after a voiced consonant. Basic disyllabic words have all four possibilities: high-high, high-low, low-high, and low-low.

In longer phonological words, such as verb and noun phrases, a high tone tends to persist until the final syllable, which, if it has a phonemic low tone, becomes falling (high-low). Low tones disappear between high tones, but their effect remains as a downstep. Rising tones (low-high) simplify to high after high (without triggering downstep)