<p>We might never know the real reason. All those rime books indicate that 發 (out) and 髮 (hair) are always the same pronunciation, and both are entering tone (入聲). This means there is a terminal -t in pronunciation on 發 and 髮. We know that when -t was lost in Mandarin and the tones became unstable. In Chinese phonology it is named 派入三聲. The entering tone (入聲) was gone and all characters in entering tone go to the rest three tones, namely the flat tone (平聲), the rising tone (上聲) and the leaving tone (去聲). In this way, it is possible that 發 and 髮 develops different tones in Mandarin.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-15T17:20:39.893Z
2018-04-15T17:20:39.893Z
OmniBus
<p>The two characters pronounce the same in some dialects may be a coincidence. I come from Xi'an, you are right, we really read 发 in 头发 and 发展 in same tone. But there are also characters with different tones in our dialect, but the same in Mandarin. Dialect does not necessarily correspond to Mandarin one by one, it usually has its own rules. The tones of most characters in northern dialects correspond to Mandarin one by one usually, but not all of the characters. Comparatively, the tones of most southern dialects are not regular like northern.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-16T11:23:14.813Z
I guess my point was: Putonghua, as a pretty artificial language, has some weird things that aren’t found in many topolects - so where’d it come from.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-16T08:14:37.553Z
@user3306356 They actually come from nowhere, just as OmniBus answered. It a phenomenon of langage evolution from its own.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-16T10:47:47.413Z
2018-03-16T10:47:47.413Z
xenophōn
<p>發 and 髮 have been simplified into one single character: 发.</p>

<p>发 contains the separate meanings of 發 and 髮 but differentiates by tone: fa1 (fā) and fa4 (fà).</p>

<p>Most topolects (西安，武汉，洛阳，乌鲁木齐，贵阳，济南，柳州，万荣，etc.) don't have a tonal differentiation and 发 only has one pronunciation.</p>

<p>What is the origin of the tonal differentiation in Mandarin?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-16T11:00:25.630Z
This must have been a relatively late split in northern topolects. In MC reconstructions 發 and 髮 were identical, and even in OC reconstructions they were incredibly similar.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-23T00:59:48.147Z
as you stated, they are different characters in ancient, simplified form is just artificial (merged some variants based on similar concept/semantic into single form).
Daniel Yang
<mandarin><topolect>
Why does Mandarin differentiate 发[發/髮] fa1/fa4 when most topolects don't?
# Why does Mandarin differentiate 发[發/髮] fa1/fa4 when most topolects don't?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-16)

發 and 髮 have been simplified into one single character: 发.

发 contains the separate meanings of 發 and 髮 but differentiates by tone: fa1 (fā) and fa4 (fà).

Most topolects (西安，武汉，洛阳，乌鲁木齐，贵阳，济南，柳州，万荣，etc.) don't have a tonal differentiation and 发 only has one pronunciation.

What is the origin of the tonal differentiation in Mandarin?

**Tags:** mandarin, topolect

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This must have been a relatively late split in northern topolects. In MC reconstructions 發 and 髮 were identical, and even in OC reconstructions they were incredibly similar.  
> **username_2**: as you stated, they are different characters in ancient, simplified form is just artificial (merged some variants based on similar concept/semantic into single form).  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-04-15. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

We might never know the real reason. All those rime books indicate that 發 (out) and 髮 (hair) are always the same pronunciation, and both are entering tone (入聲). This means there is a terminal -t in pronunciation on 發 and 髮. We know that when -t was lost in Mandarin and the tones became unstable. In Chinese phonology it is named 派入三聲. The entering tone (入聲) was gone and all characters in entering tone go to the rest three tones, namely the flat tone (平聲), the rising tone (上聲) and the leaving tone (去聲). In this way, it is possible that 發 and 髮 develops different tones in Mandarin.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-03-16. Score: -1

The two characters pronounce the same in some dialects may be a coincidence. I come from Xi'an, you are right, we really read 发 in 头发 and 发展 in same tone. But there are also characters with different tones in our dialect, but the same in Mandarin. Dialect does not necessarily correspond to Mandarin one by one, it usually has its own rules. The tones of most characters in northern dialects correspond to Mandarin one by one usually, but not all of the characters. Comparatively, the tones of most southern dialects are not regular like northern.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I guess my point was: Putonghua, as a pretty artificial language, has some weird things that aren’t found in many topolects - so where’d it come from.  
> **username_5**: @user3306356 They actually come from nowhere, just as username_3 answered. It a phenomenon of langage evolution from its own.  

---

