Tone sandhi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tone sandhi refers to the sound change in tones when different sounds come together. Sandhi in Sanskrit means "putting together". Tone-changing processes are active in all tonal languages, but they seem to be more common in some than in others.
In Mandarin Chinese, the most common tone sandhi rule is that the leading syllable in a set of two third-tone syllables is raised to the second tone. For example, nǐhǎo (pinyin, Chinese characters 你好), the most common Mandarin greeting, is pronounced níhǎo. Tone sandhi in Hakka is more complex. For example in Southern Min is still more complex, with the most complex systems found in Wu and Jin.
"Tone sandhi" is not to be confused with changed tones, where the tones are changed in order to get different meanings. For example, in Cantonese when 糖 is pronounced "tong4", it means 'sugar', whereas when it is pronounced "tong2", it means "candy". In Taiwanese morphemes, kiaⁿ (afraid) and lâng (person) may combine to form the word kiaⁿ-lâng, whose meaning varies according to the tone change. When pronounced "kiaⁿ7-lâng5", it means "to be afraid of people". When pronounced "kiaⁿ1-lâng1", it means "frightful".
Cherokee has a robust tonal system in which tones may be combined in various ways, following subtle and complex tonal rules that vary from community to community. While the tonal system is undergoing a gradual simplification in many areas (no doubt due to Cherokee often falling victim to second-language status), the tonal system remains extremely important in meaning and is still held strongly by many, especially older speakers.
