Four tones (Middle Chinese)
꜂ |
|
꜀ |
|
The four tones of Chinese poetry and dialectology (simplified Chinese:
Background
[edit]According to the usual modern analysis, Early Middle Chinese had three phonemic tones in most syllables, but no tonal distinctions in checked syllables ending in the stop consonants /p/, /t/, /k/. In most circumstances, every syllable had its own tone; hence a multisyllabic word typically had a tone assigned to each syllable. (In modern varieties, the situation is sometimes more complicated. Although each syllable typically still has its own underlying tone in most dialects, some syllables in the speech of some varieties may have their tone modified into other tones or neutralized entirely, by a process known as tone sandhi. Furthermore, many varieties of Chinese deleted Middle Chinese final consonants, but these contrasts may have been preserved, helping lead to tonogenesis of contemporary multitonal systems.)
Traditional Chinese dialectology reckons syllables ending in a stop consonant as possessing a fourth tone, known technically as a checked tone. This tone is known in traditional Chinese linguistics as the entering (
From the perspective of modern historical linguistics, there is often value in treating the entering tone as a tone regardless of its phonemic status, because syllables possessing this tone typically develop differently from syllables possessing any of the other three tones. For clarity, these four tones are often referred to as tone classes, with each word belonging to one of the four tone classes. This reflects the fact that the lexical division of words into tone classes is based on tone, but not all tone classes necessarily have a distinct phonemic tone associated with them. Some contemporary fāngyán such as Taiwanese Hokkien, Jin and Penang are said to preserve the entering tone, which is used as a marker to differentiate them from other varieties and also genetically classify them via the comparative method.
The four Early Middle Chinese (EMC) tones are nearly always presented in the order level (
Baxter's transcription, an alphabetic notation for representing Middle Chinese, represents the rising (
Names
[edit]In Middle Chinese, each of the tone names carries the tone it identifies:
In modern Chinese varieties, tones that derive from the four Middle Chinese tone classes may be split into two registers, dark (
Chinese dictionaries mark the tones with diacritical marks at the four corners of a character:[6] ꜀
In Yue (incl. Cantonese) the dark entering tone further splits into high (
The number of tone classes is based on Chinese tradition, and is as much register as it is actual tone. The entering 'tones', for example, are distinct only because they are checked by a final stop consonant, not because they have a tone contour that contrasts with non-entering tones. In dialects such as Shanghainese, tone classes are numbered even if they are not phonemically distinct.
Origin
[edit]The tonal aspect of Chinese dialects that is so important today is believed by some linguists to have been absent from Old Chinese, but rather came about in Early Middle Chinese after the loss of various finals. According to Sagart (1999:11),[7]
"Old Chinese was a toneless language. Tones arose between Old Chinese and Early Middle Chinese (that is between 500 BCE and 500 CE) as a result of the loss of final laryngeals."
The four tones of Middle Chinese,
Distribution in modern Chinese and Sino-Vietnamese
[edit]Sample dialects and their realization of tone are given below.
