<p>What source do you call authoritative? Any Chinese grammar book and handbook series should explain this at some point.
In Wikipedia it is also mentioned: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi#Mandarin_Chinese" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi#Mandarin_Chinese</a></p>

<p>Given that there are these tone sandhi, there are two ways to deal with these. You can either write the original tones, or you can write the sandhi.
For subsequent third tones (for example 你好), almost nobody will write the sandhi, so almost all dictionaries will write ni3 hao3 instead of ni2 hao3.</p>

<p>Officially you shouldn't indicate the sone sandhi (see <a href="http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html#x4.11" rel="nofollow">http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html#x4.11</a>), but for 一 and 不 many dictionaries apply the sandhi, while others don't. For example <a href="http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqb=%E4%B8%8D%E5%AF%B9" rel="nofollow">MDBG</a> and 现代汉语词典 write bu4 dui4, while <a href="http://www.nciku.com/search/cc/detail/%E4%B8%8D%E5%AF%B9/33355" rel="nofollow">Nciku</a> writes bu2 dui4, while nobody would pronounce it as bu4 dui4 in practice.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T07:08:13.887Z
2012-09-07T07:20:19.030Z
2012-09-07T07:20:19.030Z
BertR
<p>These tone changes, known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi#Mandarin_Chinese">tone sandhi</a>, are not indicated <a href="http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html#x4.11">according to Hanyu Pinyin rules</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>11.1 Only the original tones are indicated; tone sandhi is not indicated.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is why your Google search for "yìnián" would not necessarily yield more results, because it's still supposed to be written as "yīnián" even when it's pronounced "yìnián".</p>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> Here's more information on tone sandhi from <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PUi6QoFNQ1sC&amp;lpg=PA28&amp;ots=Vb7X6m9nL7&amp;pg=PA27#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"><em>The Chinese Lexicon: A Comprehensive Survey</em> by Yip Po-Ching</a>, p. 27:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...tone sandhi may also happen by convention in a specific set of words in the lexicon when they are followed by words of different tones. This set includes numericals: <strong>yī</strong> 'one', <strong>qī</strong> 'seven', <strong>bā</strong> 'eight', and the negator <strong>bù</strong> 'not'. For example:</p>
  
  <p><strong>yī</strong> on its own or not followed by other tones</p>
  
  <p><strong>yī</strong> → <strong>yí</strong> when followed by a fourth tone</p>
  
  <p><strong>yī</strong> → <strong>yì</strong> when followed by other tones</p>
  
  <p><strong>qī/bā</strong> on their own or followed by tones other than a fourth</p>
  
  <p><strong>qī/bā</strong> → <strong>qí/bá</strong> when followed by a fourth tone</p>
  
  <p><strong>bù</strong> on its own or followed by tones other than a fourth</p>
  
  <p><strong>bù</strong> → <strong>bú</strong> when followed by a fourth tone</p>
  
  <p>...</p>
  
  <p>All these tone sandhi applications are actually more or less rule-governed and will not generally be reflected in the <em>pinyin</em> or phonetic notations of the disyllabic words or expressions in question.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-26T14:09:09.600Z
A comment at http://sinoglot.com/2010/04/once-upon-a-time-we-wrote-yi/ says "The 七 in 七个 八 in 八个 are said in the first tone by younger speakers in Beijing, but in the second tone by older speakers in Beijing (thus the pronunciation of my professor who is now retired), whereas even younger speakers in Dongbei still use the second tone — not sure where in Dongbei." Personally I have never heard 七月 pronounced "qíyuè" or 八月 pronounced "báyuè".
mic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T19:05:45.067Z
+1 for pointing out that Pinyin indicates original pronunciation.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T06:53:04.100Z
2012-09-07T07:54:26.570Z
2012-09-07T07:54:26.570Z
Claw
<p>In another users answer <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/2046/38">https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/2046/38</a> they said:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>一 is pronounced in the first tone when it stands alone. It is
  pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or
  third tone. However, it is pronounced in the second tone when it
  precedes a fourth tone.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I was surprised to read this and didn't believe it. However, when searching the net I found several places where this is mentioned.</p>

<p>I checked Google translate and it gave me Yīzǎo for 一早 and Yī nián yǐhòu for 一年以后 which is what I always thought it was.</p>

<p>A search on Google for "yīnián" provides me with 106,000 results, but a search for "yìnián" only provides 6,330 results.</p>

