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不 and 一 both have the property of changing tone to suit the tone of the following character.
This phenomenon is called the tonal sandhi.
What would the correct/standard tone combination for this expression be?
My thoughts are: the 4th tone on ding causes the yi to take a 2nd tone, which causes bu to take a 4th tone.
4-2-4
Is this correct?
For some reason 2-2-4 sounds ok to me too. Are there other variations on this?
Yes, 4-2-4 is correct. According to the sandhi rule of 一
在四声前边要读二声
i.e. 一 should be pronounced in the 2nd tone before the 4th tone.
And the sandhi rule of 不
“不”在一二三声前面不变调，读四声
i.e. 不 doesn't change the tone (the 4th tone) before the 1st/2nd/3rd tone.
BTW: 2-2-4 sounds weird to me.
Reference: 一字与不字的变调问题
不↖️ 一↗️ 定↖️ the symbol indicates four tones in Mandarin. If you have any problems with the four tones, just ask me in comment.