Different authors typically have different opinions as to the shapes of Chinese tones. Tones typically have a slight purely phonetic drop at the end in citation form. It is therefore likely that a tone with a drop of one unit (54, say, or 21) is not distinct from a level tone (a 55 or 22); on the other hand, what one author hears as a significant drop (53 or 31) may be perceived by another as a smaller drop so it is often ambiguous whether a transcription like 54 or 21 is a level or contour tone. Similarly, a slight drop before a rise, such as a 214, may be from the speaker approaching the target tone and so may also not be distinctive (from 14).[10]
major group | subgroup | local variety | Early Middle Chinese tone class | number of tone classes (number of phonemic tones) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
꜀ |
꜂ |
||||||||||||||||
Syllable onset | |||||||||||||||||
voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | ||||||||||
son | obs | son | obs | tenuis | asp | son | obs | (short) | (long) | son | obs | ||||||
Sample characters: | 岛考 | 马 | 怕 | ||||||||||||||
Mandarin | Beijing | Beijing | ① ˥ 55 | ②[a] ˧˥ 35 | ③ ˨˩˦ 21(4)[b] | ⑤ ˥˩ 51[c] | (any)[d] | ⑤ | ② | 4 | |||||||
Taipei[12] | ① ˦ 44 | ②[a] ˧˨˧ 323 | ③ ˧˩˨ 31(2)[b] | ⑤ ˥˨ 52 | (any)[d] | ⑤ | ② | 4 | |||||||||
Northeastern | Harbin | ① ˦ 44 | ②[a] ˨˧ 23 | ③ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑤ ˥˧ 53 | (any) | 4 | ||||||||||
Shenyang | ① ˧ 33 | ②[a] ˧˥ 35 | ③ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑤ ˥˧ 53 | (any) | 4 | |||||||||||
Jiao–Liao | Dalian | ① ˦˨ 42 | ① or ② | ②[a] ˧˥ 35 | ③ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑤ ˥˧ 53 | ③ | ⑤ | ② | 4 | |||||||
Ji–Lu | Tianjin | ① ˨˩ 21 | ②[a] ˧˥ 35 | ③ ˩˩˧ 113 | ⑤ ˥˧ 53 | ① | ⑤ | ② | 4 | ||||||||
Jinan | ① ˨˩˧ 213 | ②[a] ˦˨ 42 | ③ ˥ 55 | ⑤ ˨˩ 21 | ① | ⑤ | ② | 4 | |||||||||
Zhongyuan (Central Plain) |
Xi'an | ① ˧˩ 31 | ②[a] ˨˦ 24 | ③ ˦˨ 42 | ⑤ ˥ 55 | ① | ② | 4 | |||||||||
Dungan | ① ˨˦ 24 | ③ ˥˩ 51 | ⑤ ˦ 44 | ① | ③ | 3 | |||||||||||
Lan–Yin |
Lanzhou | ① ˧˩ 31 | ②[a] ˥˧ 53 | ③ ˦˦˨ 442 | ⑤ ˩˧ 13 | ② | 4 | ||||||||||
