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Article published In:
The Syllable and its Prosody in Chinese
Edited by Lian-Hee Wee, Feng Wang and Yuan Liang
[Language and Linguistics 23:1] 2022
► pp. 47–81

Prosodic realization of tonal target and F0 peak alignment in Mandarin neutral tone

| Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
| University of San Francisco

Neutral tone in Mandarin is generally believed to lack tonal identity and exhibit more variability in its phonetic realization. We examined the tonal target of neutral tone in a prosodic word consisting of a full syllable (S) and one, two, or three neutral-tone syllables. In the experiment, the test words, presented in isolation and embedded in a carrier sentence, were read in two intonation patterns: declarative and interrogative. The results showed: (1) the tonal target of neutral tone is L(ow) at the end of the intonation phrase in declarative intonation and M(id) in question intonation; (2) its phonetic realization is influenced by intonation patterns, the tone of S and the number of neutral-tone syllables in the prosodic word; (3) the influence of the tone of S is more robust in shorter sequences than in longer ones with three neutral-tone syllables; (4) placement of the F0 peak in T2 (LH) and the neutral tone immediately following T3 (L) is susceptible to the number of neutral-tone syllables. It seems clear from our study that while the tonal target of neutral tone is related to prosodic structure, its actual F0 scaling is sensitive to prosodic manipulations such as intonation patterns and prosodic word length. In addition, tonelessness of neutral tone allows for more freedom in the alignment of the F0 peak, whose temporal coordination with its segmental host is, nevertheless, subject to both phonological and phonetic constraints.

Keywords: neutral tone, tonal target, peak alignment, intonation patterns, Mandarin Chinese
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic properties of neutral tone: phonology and phonetics
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Experimental design and material
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Recording procedure
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results and analysis
    • 4.1F0 patterns and tonal target in declarative intonation
    • 4.2F0 patterns and tonal target in question intonation
    • 4.3Statistical analyses of the tonal target in neutral tone
      • 4.3.1LMM analysis
      • 4.3.2ANOVA analysis
      • 4.3.3Repeated measurement
    • 4.4Placement of the F0 peak
    • 4.5Durational analyses of F0 peak alignment
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 15 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00099.li
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