2.5: Miscellany
- Page ID
- 89601
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Tonal shifts
Before leaving the survey of sounds and notation, we need to return to the subject of tone, and take note of the phenomenon of tonal shifts (called ‘tone sandhi’ by linguists). It turns out that in certain contexts, tones undergo shifts from one to the other. (In Mandarin, the contexts where this occurs are very limited; in regional languages such as Hokkien, such shifts are much more pervasive.) We will mention these shifts here, and then practice producing them more systematically over the course of later units.
Low-tone shift
If two low tones (tone-3s) appear consecutively in the same phrase, the first shifts to a rising tone:
| 3 + 3 | > | 2 + 3 | |
| low + low | > | rising + low | |
| hěn + hǎo | > | hén hǎo | ‘good’ |
| hěn + lěng | > | hén lěng | ‘cold’ |
| Lǐ + lǎoshī | > | Lí lǎoshī | ‘Professor Lee’ |
It is, of course, possible to have three or more low tones in a row, but such cases will be considered later.
Two single-word shifts
The are also a few more idiosyncratic shifts that involve only single words. The negative, bu, is falling tone except when followed by another falling tone, in which case it shifts to rising tone: bù hǎo ‘not well’, but bú lèi ‘not tired’. In the latter case, the result is a trajectory like the sides of a mountain, up, then down, and students in the past have kept track of this shift by calling it the ‘Fuji shift’, after Mount Fuji (which is, of course, in Japan, not China). Below, bu is shown in combination with some adjectival verbs (called Stative Verbs in Chinese grammatical tradition); these sets (involving stative verbs from the conversational material in Unit 1) should be repeated regularly until fully internalized.
| bù gāo | ‘not tall’ |
| bù máng | ‘not busy’ |
| bù hǎo | ‘not well’ |
And exaggerated >
| bú lèi | ‘not tired’ | bú è | ‘not hungry’ |
| bú rè | ‘not hot’ | bú cuò | ‘not bad’ |
Another single-word shift involves the numeral yi ‘one’. In counting, and in many compounds, it is level toned: yī, èr, sān, sì ‘1, 2, 3, 4’; yīshēng. But where yi is grammatically linked to a following ‘measure word’, it shows the same tonal shift as bu, rising before a falling tone (yí fèn ‘a copy’), but falling before any other (yì bāo ‘a pack’).
| yì zhāng | ‘a [table]’ |
| yì tiáo | ‘a [fish]’ |
| yì běn | ‘a [book]’ |
but
| yí fèn | ‘a copy [of a newspaper]’ |
Note that the low tone shift (hěn + hǎo > hén hǎo) applies to any word (or syllable) that fits the grammatical condition (of being within a phrase); but the shift from falling to rising affects only a few words, including bu and yi.
The apostrophe
In certain contexts, an apostrophe appears between the syllables of a compound written in pinyin: Xī’ān [the name of a city in China]; hǎi’ōu ‘seagull’; chǒng’ài ‘dote on’. The apostrophe is used when a syllable beginning with a vowel letter (a, e, o) is preceded (without space) by another syllable; in other words, where the syllable boundary is ambiguous. By convention, the apostrophe is only used when the trailing syllable begins with a vowel; a word like yīngān, with two potential syllable divisions, is always to be interpreted as yīn + gān, never yīng + ān (which would be yīng’ān).