.
Read more about this topic: Shanghainese, Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word tones:
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