Taiwanese Tonal Sandhi for Pronunciation Practice

Language Taiwanese and Hakka Corner
1

Since Taiwanese often uses repeat words to describe something, I’d like to compile a list of useful or common adjectives for practicing tone changes.

Here is a short list to start. If I found an example in itaigi I included it. These have helped me to remember tone changes and recognize or read more instinctively when I come across a word with same tone change.

1 → 7

燒燒 - sio-sio (熱）- used to describe hot food

光光 - kng-kng （亮）shiny

新新 - sin-sin （新）new

芳芳 - phang-phang （香香）fragrant

冰冰 - ping-ping (冰）- used to describe cold food

甜甜 - tinn-tinn (甜） sweet

酸酸 - sng-sng (酸） sour

薟薟 hiam-hiam (辣） spicy

焦焦 ta-ta （乾）dry

驚驚 - kiann-kiann (害怕） scared

呆呆 - tai-tai （傻）stupid

悾悾 - khong-khong (懞懂/懵懂） ignorant

枵枵 - iau-iau (餓） hungry

7 → 3

恬恬 - tiām-tiām （安靜）quiet

慢慢 - bān-bān (慢） slow

舊舊 - kū-kū （舊） used/worn/old

癢癢 - tsiūnn-tsiūnn (癢） itchy

3 → 2

臭臭 - tshàu-tshàu （臭）stinky

疼疼 - thiànn-thiànn (痛）painful

2 → 1

軟軟 - nńg-nńg （軟）soft

滿滿 - buán-buán （滿） full

5 → 7

油油 - iû-iû （油膩） oily

鹹鹹 kiâm-kiâm （鹹） salty

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2

I don’t know that I’ve heard people say 甜甜 or 鹹鹹, or at least not nearly as often as the duplicated feeling descriptors (not sure how to reference them, I think of them as almost onomatopoeic) “tinn but-but” or “kiam tok-tok”.

3

Ok so I asked a few locals and my teacher and the answer is pretty consistent. tinn-tinn is used to describe something sweet and kiâm-kiâm can be used to describe something salty. But when you are emphasizing that something is too salty you’d say 鹹篤篤 kiâm-tok-tok or too sweet 甜粅粅 tinn-but-but or you could say 傷甜 siunn tinn.

Tinn-tinn is also used in some LNY phrases like 食甜甜，好過年； 食甜甜，乎你賺大錢； 食甜甜，乎你好緣歸厝邊。