<p>I am not sure, but probably the Shanghai dialect (上海话), which is said to have only two tones or rather pitch accents: <a href="http://wu-chinese.com/zanhei/pitch.html" rel="nofollow">low and high</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-02T17:08:24.213Z
Wow, a surprising answer to me.  I'm puzzled, though. Jerry Norman (Chinese, CUP 1988, p. 202) gives 5 tones, which was a number that had stuck in my memory.  Is this a new analysis, or the results of new field work?
wpt
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2015-08-02T18:10:36.610Z
@wpt There are 5 different phonetic realizations, but in all but one case, you can predict which one to use entirely on the basis of the voicing of the initial and whether there's a final stop. So there's only a 2-way distinction that phonemic--阴平 vs everything else.
Stumpy Joe Pete
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2015-08-03T01:20:13.463Z
Sorry, I should have considered this problem in asking the question.  I added a postscript to point out the possible different answers for "phonetic" vs. "phonemic" tones.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-03T14:31:17.803Z
@wpt The tones degenerated to pitches in normal fluid speeches
user58955
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2015-08-02T13:57:55.033Z
2015-08-02T13:57:55.033Z
imrek
<p>Arguably 东干语 is an example, which has only three tones. The first and the second one in mandarin is merged. See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_language" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_language</a></p>

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2015-08-03T14:51:28.420Z
Do you have an audio sample of 'Dunganese'?
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-03T15:55:46.383Z
This is one of the answers I expected. I remember from a class many years ago that there were a couple of other northern dialects that also had mergers of yin-ping and yang-ping, but supposedly they were distinguished when tone-sandhi occurred.  Can't remember the names.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-03T17:22:01.303Z
@DrunkenMaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C68ODKDuWI for example, starting at 35:00
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-03T14:34:04.857Z
2015-08-03T14:34:04.857Z
user58955
<p>Standard Cantonese has six tones, Minnan, spoken primarily in Taiwan and Fujian, has five to seven; and so on down to Mandarin, based on the Beijing dialect, which has only four.  (I don't count neutral "tone", as it is conditioned by its environment).</p>

<p>Are there any dialects that have fewer than four? Examples of pronunciation would be very helpful, as would any references in the scholarly literature.</p>

<p>Postscript:</p>

<p>Sorry! In asking the question I should have considered the difference between "phonetic" tones and "phonemic" tones.  Different analyses can come up with different tone inventories and different numbers of tones. Thanks for the clarifying comment below.</p>

<topolect><tones>
Which dialect of Chinese has the fewest tones?
# Which dialect of Chinese has the fewest tones?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-02)

Standard Cantonese has six tones, Minnan, spoken primarily in Taiwan and Fujian, has five to seven; and so on down to Mandarin, based on the Beijing dialect, which has only four. (I don't count neutral "tone", as it is conditioned by its environment).

Are there any dialects that have fewer than four? Examples of pronunciation would be very helpful, as would any references in the scholarly literature.

Postscript:

Sorry! In asking the question I should have considered the difference between "phonetic" tones and "phonemic" tones. Different analyses can come up with different tone inventories and different numbers of tones. Thanks for the clarifying comment below.

**Tags:** topolect, tones


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-02. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I am not sure, but probably the Shanghai dialect (上海话), which is said to have only two tones or rather pitch accents: [low and high](http://wu-chinese.com/zanhei/pitch.html).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Wow, a surprising answer to me.  I'm puzzled, though. Jerry Norman (Chinese, CUP 1988, p. 202) gives 5 tones, which was a number that had stuck in my memory.  Is this a new analysis, or the results of new field work?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 There are 5 different phonetic realizations, but in all but one case, you can predict which one to use entirely on the basis of the voicing of the initial and whether there's a final stop. So there's only a 2-way distinction that phonemic--阴平 vs everything else.  
> **username_0**: Sorry, I should have considered this problem in asking the question.  I added a postscript to point out the possible different answers for "phonetic" vs. "phonemic" tones.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 The tones degenerated to pitches in normal fluid speeches  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-08-03. Score: 3

Arguably 东干语 is an example, which has only three tones. The first and the second one in mandarin is merged. See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_language>

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do you have an audio sample of 'Dunganese'?  
> **username_0**: This is one of the answers I expected. I remember from a class many years ago that there were a couple of other northern dialects that also had mergers of yin-ping and yang-ping, but supposedly they were distinguished when tone-sandhi occurred.  Can't remember the names.  
> **username_3**: @DrunkenMaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C68ODKDuWI for example, starting at 35:00  

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