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Tone Indicator

After Romanising Teochew words, numerals are added to indicate the tone to be applied to each Romanised Teochew word.  Although Teochew language has 8 tones, they can be represented by 6 tones, with another two ending with a soft “g” or soft “b” or soft “d”:

• High Flat: High pitch throughout the word.  Same as 1^st tone in Mandarin.  Use tone indicator “1”.
• Middle Rising: Word starts with middle pitch, rising to high pitch.  Same as 2^nd tone in Mandarin.  Use tone indicator “2”.
• Middle Flat: Middle pitch throughout the word.  It is between tone “1” and tone “0”.  Use tone indicator “3”. (Note: 3^rd tone in Mandarin, which starts at medium pitch, falling to low pitch, then rising to medium pitch, has no equivalent in Teochew tones.)
• High Falling: Word starts with high pitch, falling to middle pitch.  Same as 4^th tone in Mandarin.  Use tone indicator “4”.
• Low Rising: Word starts with low pitch, rising to middle pitch.  Similar to 2^nd tone but at lower pitch. Use tone indicator “5”.
• Low Flat: Low pitch throughout the word.  Similar pitch to Mandarin neutral tone of (子) in rabbit (兔子) except of normal duration.  Use tone indicator “0”:
• High Stop: Word starts with high pitch (tone 1) but ends with a light “b”, or a light “d” or a light “g”.  Use tone indicator “1” on words which end with “b”, or “d” or “g” (but not “ng”). 
• Low Stop: Word starts with low pitch (tone 0) but ends with a light “b”, or a light “d” or a light “g”.  Use tone indicator “0” on words which end with “b”, or “d” or “g” (but not “ng”).

For clarity and easy of reading, the tone indicators should be written as suffixes after words, e.g. si₂ = yes.  However for ease of typing, the tone indicators maybe written as normal numerals, e.g. si2 = yes.  However you should then use a font (e.g. Verdana) or use more than one font so as to differentiate 1 (one) from l (lower case L) and I (capital i) as well as differentiate 0 (zero) from o (lower case O) and O (capital o).

Note:  Phonetically “ng” is single consonant, not a combination of “n” and “g”, hence ng1 and ng0 are not High Stop and Low Stop tones.

The reasons for using this system of tones are that

• it is easier to learn the tones for Teochew as extension of tones in Mandarin, instead of learning completely new 8 tones,
• even in Teochew Prefecture in China, people are speaking more and more Mandarin and less and less Teochew, especially the younger people.
• the simplification in representing tones does not result in ambiguity in pronouncing Teochew words,
• using numerals to represent the tones is easier to remember and easier to type than using special tonal indicators as in Hanyu Pinyin (Romanised Mandarin) and
• it is easy to include tone change required by Teochew language.

More Examples

High Flat:

bo₁ = don’t have

bue₁ = berry

er₁ = to push

gao₁= clever

kio₁ = bridge or brinjal (egg plant)

i₁ = mother’s sister

ia₁ = coconut

io₁ = kiln

iu₁ = oil

na₁ = basket

oi₁ = shoes

pe₁ = to crawl

pu₁ = to boil

ten₁ = vertical or a shed

thai₁ = to kill

ue₁ = to draw

Middle Rising:

hon₂ = phoenix

man₂ = net

oi₂ = able to or helpful

pe₂ = father

pho₂ = to embrace or carry in the arms

si₂ = yes

thai₂ = to wait

Middle Flat:

chia₃ = vehicle

i₃ = he/she

io₃= waist

hen₃ = lucky

hue₃ = flower

kng₃ = clear; to carry

oi₃ = to mill

sou₃ = crunchy

ten₃ = lamp

ue₃ = pot

High Falling:

bo₄ = mother

bue₄ = tail

hue₄ = fire

ia₄ = wild (animals) or fierce

io₄ = to scoop (water)

kuai₄ = walking stick

liao₄ = finished

man₄ = mosquito

oi₄ =short (in height)

pe₄ = bundle

ta₄ = to step on

ten₄ = top or to weigh

ua₄ = I or me

zui₄ = water.

Low Rising:

      an₅= jar

      khao₅ = to cry

      kher₅ = to go

      khi₅ = angry

      kio₅ = to call

      si₅= four

      sng₅ = to count 

Low Flat:

bo₀ = cap or hat 

bue₀ = not yet

iu₀ = pomelo

jio₀ = urine

kio₀ = sedan chair

man₀ = to dream

pu₀ = to incubate

tua₀ = big

tui₀ = team

ue₀ = spoken language

High Stop:

bag₁ = ink

Hug₁ = Buddha

hug₁ = hard seed

iod₁ = medicine

khiod₁ = to take

mag₁ = eye

thad₁ = to pile on

zab₁ = ten

ziab₁ = frequent

ziag₁ = variant of ziab₁

ziad₁ = to eat

Low Stop:

bad₀ = meat

chig₀ = 7

thad₀ = pagoda

zab₀ = juice

ziab₀ = join

ziag₀ = variant of ziab₀

ziad₀ = mark/stain or measure word for bird/animal

Condition of Use

While I try to ensure accuracy, users shall not hold me responsible for any inaccuracy or oversight.

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