Re: THEORY: Sandhi / Mandarin

Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> wrote:  >From:
"Johnson, Anna" <AJohnson@...>
> >Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 09:38:56 -0500
> >
> >
> >That's how it was introduced to me in my first-year
> Mandarin and my
> >first-year Korean class; Sandhi occurs in both
> languages. Yes, in Mandarin,
> >there is Sandhi, although it is known as "tone
> Sandhi" (and spelled by
> >Froshers erh freshman as 'tone-sandy') because it
> only appears in that
> >form.
> >
>
> Tone sandhi exists in all three dialects of Chinese
> that I actually know
> anything about and I suspect in all 7 or ten or 1000
> or however many there
> are today *g*.  In Cantonese it is exceedingly
> simple: high falling before
> another high falling or a high level becomes a high
> level.  In Mandarin it
> is simple, too: tone 3 becomes tone 2 before another
> tone 3 with the option
> of alternating or changing all but the last in a
> series of 3rd tones.  Also
> tone 4 followed by tone 2 gets pronounced like an
> extralong tone 3 covering
> two syllables.
>
> But Taiwanese ad so much tone sandi you could make a
> beach!  When combining
> two or more syllables in a phrase 1 becomes 7, 2
> becomes 1, 3becomes 2, 4
> becomes 2, 5 becomes 7, 7 (yes, there is no tone 6!)
> becomes 3, and 8
> becomes 3.  But after the syllable a2: 1 still
> becomes 7, and 2 still
> becomes 1, but 3 and 4 also become 1, and 5, 7, and
> 8 all become 7 -- yes, 7
> goes back to itself!  It's quite maddening, I assure
> you.
>
> Adam wo wonders if other East Asian tonal langs have
> such insane sandhi
> rules
>
> >Anna J. Johnson
> >Mystif & Scrat Inscrutable
> >*************
> >Somtyme one of mankynde is both man & woman & suche
> ... in englyssh is
> >called a scrette.
> >- Caxton, Trevisa's Higden (1482)
Answer:I think I have answer Weiben Wang  a similar
question. And I believe to study linguistics not just
learn more language. It could be to analyse 'why','why
not' and these questions let us know what will
happened in future.
Su Cheng Zhong

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