bin3 diu6變調变调

Jyutpingbin3 diu6

Yalebin diuh

Definition

Tone sandhi; a change in the tone of a syllable affected by its surrounding syllables.

neutralcommunicationother

How it's used

Linguists use this term to describe how the pitch of a syllable changes when it is followed by another syllable. While native speakers perform these changes naturally and unconsciously, learners often struggle to internalize the rules because they vary significantly between different Cantonese dialects.

Examples

gwong2 zau1 waa2 jap6 min6 ge3 bin3 diu6 jin6 zoeng6 hou2 fuk1 zaap6

廣州話入面嘅變調現象好複雜。

The tone sandhi phenomenon in Guangzhou Cantonese is very complex.

nei5 zi1 m4 zi1 dim2 gaai2 ni1 go3 zi6 jiu3 bin3 diu6 aa4

你知唔知點解呢個字要變調呀？

Do you know why this character requires tone sandhi?

Common phrases

bin3 diu6 kwai1 zak1

變調規則

tone sandhi rules

faat3 sang1 bin3 diu6

發生變調

to undergo tone sandhi

Common mistake

Learners often confuse tone sandhi with the concept of changing the meaning of a word by changing its tone, which is a phonemic distinction rather than a sandhi process.