3.10: Tones

Tone combos (the first 6)

Tones are easier to perceive and assimilate in pairs. Four tones form 16 possible combinations of two, but because of the restriction on combinations of low tones (3+3 > 2+3), only 15 pairs are distinctive. The six sets below are mostly made up of words already encountered. They should be memorized so that they can be recited by number: dì-yī: lǎoshī, jǐnzhāng; dì-èr: xǐzǎo, hěn hǎo, etc.

1	2	3	4	5	6
lǎoshī	xǐzǎo	zàijiàn	bú rè	hěn máng	bù gāo
jǐnzhāng	hěn hǎo	kànbào	bú lèi	hěn nán (difficult)	shàngbān

Tones in combination tend to accommodate each other to some degree, though not to the point of shifting to another tone. In the above sets, the most salient adjustment is probably that of 4+4, (zàijiàn) where the tone of the first syllable is not so steeply falling as that of the last. The first of the two is some times referred to as the ‘modified4th’ tone.

Tone lock

In these first weeks of learning Chinese, you may find yourself unable to pronounce a tone, even unable to mimic your teacher – a situation that might be called ‘tone lock’. Tone lock can occur for many reasons, but one common one is that as a beginner, you will often be tentative, and tentativeness in English is accompanied by a rising contour. That’s fine if you are trying to say the name, Wáng, with rising tone. But it won’t work if you want to say Wèi, which is falling. Other strange conditions may occur: you may hear rising as falling, and falling as rising (flip-flop); your falling may refuses to fall (‘fear of falling’), your level, refuse not to fall (‘fear of flying’). Regardless of the symptoms, the best cure is to figuratively step back, and make use of your tone concepts: level is ‘sung out,’ rising is ‘doubtful’ (Wáng? máng?), low is ‘low’ (despite the contoured symbol), and falling is ‘final’ or ‘confidant’ (‘Wáng, Chén, Wèi; or ‘I said Wèi’).

The first ‘rule of 3’

If you find that the tonal cues, ‘sung out’, ‘doubt’, ‘low’ and ‘final’ do not serve you well, there are others that have been used in the past. Walter C. Hillier, in his EnglishChinese Dictionary of 1953 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.) proposed ‘languid assertion’ for the first tone, ‘startled surprise’ for the second, ‘affectionate remonstrance’ for the third, and ‘abuse’ for the fourth. Whatever the label, the important point is to follow the rule of three: develop a concept for each tone, know what tone the word has, and monitor yourself when you speak.

1. conceptualize the tones (sung out etc.);
2. learn the tone with the word (eg hao has low tone);
3. monitor your speech.

Exercise 3.

 a) Read out the following sets – recall your tone concepts: 

1	dá	dǎ	dā	dà	bù	bǔ	bú	bù
2	kǒu	kòu	kōu	kòu	jīn	jín	jǐn	jìn
3	pán	pàn	pān	pán	guō	guǒ	guó	guò
4	wèi	wěi	wéi	wēi	hǎi	hái	hāi	hài

b) Tone shifts: Read the following sequences aloud, supplying the tones that are omitted:

1	bu máng	bu è	yi tào	yi tiáo
2	bu lèi	bu shì	yi kuài	dì-yi
3	bu jǐnzhāng	bu kě	yi wèi	yi zhāng
4	bu hǎo	bu cuò	yi běn	yi kè
5	hen hǎo	hen máng	hen zǎo	hen wǎn (late)
6	hen lèi	hen nán	hai hǎo	hen kě

c) Students often feel that the tones that are the most difficult to distinguish are the rising and the low. Here is a discrimination exercise that focuses on those two. In the disyllabic words below, the final syllables all contain either a rising tone or a low. Have a Chinese speaker read them to you twice each (from the characters), then see if you can correctly identify the missing tone in the pinyin versions of the words.

1.英勇	2.天才	3.当年	4.大米	5.英语
6.橡皮	7.书法	8.黑板	9.加强	10.冰球
11.号码	12.重叠	13.开展	14.开头	15.多余
16.孙女	17.天然	18.跳舞	19.构成	20.思想
1. yīngyong	2. tiāncai	3. dāngnian	4. dàmi	5. Yīngyu
6. xiàngpi	7. shūfa	8. hēiban	9. jiāqiang	10. bīngqiu
11. hàoma	12. chóngdie	13. kāizhan	14. kāitou	15. duōyu
16. sūnnü	17. tiānran	18. tiàowu	19. gòucheng	20. sīxiang

d) Select a tone for all, then practice reading out these syllables (across), all of which contain pinyin ‘o’ as main vowel:  

duo	dou	fo	kuo	cou	zhou	zhuo	zou	zuo
bo	guo	ruo	shou	gou	shuo	suo	po	you

e) Read out the following syllables that contain the -ui or -iu rhymes – these are toned: 

guì	shuí	ruì	chuī	zuì	duì	(wèi)
liú	niú	xiū	qiú	diū	jiǔ	(yǒu)

guǐ – jiǔ

liù – duì

cuì – qiú

liú – shuí