Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 1:1 (2014) ► pp.71–95

Casual speech elision and tone sandhi in Tianjin trisyllabic sequences

| Hong Kong Baptist University

In the Tianjin dialect, casual utterance of familiar trisyllabic sequences often induces deletion of phonological segments so that for a trisyllabic string, the non-final syllables would merge into a single syllable. This elide-and-merge process interacts with the rich Tianjin tone sandhi system to produce rather complicated patterns. In this paper, casual speech elision is shown to fall out straightforwardly from a model that recognizes morae as associated with segments and also as tone-bearing units. Thus, elision of morae also removes tonal features. While this understanding provides a clear description of the patterns, it also reveals an ordering paradox: sandhi applies before elision in some cases, but after elision in others. The paradox is resolved by favoring the order that produces a contour tone for the merged syllable. An explanation for this can be found if one recognizes that Tianjin is prosodically iambic.

Keywords: tone sandhi, tianjin, prosody, mora, elision, casual speech
Published online: 5 September 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.1.1.03wee
References
Archangeli, D., & Pulleyblank, D
(1994) Grounded phonology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bao, Z
(1990) On the nature of tone. PhD dissertation. MIT.Google Scholar
Benua, L
(1997) Transderivational identity: Phonological relations between words. PhD dissertation. UMASS, Amherst, MA: Graduate Linguistic Student Association, ROA#259.Google Scholar
Chen, M.Y
(2000) Tone sandhi: Patterns across Chinese Dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clements, G.N
(1984) Principles of tone association in Kikuyu. In G.N. Clements & J. Goldsmith (Eds.), Autosegmental studies in Bantu (pp. 281–340). Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1986) Compensatory lengthening and consonant gemination in Luganda. In L. Wetzels & E. Sezer (Eds.), Studies in compensatory lengthening (pp. 37–77). Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duanmu, S
(1990) A formal study of syllable, stress and domain in Chinese Languages. PhD dissertation. MIT.Google Scholar
(1994) Against contour tone units. Linguistic Inquiry, 251, 555–608.Google Scholar
(2000) The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2002) Two theories of onset clusters. Chinese Phonology: Glide, Syllable and Tone, 11(Special issue), 97–120.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, J
(1976) Autosegmental phonology. PhD dissertation. MIT. Published 1979, New York: Garland Press.Google Scholar
Hsu, H.-C
(2003a) A sonority model of syllable contraction in Taiwanese southern min. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 12(4), 349–377. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003b) A particle analysis of ü in Chinese. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 33(1), 173–197.Google Scholar
(2004) Compositional structure of /iu/ and /ui/ in Taiwanese southern min revisited. Language and Linguistics, 5(4), 1003–1018.Google Scholar
Hyman, L.M
(2003) Word-prosodic typology. Phonology, 231, 225–237. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) Universals of tone rules: 30 years later. In T. Riad & C. Gussenhoven (Eds.), Tones and tunes: Studies in word and sentence prosody (pp. 1–34). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kager, R
(1999) Optimality theory. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiparsky, P
(2009) Reduplication in stratal OT. In L. Uyechi & L.-H. Wee (Eds.), Reality exploration and discovery: Pattern interaction in language and life (pp. 125–141). Stanford: CSLI.Google Scholar
Labov, W
(1969) Contraction, deletion and inherent variability of the English copula. Language, 45(4), 715–762. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P., & Wu, Z
(1984) Places of articulation: An investigation of Pekingese fricatives and affricates. Journal of Phonetics, 121, 267–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laver, J
(1980) The phonetic description of voice quality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Leben, W
(1973) Segmental phonology. PhD dissertation. MIT.Google Scholar
Li, W.-X
(2006) Tianjinhua tunyin xianxiang de zai fenxi [Reanalysis of elision in Tianjin Dialect]. The Studies of Foreign Language and Culture, 31, 115–119. Tianjin University Press, Tianjin China.Google Scholar
Li, X.-J., & Liu, S.-X
(1985) Tianjin fangyan de liandu biandiao [Tone Sandhi in the Tianjin Dialect]. Zhongguo Yuwen, 11, 76–80.Google Scholar
Ma, Q.-W
(2003) Optimality theory and the Mandarin syllable structure. Tianjin: Nankai University Press.Google Scholar
Ma, Q.-W., & Jia, Y
(2006) Two new third tone sandhi rules in Tianjin dialect: A critical reanalysis. Journal of Tianjin Normal University (Social Science edition), 2006(1), 53–58.Google Scholar
McCarthy, J
(1979) Formal problems in semitic phonology and morphology. PhD dissertation. MIT.Google Scholar