<p>Obviously, the examples above only provide partial evidence of correctness. But, is there a reliable, authoritative resource which can confirm the claim that 一 should change to 4th tone?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T08:09:05.783Z
+1 thx for this question that brings even more explainations.
Stephane Rolland
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T18:46:50.353Z
-1: This is stated in essentially *every* authoritative source about Chinese phonetics. I typed "tone change yi" into google and there were even Google Books results from Chinese textbooks on the first page -- surely that's autoritative enough.
Alf
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-08T20:11:51.500Z
I wouldn't really use Google as a source. :P
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-09T23:50:00.037Z
@Jon - It may not come across as a very good question and not worthy of any votes, however I didn't learn my Chinese from western style text books and I am very interested in learning about these things when I come across them. However, I also want to be sure that what I am learning is correct. I have often found that different books and teachers contradict each other.
going
<pronunciation><tones><sandhi>
Authoritative source for 一 changing to 4th tone before 1st, 2nd or 3rd
# Authoritative source for 一 changing to 4th tone before 1st, 2nd or 3rd

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-09-07)

In another users answer <https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/2046/38> they said:

> 一 is pronounced in the first tone when it stands alone. It is
> pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a first, second, or
> third tone. However, it is pronounced in the second tone when it
> precedes a fourth tone.

I was surprised to read this and didn't believe it. However, when searching the net I found several places where this is mentioned.

I checked Google translate and it gave me Yīzǎo for 一早 and Yī nián yǐhòu for 一年以后 which is what I always thought it was.

A search on Google for "yīnián" provides me with 106,000 results, but a search for "yìnián" only provides 6,330 results.

Obviously, the examples above only provide partial evidence of correctness. But, is there a reliable, authoritative resource which can confirm the claim that 一 should change to 4th tone?

**Tags:** pronunciation, tones, sandhi

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: +1 thx for this question that brings even more explainations.  
> **username_2**: -1: This is stated in essentially *every* authoritative source about Chinese phonetics. I typed "tone change yi" into google and there were even Google Books results from Chinese textbooks on the first page -- surely that's autoritative enough.  
> **username_3**: I wouldn't really use Google as a source. :P  
> **username_0**: @Jon - It may not come across as a very good question and not worthy of any votes, however I didn't learn my Chinese from western style text books and I am very interested in learning about these things when I come across them. However, I also want to be sure that what I am learning is correct. I have often found that different books and teachers contradict each other.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-09-07. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

These tone changes, known as [tone sandhi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi#Mandarin_Chinese), are not indicated [according to Hanyu Pinyin rules](http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html#x4.11):

> 11.1 Only the original tones are indicated; tone sandhi is not indicated.

This is why your Google search for "yìnián" would not necessarily yield more results, because it's still supposed to be written as "yīnián" even when it's pronounced "yìnián".

**EDIT:** Here's more information on tone sandhi from [*The Chinese Lexicon: A Comprehensive Survey* by Yip Po-Ching](http://books.google.com/books?id=PUi6QoFNQ1sC&lpg=PA28&ots=Vb7X6m9nL7&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false), p. 27:

> ...tone sandhi may also happen by convention in a specific set of words in the lexicon when they are followed by words of different tones. This set includes numericals: **yī** 'one', **qī** 'seven', **bā** 'eight', and the negator **bù** 'not'. For example:
>
> **yī** on its own or not followed by other tones
>
> **yī** → **yí** when followed by a fourth tone
>
> **yī** → **yì** when followed by other tones
>
> **qī/bā** on their own or followed by tones other than a fourth
>
> **qī/bā** → **qí/bá** when followed by a fourth tone
>
> **bù** on its own or followed by tones other than a fourth
>
> **bù** → **bú** when followed by a fourth tone
>
> ...
>
> All these tone sandhi applications are actually more or less rule-governed and will not generally be reflected in the *pinyin* or phonetic notations of the disyllabic words or expressions in question.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: +1 for pointing out that Pinyin indicates original pronunciation.  
> **username_6**: A comment at http://sinoglot.com/2010/04/once-upon-a-time-we-wrote-yi/ says "The 七 in 七个 八 in 八个 are said in the first tone by younger speakers in Beijing, but in the second tone by older speakers in Beijing (thus the pronunciation of my professor who is now retired), whereas even younger speakers in Dongbei still use the second tone — not sure where in Dongbei." Personally I have never heard 七月 pronounced "qíyuè" or 八月 pronounced "báyuè".  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-09-07. Score: 3

What source do you call authoritative? Any Chinese grammar book and handbook series should explain this at some point.
In Wikipedia it is also mentioned: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi#Mandarin_Chinese>

Given that there are these tone sandhi, there are two ways to deal with these. You can either write the original tones, or you can write the sandhi.
For subsequent third tones (for example 你好), almost nobody will write the sandhi, so almost all dictionaries will write ni3 hao3 instead of ni2 hao3.

Officially you shouldn't indicate the sone sandhi (see <http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html#x4.11>), but for 一 and 不 many dictionaries apply the sandhi, while others don't. For example [MDBG](http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E4%B8%8D%E5%AF%B9) and 现代汉语词典 write bu4 dui4, while [Nciku](http://www.nciku.com/search/cc/detail/%E4%B8%8D%E5%AF%B9/33355) writes bu2 dui4, while nobody would pronounce it as bu4 dui4 in practice.


---