Yinchuan | ① | ③ | ⑤ | 3 | |||||||||||||
Southwestern | Wuhan | ① ˥ 5 | ②[a] ˨˩˧ 213 | ③ ˦˨ 42 | ⑤ ˧˥ 35 | ② | 4 | ||||||||||
Chengdu | ① ˥ 5 | ②[a] ˨˩ 21 | ③ ˦˨ 42 | ⑤ ˨˩˧ 213 | ② | 4 | |||||||||||
Luzhou | ① ˥ 5 | ②[a] ˨˩ 21 | ③ ˦˨ 42 | ⑤ ˩˧ 13 | ⑦[e] ˧ 3 | 5 | |||||||||||
Kunming | ① ˦ 4 | ②[a] ˧˩ 31 | ③ ˥˧ 53 | ⑤ ˨˩˨ 212 | ② | 4 | |||||||||||
Jiang–Huai | Nanjing | ① ˧˩ 31 | ②[a] ˩˧ 13 | ③ ˨˩˨ 212 | ⑤ ˦ 44 | ⑦[e] ˥ 5 | 5 (4) | ||||||||||
Nantong | ① 35 | ②[a] 21 | ③ 55 | ⑥ | ⑤ 213 | ⑥ 42 | ⑦[e] 55ʔ | ⑧[e] 42ʔ | 7 (5) | ||||||||
Jin | Bingzhou | Taiyuan | ① ˩ 11 | ③ ˥˧ 53 | ⑤ ˦˥ 45 | ⑦[e] ˨ 2 | ⑧[e] ˥˦ 54 | 5 (3) | |||||||||
Wu | Taihu | Shanghainese | ① ˥˨ 52 | ⑥[f] | ⑤ | ⑥[f] | ⑤ ˧˧˦ 334 | ⑥[f] ˩˩˧ 113 | ⑦[e] ˥ 5 | ⑧[e][f] ˨˧ 23 | 5 (2)[f] | ||||||
Suzhou | ① ˦ 44 | ②[f] ˨˦ 24 | ③ ˥˨ 52 | ⑥[f] | ⑤ ˦˩˨ 412 | ⑥[f] ˧˩ 31 | ⑦[e] ˦ 4 | ⑧[e][f] ˨˧ 23 | 7 (3)[f] | ||||||||
Yixing[13] | ① ˥ 55 | ②[f] ˩˥ 15 | ③ ˥˩ 51 | ④[f] ˧˥ 35 | ④/⑥ | ⑤ ˥˩˧ 513 | ⑥[f] ˨˩ 21 | ⑦[e] ˥ 5/⑧ | ⑧[e][f] ˩˧ 13 | 8 (3)[f] | |||||||
Oujiang | Wenzhounese | ① ˦ 44 | ②[f] ˧˩ 31 | ③ʔ/④ʔ[f] ˧˥ 35 | ⑤ ˥˨ 52 | ⑥[f] ˨ 22 | ⑦/⑧[f] ˧˨˧ 323 | 8 (4–6)[f] | |||||||||
Huizhou | Ji-She | Jixi | ① ˧˩ 31 | ② ˦ 44 | ③ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑤ ˧˥ 35 | ⑥ ˨ 22 | ⑦[e] ˧˨ 32 | 6 (5) | ||||||||
Xiang | New | Changsha | ① ˧ 33 | ② ˩˧ 13 | ③ ˦˩ 41 | ⑥ | ⑤ ˥ 55 | ⑥ ˨˩ 21 | ⑦[e] ˨˦ 24 | 6 (5) | |||||||
Gan | Changjing | Nanchang | ① ˦˨ 42 | ⑤ | ② ˨˦ 24 | ③ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑥ | ⑤ ˥ 55 | ③ | ⑥ ˨˩ 21 | ⑦[e] ˥ 5 | ⑧[e] ˨˩ 21 | 7 (5) | ||||
Hakka | Meizhou | Meixian | ① ˦ 44 | ② ˩ 11 | ③ ˧˩ 31 | ⑤ ˥˨ 52 | ⑦[e] ˨˩ 21 | ⑧[e] ˦ 4 | 6 (4) | ||||||||
Yue | Yuehai | Guangzhou, Hong Kong |
①a ˥ 55 ~ ①b ˥˧ 53 [g] | ②[a] ˨˩ 21~11 | ③[h] ˨˥ 25 | ④[h] ˨˧ 23 | ④/⑥[i] | ⑤ ˧ 33 | ⑥ ˨ 22 | ⑦a[e] ˥ 5 | ⑦b[e] ˧ 3 | ⑧[e] ˨ 2 | 9~10 (6~7) | ||||
Shiqi | ① ˥ 55 | ② ˥˩ 51 | ③ ˩˧ 13 | ⑤ ˨ 22 | ⑦a[e] ˥ 5 | ⑧[e] ˨ 2 | 6 (4) | ||||||||||
Siyi | Taishanese | ① ˧ 33 | ②[a]? ˩ 11 | ③ ˥ 55 | ④[a]? ˨˩ 21 | ① | ⑥ ˧˨ 32 | ⑦a[e] ˥ 5 | ⑦b[e] ˧ 3 | ⑧[e] ˨˩ 21 | 8 (5) | ||||||
