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 (m