Tone sandhi 變調 (变调)
biàndiào · from Sanskrit (sandhi) + English
What is tone sandhi?
Tone sandhi is the rule-governed change of a tone when it meets certain neighbouring tones, so a word is not always pronounced with its dictionary tone.
The term sandhi comes from Sanskrit for joining. In Mandarin, a third tone before another third tone becomes a rising second tone, and 不 bù and 一 yī change tone depending on what follows. Taiwanese Hokkien has an extensive tone circle where almost every non-final syllable shifts tone, and Shanghainese spreads the first syllable's tone across a whole word.
Examples
你好 nǐ hǎo is said ní hǎo; 不是 bù shì becomes bú shì; 一個 yī gè becomes yí gè; Taiwanese Hokkien 台灣 Tâi-uân: first syllable changes tone in connected speech
Kungfucius says: You learnt the tones, congratulations. Now learn when to ignore them.