Gou-Lou | Bobai | ① ˦ 44 | ②[a]? ˨˧ 23 | ③ ˧ 33 | ④[a]? ˦˥ 45 | ⑤ ˧˨ 32 | ⑥ ˨˩ 21 | ⑦a[e] ˥˦ 54 | ⑦b[e] ˩ 1 | ⑧a[e] ˦ 4 (long) |
⑧b[e] ˧˨ 32 (short) |
10 (6) | |||||
Pinghua | Southern | Nanning | ① ˥˨ 52 | ②[a]? ˨˩ 21 | ③ ˦ 44 | ④[a]? ˨˦ 24 | ⑤ ˥ 55 | ⑥ ˨ 22 | ⑦[e] ˦ 4 | ⑧a[e] ˨˦ 24 | ⑧b[e] ˨ 2 | 9 (6) | |||||
Min | Northern | Jian'ou | ① ˥˦ 54 | ⑤ | ③ ˨˩ 21 | ⑤ ˨ 22 | ⑥ ˦ 44 | ⑦[e] ˨˦ 24 | ⑧[e] ˦˨ 42 | 6 (4) | |||||||
Eastern | Fuzhou | ① ˥ 55 | ② ˥˧ 53 | ③ ˧ 33 | ③/⑥[j] | ⑥ | ⑤ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑥ ˨˦˨ 242 | ⑦[e] ˨˦ 24 | ⑧[e] ˥ 5 | 7 (5) | ||||||
Central | Yong'an | ① ˦˨ 42 | ② ˧ 33 | ③ ˨˩ 21 | ④ ˥˦ 54 | ⑤ ˨˦ 24 | ⑦[e] ˩˨ 12 | 6 | |||||||||
Southern | Amoy | ① ˥ 55 | ② ˧˥ 35 | ③ ˥˧ 53 | ③/⑥[k] | ⑤ ˨˩ 21 | ⑥ ˧ 33 | ⑦[e] ˩ 1 | ⑧[e] ˥ 5 | 7 (5) | |||||||
Quanzhou | ① ˧ 33 | ② ˨˦ 24 | ③ ˥ 55 | ③/④ [l] | ④ ˨ 22 | ⑤[m] ˦˩ 41 | ⑥[m] ˦˩ 41 | ⑦[e] ˥ 5 | ⑧[e] ˨˦ 24 | 8 (6) | |||||||
Teochew | ① ˧ 33 | ② ˥ 55 | ③ ˥˨ 52 | ④ ˧˥ 35 | ⑤ ˨˩˧ 213 | ⑥ ˩ 11 | ④/⑥[n] | ⑦[e] ˨ 2 | ⑧[e] ˦ 4 | 8 (6) | |||||||
Sino-Vietnamese[20][21] | Northern | Hanoi[22] | ① ˦ 44 | ② ˧˨ 32 | ③ ˧˩˨ 312 | ④ ˧˨˥ 325 | ④/⑥ | ⑤ ˧˦ 34 | ⑥ ˨ 22 | ⑦ ˦˥ 45 | ⑧ ˨˩ 21 | 8 (6) | |||||
Central | Hue[23] | ① ˥˦˥ 545 | ② ˦˩ 41 | ③ ˧˨ 32 | ③/⑥ | ⑤ ˨˩˦ 214 | ⑥ ˧˩ 31 | ⑦ ˦˧˥ 435 | ⑧ ˧˩ 31 | 7 (5) | |||||||
Southern | Saigon[24] | ① ˦ 44 | ② ˧˩ 31 | ③ ˨˩˦ 214 | ③/⑥ | ⑤ ˧˥ 35 | ⑥ ˨˩˨ 212 | ⑦ ˦˥ 45 | ⑧ ˨˩ 21 | 7 (5) | |||||||
major group | subgroup | local variety | voiceless | son | obs | voiceless | son | obs | tenuis | asp | son | obs | (short) | (long) | son | obs | number of tone classes (number of phonemic tones) |
voiced | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | ||||||||||||
Syllable onset | |||||||||||||||||
꜀ |
꜂ |
||||||||||||||||
Early Middle Chinese tone class |
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v A muddy consonant becomes aspirated here rather than tenuis. (Note a historical entering tone will not be aspirated.)
- ^ a b In the citation form, Beijing tone ③ may end with a rising segment.
- ^ Mandarin 4th tone.
