In this episode, we’ve talked about the “Ninth tone” in Taiwanese.
(These show notes use tables and rich formatting. Please visit the episode webpage for an optimal viewing experience.)
WHAT IS THE NINTH TONE AND HOW DOES IT SOUND?
The “Ninth tone” is a “mid rising tone”, which sounds like a higher Fifth tone.
It is not an official basic tone and it appears mainly in the following situations:
- As a result of syllable contractions
- The first syllable of a triplicated adjective
- Foreign loanwords (mostly from Japanese)
THE WRITING OF THE NINTH TONE
The tone mark for the 9th tone is two slightly angled lines that looks like ending quotation marks. You will see many examples below.
Since this writing convention is relatively new and the 9th tone doesn’t occur very often, you might only see it once in a while in Taiwanese texts. But you will definitely encounter it in the spoken language.
Also, it’s heard in some onomatopoeia or some particles used to express certain moods, like the surprise sound “ha̋nn!?” or “ua̋!?”. Since they usually have a special, higher than normal rising pitch, some people will also use the 9th tone mark to write this sound.
THE NINTH TONE IN SYLLABLE CONTRACTIONS
Below are some examples of the 9th tone resulting from syllable contractions.
| Original form | Contracted form | Meaning |
| e7-hng1
下昏 |
→ i̋ng9 | tonight |
| tsa7-hng1
昨昏 |
→ tsa̋ng9 | yesterday |
| tiong7-ng1
中央 |
→ tiőng9 | middle |
| lâi7-khì2-1 + verb/location
來去... |
→ la̋i9 | to be going to |
| tann7-á1
今仔... |
→ ta̋nn9 | just now, a moment ago |
| tsa7-bóo1-kiánn2
查某囝 |
→ tsa̋u9-kiánn2 | daughter |
| tsiū3-án1-ne1 / tsū3-án1-ne1
就按呢... |
→ tsua̋n9 / tsua̋nn9 | therefore, as such |
| bô7-iàu2-kín2
無要緊 |
→ bua̋9-kín2 | It’s OK. It doesn’t matter. |
*Note that syllables that have been greyed out require a tone change
As we see from the examples, it mostly happens when a mid flat tone syllable is followed by a high tone syllable. When the two syllables merge, they naturally become a mid rising tone, or the 9th tone.
THE NINTH TONE IN TRIPLICATED ADJECTIVES
“Triplicated adjective” happens when a monosyllabic adjective gets repeated three times. This is quite common in Taiwanese as a way to intensify the adjective. You can understand it as adding “really”, “totally”, or “extremely” to the adjective.
When we triple an adjective that is originally a 1st, 5th, 7th, or 8th tone word, the first syllable in the triplicated version turns into a mid rising tone, or the “9th tone”.
Here are some examples:
| Adj | Adj-Adj
“to be …-ish / to be sort of…” |
Adj-Adj-Adj
“to be really…” |
| sio1 燒 (hot) | → sio7-sio1 | → siő9-sio7-sio1 |
| oo1 烏 (black) | → oo7-oo1 | → őo9-oo7-oo1 |
| tâm5 澹 (wet) | → tâm7-tâm5 | → ta̋m9-tâm7-tâm5 |
| âng5 紅 (red) | → âng7-âng5 | → a̋ng9-âng7-âng5 |
| tuā7 大 (big) | → tuā3-tuā7 | → tua̋9-tuā3-tuā7 |
| bū7 霧 (blurry, hazy) | → bū3-bū7 | → bű9-bū3-bū7 |
| pe̍h8 白 (white) | → pe̍h3-pe̍h8 | → pe̋h9-pe̍h3-pe̍h8 |
| si̍k8 熟 (cooked; familiar) | → si̍k4-si̍k8 | → si̋k9-si̍k4-si̍k8 |
Learning Tip:
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tones follow the regular tone change in triplicated adjectives. The rest use the 9th tone in the first syllable.
Another way to think about this is to remember that the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 8th tones are the ones that step downward, or lower the pitch, when they change tones. But in a triplicated adjective, they want to be different so they become a special rising tone that is even higher than a normal rising tone. This usually creates a dramatic up-down-up contrast in triplicated adjectives for the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 8th tones.
| Tone category | Regular tone change | Adj-Adj-Adj special tone change |
| T1 (high flat) | → mid flat | mid rising - mid flat - high flat |
| T5 (low rising) | → mid flat (mid falling) | mid rising - mid flat - low rising |
| T7 (mid flat) | → mid falling | mid rising - mid falling - mid flat |
| T8 (high stop) | → mid/low stop | mid rising - mid/low stop - high stop |
THE NINTH TONE IN LOANWORDS
Some loanwords, especially words from Japanese, have the mid rising tone in their first syllable.
Generally speaking, syllables that aren’t final in a word will change tone, but none of the tone change rules we have change to a rising tone. In other words, you normally wouldn’t hear a rising tone in the first syllable of a word. But this rising tone sound is common in Japanese loanwords, and so some people use the 9th tone mark when writing those loanwords to indicate that the first syllable is a special rising tone.
Here are some examples:
| Taiwanese | Meaning | Japanese |
| ia̋n9-jín2 / e̋n9-jín2 | engine | エンジン (enjin) |
| la̋i9-lìn2-guh4 | undershirt, tank top, muscle tee
(possibly from “running shirt”) |
ランニング (ranningu) |
| kha̋ng9-báng2 | billboard, signboard, shop sign | 看板 (kanban) |
| li̋n9-jín2 | carrot | 人参 (ninjin) |
| ha̋n9-tóo2-luh4 | steering wheel (from “handle”) | ハンドル (handoru) |
| pha̋9-siàn2-too3 | percent | パーセント (pāsento) |
| sa̋m9-phú1-luh4 | sample, sampler, tester | サンプル (sanpuru) |
Since Japanese loanwords don’t really have an “original” tone in Taiwanese, each syllable is just matched to a close equivalent in Taiwanese. The spelling may vary and there hasn’t been a strict standard as to how loanwords should be written in Taiwanese.
Music Credit: TeknoAXE