Tone Sandhi
Tone sandhi is a process whereby adjacent tones undergo dramatic alteration in connected speech. Similar to other Northern Wu dialects, Shanghainese is characterized by two forms of tone sandhi: a word tone sandhi and a phrasal tone sandhi.
Word tone sandhi in Shanghainese can be described as left-prominent and is characterized by a dominance of the first syllable over the contour of the entire tone domain. As a result, the underlying tones of syllables other than the leftmost syllable, have no effect on the tone contour of the domain. The pattern is generally described as tone spreading (T1-4) or tone shifting (T5, except for 4- and 5-syllable compounds, which can undergo spreading or shifting). The table below illustrates possible tone combinations.
| Tone | One syllable | Two syllables | Three syllables | Four syllables | Five syllables |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 52 | 55 22 | 55 44 22 | 55 44 33 22 | 55 44 33 33 22 |
| T2 | 34 | 33 44 | 33 44 22 | 33 44 33 22 | 33 44 33 33 22 |
| T3 | 14 | 11 44 | 11 44 11 | 11 44 33 11 | 11 44 33 22 11 |
| T4 | 44 | 33 44 | 33 44 22 | 33 44 33 22 | 33 44 33 22 22 |
| T5 | 24 | 11 24 | 11 11 24 | 11 22 22 24 22 44 33 11 |
11 11 11 11 24 22 44 33 22 11 |
As an example, in isolation, the two syllables of the word for China are pronounced with T1 and T4: /tsʊ̆ŋ52/ and /kwə̆ʔ44/. However, when pronounced in combination, T1 from /tsʊ̆ŋ/ spreads over the compound resulting in the following pattern /tsʊ̆ŋ55kwə̆ʔ22/. Similarly, the syllables in a common expression for foolish have the following underlying phonemic and tonal representations: /zə̆ʔ24/ (T5), /sɛ̝52/ (T1), and /ti34/ (T2). However, the syllables in combination exhibit the T5 shifting pattern where the first-syllable T5 shifts to the last syllabe in the domain: /zə̆ʔ11sɛ̝11
Read more about this topic: Shanghainese, Phonology, Tones
Famous quotes containing the word tone:
“We often contradict an opinion when it is actually only the tone with which it was put forward that is uncongenial to us.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)