<p>Complete rule of tones change is not a simple subject which can be understood just b a list. But there is a simple one I think might be suitable for you. <a href="http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/chin1501/ToneChange.html">http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/chin1501/ToneChange.html</a></p>

<p>Plus, if you are a foreigner who want learn Chinese without academic purpose, I think it's enough since many Chinese cannot use tones change complete correctly.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T04:43:47.643Z
Are there any works on this subject which are more complete and academic?
Village
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-30T14:38:48.290Z
Have a look of the book preview here: http://books.google.de/books?id=tG0-Ad9CrBcC&pg=PA237&lpg=PP1&hl=de&output=html_text
cburgmer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T03:15:14.400Z
2011-12-24T03:15:14.400Z
xiecheng127
<p>Here is a nice short overview on Mandarin tone sandhis: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/jinzhang/www/pinyin/tones/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://web.mit.edu/jinzhang/www/pinyin/tones/index.html</a>
If you want to read into the details I have found the following a very good source (from the father of another romanization): "Yuen Ren Chao: A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1968, ISBN 0-520-00219-9."</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T23:51:22.230Z
Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
Orion
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T17:29:47.613Z
2011-12-30T14:29:04.323Z
2011-12-30T14:29:04.323Z
cburgmer
<p>As xiecheng mentioned, tones changes are very complicated, and there is unfortunately little material on subject. Not that you care to this extent, but one can actually "map" tones using audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). If you do that, you'll see that tones change a lot when they are in sentences and that how and the extent to which a tone can change, depends on where it appears in a sentence. For example, third tones tend to drop, but they rarely come back up when they are at the end of sentences. Also fourth tones change when they are next to each other, etc. These changes are not the same as the ones that occur when you have "不" or "一" right before a fourth tone, but I think they are interesting to study and knowing about them will certainly make you sound more "native-like."</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-10T03:26:40.990Z
2012-02-10T03:26:40.990Z
Hiro
<p>Sometimes, in certain combinations of tones or words, the tones change. Where can I find a complete list of all tone changes that occur in Mandarin?</p>

<mandarin><pronunciation><resources><tones><academic>
When do the tones change?
# When do the tones change?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-24)

Sometimes, in certain combinations of tones or words, the tones change. Where can I find a complete list of all tone changes that occur in Mandarin?

**Tags:** mandarin, pronunciation, resources, tones, academic

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-12-24. Score: 6

Complete rule of tones change is not a simple subject which can be understood just b a list. But there is a simple one I think might be suitable for you. <http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/chin1501/ToneChange.html>

Plus, if you are a foreigner who want learn Chinese without academic purpose, I think it's enough since many Chinese cannot use tones change complete correctly.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Are there any works on this subject which are more complete and academic?  
> **username_2**: Have a look of the book preview here: http://books.google.de/books?id=tG0-Ad9CrBcC&pg=PA237&lpg=PP1&hl=de&output=html_text  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-12-27. Score: 6

Here is a nice short overview on Mandarin tone sandhis: <http://web.mit.edu/jinzhang/www/pinyin/tones/index.html>
If you want to read into the details I have found the following a very good source (from the father of another romanization): "Yuen Ren Chao: A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1968, ISBN 0-520-00219-9."

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-02-10. Score: 3

As xiecheng mentioned, tones changes are very complicated, and there is unfortunately little material on subject. Not that you care to this extent, but one can actually "map" tones using audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). If you do that, you'll see that tones change a lot when they are in sentences and that how and the extent to which a tone can change, depends on where it appears in a sentence. For example, third tones tend to drop, but they rarely come back up when they are at the end of sentences. Also fourth tones change when they are next to each other, etc. These changes are not the same as the ones that occur when you have "不" or "一" right before a fourth tone, but I think they are interesting to study and knowing about them will certainly make you sound more "native-like."


---

