Some inconsistent tone changes

台語文 Tâi-gí-bûn Learning Taioanese
1

I've got a few questions about tone changes. All examples are from the Maryknoll books. The relevant words have numbers next to them, and the numbers indicate the "surface" tones. The questions are in square brackets.

  1. Tī tit só͘-chai nā chi̍t-ē kóng-tio̍h Siā Lāu-su, bô chi̍t ê7 m̄-bat i, bô chi̍t ê7 bô o-ló i. [Why does ê change the tone?]
  2. I tāi-seng1 chhiat sé-e̍k-keng-lāi hit phā ji̍t-kong-teng hō͘ to̍h. VS Tāi-seng7 sàu-sàu--lè chiah chhit. [Why does seng only change the tone in the second case?]
  3. Hit-àm chia̍h-pá, Siā Lāu-su ka-tī7 chhut-khì bóng-kiâⁿ bong-khòaⁿ. VS I chūi ka-tī3 siu-lí. [Why does tī not change the tone in the first case?]
  4. M̄-thang bô chia̍h, ài ke-kiám chia̍h3--chi̍t-sut-á. [Why does chia̍h change the tone in this case? It's followed by an expression in the neutral tone, shouldn't the tone on the preceding word remain unchanged?]
  5. Nā ū hoat-tō͘7 tī Tâi-oân-tāi-ha̍k chò Kàu-siū ê lâng si̍t-chāi bô kán-tan. VS Chit tiâu lō͘ chin sè tiâu, nā tú-tio̍h cheh-ji̍t, chhia lóng bô hoat-tō͘3 sái? [Why does tō͘ not change the tone in the first case?]
  6. Tâi-oân ê Kòe-nî chiū chhin-chhiūⁿ7 gōa-kok-lâng teh chò Sèng-tàn-chiat ... VS Chiah ê jī chhin-chhiūⁿ3 Gô͘ sian-siⁿ siá--ê. [Why doesn't chhiūⁿ change the tone in the first case?]
  7. Bé ê kha chin lò, só͘-í teh cháu2 chin kín. [Isn't chin kín modifying cháu, and so shouldn't cháu change the tone?]
  8. Ū sì keng, chi̍t keng7 sī goán pa-pah kap ma-mah teh khùn, chi̍t keng7 sī gín-á ê pâng-keng, góa kap cha-bó͘-lâng khùn chi̍t keng1, iáu chi̍t keng1 beh chò lâng-kheh-keng... [Why does the tone on the first two boldfaced keng change?]
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1,2,3,5,8: My Taiwanese may not be good enough. Those subtle sandhi rules escaped me. I used to do sandhi on all of these cases. But seeing what you quoted, they make sense. And I could imagine my father talk like that. However, I think it is acceptable to change tones on all of these cases. If you want to squeeze an explanation out of me, I say it has to do with the length of the sentence. In general sandhi creates groupings in a sentence. And shorter ones does not need extra groups.

4: Perhaps a typo. "Chia̍h 1-sut-á" and "Chia̍h--1-sut-á" mean differently. And in this context, "chia̍h 1-sut-á" makes more sense.

7: I am sure there is sandhi. It does not sound right without sandhi.

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Thinking twice, I do speak 8 like what is marked in the book.

Chı̍t-lia̍p hō͘ A-bêng, chı̍t-lia̍p hō͘ A-chhun, chı̍t-lia̍p hō͘ A-eng, koh 1-lia̍p# hō͘ lí.

The sandhi signifies more to come.

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I can't find it now, but I remember the first Maryknoll book had the explanation that the measure word doesn't change the tone before hō͘ if the quantity isn't emphasized (if I remember correctly). I didn't know about "more to come" interpretation, thanks.