- ^ a b Irregular development, due to dialect mixing in the capital. However, colloquial readings tend to display tones ① and ③, whereas literary readings tend to display ② and ⑤. The preservation of the literary readings is chiefly due to
協 韻 xiéyùn, artificial preservation of rhyming pronunciations for words that rhyme in classical poetry.[11] - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar The entering tone(s) are distinct because they are checked by a final stop. (Wenzhounese is an exception: Entering tone is distinct without a final stop.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t In Wu and Old Xiang, the 'light' tones are always dependent on voiced initials, and so are not phonemically distinct. In Wenzhounese, rising tone is likewise marked with a final glottal stop.
- ^ A lexical tone change for some speakers in Guangzhou, mostly obsolete in Hong Kong. High Level becomes High Falling when the character isn't used as a concrete noun. For other speakers, both realizations are interchangeable, and High Level seems to be the dominant.
- ^ a b Some studies show that in Hong Kong Cantonese the two rising tones are used interchangeably by some younger speakers indicating an ongoing merger,[14][15] but this is in fact extremely uncommon.
- ^ A muddy consonant becomes aspirated here and the syllable acquires tone ④ in colloquial readings, but in literary pronunciations it is tenuis and the syllable becomes tone ⑥.
- ^ In the Fuzhou dialect and the Fuqing dialect, the traditional rising tone with voiced sonorant onsets have undergone a split, where in literary readings they are in tone ③ with their unvoiced counterparts, but in colloquial readings they are merged into ⑥.[16]
- ^ In Zhangzhou and Amoy Hokkien variants of Southern Min, the traditional rising tone with former voiced obstruent onset has become tone ③ in literary reading pronunciations but tone ⑥ in colloquial pronunciations.[17] In the Quanzhou variant of Southern Min, it is the sonorants that were voiced and in the rising tone in Middle Chinese that have split. In literary pronunciations they have merged into tone ③, but they have become tone ④ in colloquial pronunciations.[17]
- ^ In the Quanzhou variant of Southern Min, it is the Middle Chinese sonorants that have split in the historic rising tone. In literary pronunciations they have merged into tone ③, but they have become tone ④ in colloquial pronunciations.[18]
- ^ a b In the Quanzhou Hokkien variety of Southern Min, the traditional 'light' and 'dark' departing tone categories are only differentiated by their behavior under tone sandhi; they are pronounced the same in isolation.
- ^ In Teochew, some Middle Chinese departing tone syllables with voiced obstruent initials develop tone ④ instead of the expected tone ⑥.[19]
See also
[edit]- Four tones (Mandarin Chinese), the modern outcome of the development of these tones in Standard Mandarin
- Proto-Tai language#Tones, a similar set of tones in a non-Chinese language
References
[edit]- ^ A "tone class" is a lexical division of words based on tone. The four tones may not directly correspond with phonemic tone. The three tones of open syllables in Middle Chinese contrast with undifferentiated tone in checked syllables, and words are classified according to these four possibilities.
- ^ a b Baxter, William H. (1992). A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 33. ISBN 3-11-012324-X.
- ^ Wang, William S.-Y.; Sun, Chaofen (2015-02-26). The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-19-026684-4.
It is commonly accepted that the pingsheng is with a level contour, the shangsheng a high rising tone, the qusheng a falling tone, and the rusheng a checked tone. Thus their tonal values may be reconstructed as ˧33, ˧˥35, ˥˩51, and ˧3ʔ, respectively.
- ^ Chao Yuen-Ren (1934). "The non-uniqueness of phonemic solutions of phonetic systems". Bulletin of the Institute for History and Philology (Academia Sinica). 4: 363–397.
- ^ Pulleyblank's reconstructions
- ^ Karlgren, Bernhard (1974) [1923]. "Introduction I. Transcription system of the dictionary, Tones". Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese (1st ed.). New York: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 7/8. ISBN 0-486-21887-2.
The p'ing (even), ṣang (rising) and k'ü (falling) inflexions are marked by hooks in the usual Chinese style. The ẓu ṣəng is characterized by the abrupt cutting off of the voice and recognized by final -p, -t or -k; there is no need of adding a hook (tat,).