(1998) Sympathy and phonological opacity. Manuscript. University of Massachusetts, Amherst. ROA#252.Google Scholar
(2002) Comparative markedness. In A.C. Carpenter, A.W. Coetzee & P. de Lacy, (Eds.), University of Massachusetts occasional papers in linguistics 26: papers in optimality theory II (pp. 171–246). Amherst, MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
(2003) Sympathy, cumulativity, and the Duke-of-York gambit. In C. Féry & R. Vijver (Eds.), The optimal syllable (pp. 23–76). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, J., & Prince, A
(1995) Prosodic morphology. In J. Goldsmith (Ed.), The handbook of phonological theory (pp. 318–366). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Morén, B., & Zsiga, E
(2006) The lexical and post-lexical phonology of Thai tones. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 241, 113–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nelson, N
(1998) Right anchor, aweigh. Manuscript. Rutgers University ROA#284.Google Scholar
(2003) Asymmetric anchoring. PhD dissertation. Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Odden, D
(1990) Tone in the Makonde dialects: Chimaraba. Studies in African Linguistics, 211, 61–105.Google Scholar
Ohala, J
(1978) Production of tone. In V. Fromkin (Ed.), Tone: A linguistic survey (pp. 5–40). New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ong, Y.H
(2006) Positions of elision in Malaysian Cantonese: Choice between two evils. Proceedings of SICOL 2006: The Seoul International Conference on Linguistics , 280–287.
(2007) Phonological elision in Malaysian cantonese casual speech. Master’s thesis. National University of Singapore.Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, D
(1994) Underlying mora structure. Linguistic Inquir, 251, 344–353.Google Scholar
Pullum, G.K
(1997) The morphological nature of English to-Contraction. Language, 73(1), 79–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schane, S.A
(1984) The fundamentals of particle phonology. Phonology Yearbook, 11, 129–155. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selkirk, E.O
(1972) The phrase phonology of English and French. PhD dissertation. MIT.Google Scholar
Shi, F
(1990) Tianjin fangyan danziyin shengdiao fenxi (Analysis of tones of Tianjin monosyllables). Yuyan yanjiu luncong, 1987.4 (Reprinted in S. Feng, Studies in Tone and Stops, 53–65. Beijing University Press).Google Scholar
Shih, C.-L
(1986) The prosodic domain of tone sandhi in Chinese. PhD dissertation. University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Sun, J.-T
(2006) The status of the medial in syllable. Linguistic Sciences, 5(2), 44–52.Google Scholar
Wang, J.L
(2002) Youxuanlun he Tianjinhua de liandu biandiao ji qingsheng (OT and the tone sandhi and tone neutralization in Tianjin dialect). Zhongguo Yuwen, 2891, 363–371.Google Scholar
Wang, J.Z.-J
(1999) Beijinghua de yinjie yu yinxi (The syllable and phonology of Beijing Mandarin). In L. Xu (Ed.), Gongxing yu gexing: Hanyu yuanxue zhong de zhongyi (Generality and Specificity: Controversies in Chinese Linguistics) (pp. 213–254). Beijing: Beijing yuyan wenhua daxue chubanshe. (In Chinese).Google Scholar
Wee, L.-H
(2004) Inter-tier correspondence theory. PhD dissertation. Rutgers University.Google Scholar
(2005) Elision and tone sandhi in the Tianjin dialect. In NACCL-17 Proceedings , 422–431.
(2013) Prominence from complexity: Capturing the Tianjin ditonal patterns. Manuscript. Hong Kong Baptist University. ROA No.1186, accessed from [URL], 25 Oct 2013.Google Scholar
Wee, L.-H., & Yan, X.-H
(2006) Tianjin fangyan li de tunyin yu biandiao (Elision and tone sandhi in Tianjin). Linguistic Sciences, 25(6), 12–18.Google Scholar
Wee, L.-H., Yan, X.-H., & Chen, M
(2005) Yiwen yu luxiang — Tianjin fangyan de liandu biandiao (Tianjin tone sandhi: A final report). Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Wee, L.-H., Yan, X.-H., & Lu, J.-L
(2005) Tianjin fangyan de tunyin xianxiang (Swallowing sounds in Tianjin). Linguistic Sciences, 171, 66–75.Google Scholar
Williams, E
(1976) Underlying tone in Margi and Igbo. Linguistic Inquiry, 71, 463–484.Google Scholar
Yip, M
(1980) The tonal phonology of Chinese. PhD dissertation. MIT. Published 1991, New York: Garland Press.Google Scholar
(1989) Contour tones. Phonology, 6(1), 149–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995) Tone in east asian languages. In J. Goldsmith (Ed.), The handbook of phonological theory (pp. 476–494). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(2002) Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J., & Liu, J
(2011) Tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation in Tianjin Chinese. Phonetica, 68(3), 161–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Y.-L
(2000) Beijing diming de yuyanxue yanjiu (A linguistic study of Beijing place names). Master’s Thesis. Beijing University.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Wee, Lian-Hee
2019. Phonological Tone, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.