Editing Taiwanese Hokkien (section)

=== Tones ===
[[Image:Taiwanese tones.png|thumb|right|Taiwanese tones, close to Taipei values.]]
In the traditional analysis, there are eight "tones", [[tone number|numbered]] from 1 to 8. Strictly speaking, there are only five [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal contours]]. But as in other Sinitic languages, the two kinds of stopped syllables are also considered to be tones and assigned numbers 4 and 8. Words of tone 6 have merged into either tone 2 or tone 7 in most Taiwanese variants, and thus tone 6 is duplicated in the count. Here the eight tones are shown, following the traditional tone class categorization, named after the tones of [[Middle Chinese]]:
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Taiwanese tones{{sfnp|Wu|2000|p=2691}}
|-
! Tone<br>number !! Name !! POJ<br>accent !! Pitch in<br>Taipei !! Description !! Pitch in<br>Tainan !! Description
|-
| 1 || Yin Level (陰平) || a || {{IPAslink|á}} = {{IPAslink|a˥}} (55) || High || {{IPAslink|á}} = {{IPAslink|a˦}} (44) || High
|-
| 2 (6) || Rising (上聲) || á || /â/ = {{IPAslink|a˥˩}} (51) || Falling || /â/ = {{IPAslink|a˥˧}} (53) || High Falling
|-
| 3 || Yin Departing (陰去) || à || {{IPAslink|à}} = {{IPAslink|a˧˩}} to {{IPAslink|˨˩}} (21) || Low Falling || {{IPAslink|à}} = {{IPAslink|a˩}} (11) || Low
|-
| 4 || Yin Entering (陰入) || ah || {{IPAslink|āʔ}} = {{IPA|/aʔ˧˨/}} (32) || Mid Stopped || {{IPAslink|àʔ}} = {{IPA|/aʔ˨˩/}} (21) || Low Stopped
|-
| 5 || Yang Level (陽平) || â || /ǎ/= {{IPA|/a˩˦ ~ a˨˦/}} (24) || Rising || /ǎ/ = {{IPAslink|a˨˦}} (25) || Rising
|-
| 7 || Yang Departing (陽去) || ā || {{IPAslink|ā}} = {{IPAslink|a˧}} (33) || Mid || {{IPAslink|ā}} = {{IPAslink|a˨}} (22) || Mid
|-
| 8 || Yang Entering (陽入) || a̍h || {{IPAslink|áʔ}} = {{IPAslink|aʔ˦}} (4) || High Stopped || {{IPAslink|áʔ}} = {{IPAslink|aʔ˥}} (5) || High Stopped
|}

{{Listen|filename=Taiwanese-8Tones.ogg|title=Eight tones of Taiwanese|description=Demonstration of the tones of Taiwanese: {{zh|c=衫|poj=saⁿ|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=短|poj=té|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=褲|poj=khò͘|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=闊|poj=khoah|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=人|poj=lâng|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=矮|poj=é|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=鼻|poj=phīⁿ|out=poj|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=直|poj=ti̍t|out=poj|labels=no}}. Tone sandhi rules do not apply in this sentence. (This demonstration is popular but misleading in the use of {{zh|c=矮|poj=é|out=poj|labels=no}} as an example for tone 6. Despite alternations in its vowel quality, this word belongs in tone 2 in all Southern Min varieties, including those distinguishing tone 6 from other tones.)}}

See (for one example) the modern phonological analysis in {{harvp|Chiung|2003}}, which challenges these notions.

For tones 4 and 8, a final consonant {{angle bracket|p}}, {{angle bracket|t}}, or {{angle bracket|k}} may appear. When this happens, it is impossible for the syllable to be nasal. Indeed, these are the counterpart to the nasal final consonants {{angle bracket|m}}, {{angle bracket|n}}, and {{angle bracket|ng}}, respectively, in other tones. However, it is possible to have a nasal 4th or 8th tone syllable such as {{angle bracket|siahⁿ}}, as long as there is no final consonant other than {{angle bracket|h}}.

In the dialect spoken near the northern coast of Taiwan, there is no distinction between tones number 8 and number 4 &ndash; both are pronounced as if they follow the [[tone sandhi]] rules of tone number 4.

Tone number 0, typically written with two consecutive hyphens (--a) or a point (·a) before the syllable with this tone, is used to mark [[enclitic]]s denoting the extent of a verb action, the end of a noun phrase, etc. A frequent use of this tone is to denote a question, such as in {{lang|nan-Latn|Chia̍h-pá--bōe?}} ({{lit|Have you eaten yet?}}). This is realized by speaking the syllable with either a low-falling tone (3) or a low stop (4). The syllable prior to the {{angle bracket|--}} maintains its original tone.