- ^ a b Sagart, Laurent. "The origin of Chinese tones" (PDF). Proceedings of the Symposium/Cross-Linguistic Studies of Tonal Phenomena/Tonogenesis, Typology and Related Topics. Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ Branner, David (1999). Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology: The Classification of Miin and Hakka. De Gruyter Mouton
- ^ Mei, Tsu-Lin (1970). "Tones and Prosody in Middle Chinese and The Origin of The Rising Tone". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 30: 86–110. doi:10.2307/2718766. JSTOR 2718766.
- ^ Matthew Chen, 2000. Tone Sandhi: Patterns across Chinese Dialects. CUP.
- ^ David Branner, A Neutral Transcription System for Teaching Medieval Chinese, T ̔ang Studies 17 (1999), pp. 36, 45.
- ^ Multiple sources:
- Fon, Yee-Jean (1999). "What Does Chao Have to Say about Tones? A Case Study of Taiwan Mandarin". AH.
石 ,鋒 ; 鄧,丹 (2006). "普通 話 與 台灣 國語 的 語 音 對比 " (PDF).山高 水 長 :丁 邦 新 先生 七 秩壽慶 論 文集 : 371–393. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2021-12-10.- Sanders, Robert (2008). "Tonetic Sound Change in Taiwan Mandarin: The Case of Tone 2 and Tone 3 Citation Contours" (PDF). Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20). 1: 87–107.
- ^ Xuhui Hu and J. Joseph Perry, 2018. The syntax and phonology of non-compositional compounds in Yixing Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 36:701-42.
- ^ Mok, Peggy Pik-Ki; Wong, Peggy Wai-Yi (May 2010). Perception of the merging tones in Hong Kong Cantonese: preliminary data on monosyllables. Speech Prosody 2010. Chicago, IL, USA. S2CID 5953337.
- ^ Bauer, Robert S.; Kwan-hin, Cheung; Pak-man, Cheung (2003-07-01). "Variation and merger of the rising tones in Hong Kong Cantonese". Language Variation and Change. 15 (2): 211–225. doi:10.1017/S0954394503152039. hdl:10397/7632. ISSN 1469-8021. S2CID 145563867.
- ^ 冯爱
珍 Feng, Aizhen (1993).福 清 方言 研究 Fuqing fangyan yanjiu (1st ed.). Beijing:社会 科学 文献 出版 社 Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe. p. 125. ISBN 978-7-80050-390-0. - ^ a b 闽南语的
声 调系统, The Tonal System of Min Nan; accessed 24 January 2012. - ^ Lee Hae-woo 이해우 (December 2001). "천주 민남방언의 음운 특징 The phonological characteristics of the Quanzhou Min Nan dialect". 중국언어연구. 13. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ^ "
声 调:入声 和 塞 尾 韵 |潮 语拼音 教程 ". kahaani.github.io. Retrieved 2019-06-02. - ^ Nguyễn Tài, Cẩn (2000). Nguồn gốc và quá trình hình thành cách đọc Hán Việt [The origin and formation of Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation]. Hà Nội: Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. pp. 305–314.
- ^ Nguyễn Tài, Cẩn (25 March 2007). "Từ tứ thanh tiếng Hán đến tám thanh Hán–Việt [From the four Middle Chinese tones to the eight Sino-Vietnamese tones]". Ngôn ngữ học và Tiếng Việt. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
- ^ Kirby, James P. (2011). "Vietnamese (Hanoi Vietnamese)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 41/3.
- ^ Nguyễn, Văn Lợi (2013). "Hệ thống thanh điệu Huế [Tone system in Hue dialect]". Phonetics lab (Faculty of Vietnamese Studies). Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
- ^ Huỳnh Công, Tín (2013). Tiếng Sài Gòn [The Saigon dialect]. Cần Thơ: Chính Trị Quốc Gia - Sự Thật. pp. 70–77.
Further reading
[edit]- Branner, David Prager, ed. (2006). The Chinese Rime Tables: Linguistic Philosophy and Historical-Comparative Phonology. Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Series IV: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 271. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ISBN 90-272-4785-4.