In this episode, we’ve talked about the special tone changes and sound changes of the “-á” suffix in Taiwanese. (These show notes use tables and rich formatting. Please visit the episode webpage for an optimal viewing experience.) THE SUFFIX “-Á” The suffix “-á” is very common in Taiwanese. Historically it derives from “kiánn” (child, son) and later takes on the function of “diminutive suffix” to mean the small or little one, or just to add some color to the noun. For some nouns it’s optional, like the word for “dog”, “káu” or “káu-á” are essentially the same. However, some nouns are always used with it, like "gín-á" (child). You might also find “-á” at the end of some adverbs, which is a little like the suffix “-ly” in English. When a word is suffixed by “-á”, the two syllables are closely merged together and a couple peculiarities happen in relation to the pronunciation of the preceding word: 1) special tone change, and 2) carryover of the ending. SPECIAL TONE CHANGE: TO ONLY HIGH OR MID For most nouns that are more than one syllable, the last syllable keeps the original tone, and all the syllables before it change tone. When you add the suffix “-á”, the tone of the preceding syllable also changes. However, it is influenced by the high falling tone of “-á” so it gets changed again, which some people call “double tone change”. To help you remember, imagine that it’s such a big jump to go from a low register to a high register of “-á” so there’s not enough time to realize the whole contour or pitch movement. In other words, the irregular changes reflect trying to be closer to the high starting point of the suffix “-á”. As a result, the syllable before “-á” only changes to either a high tone or a mid tone: Original Tone change Tone change with -á Example Tone 1 High flat → Mid flat → “Mid” flat or T7 ke7-á 雞仔 (chicken) Tone 2 High falling → High flat → “High” flat or T1 bué1-á / bé1-á 尾仔 (tail, end) Tone 3 Mid falling → High falling → “High” flat or T1 tànn(2→)1-á 擔仔 (street vendor) Tone 4-ptk Mid stop → High stop → “High” stop or T8 tik8-á 竹仔 (bamboo) Tone 4-h Mid stop → High falling → “High” flat or T1 toh(2→)1-á 桌仔 (table) Tone 5 Low rising → Mid flat/falling → “Mid” flat or T7 hî7-á 魚仔 (fish) Tone 7 Mid flat → Mid falling → “Mid” flat or T7 biō(3→)7-á 廟仔 (small temple) Tone 8-ptk High stop → Mid stop → “Mid” stop or T4 lo̍k4-á 鹿仔 (deer, fawn) Tone 8-h High stop → Mid falling → “Mid” flat or T7 hio̍h(3→)7-á 葉仔 (leaf) Tip: If the preceding syllable changes to a tone that sets off from the middle pitch range under normal tone change, it only keeps the feature of “mid” when suffixed by “-á”. This includes: T1, T5, T7, T8. On the other hand, if the preceding syllable changes to a high flat or high falling tone under normal tone change, it only keeps the feature of “high” when suffixed by “-á”. This includes: T2, T3, T4. You can also think of this as “T234 = High” and the rest are just Mid before “-á”. THE ENDING GETS CARRIED OVER The other special thing about the pronunciation has to do with how the consonant endings (or “coda”) of the syllable right before the “-á” -suffix carry over into the next syllable. These would be syllables that end in the stops -p, -t, -k, or also the nasal endings -m, -n, -ng. Since the glottal stop -h is removed when we add the suffix “-á”, we don’t have to worry about it here. Note that for the stops -p, -t, and -k, the consonant sound is carried over but also adjusts in preparation for the voiced sound by becoming a “voiced consonant”. Therefore, your vocal cords just keep vibrating through. You might al