scholarly journals Phonological Identity of the Neutral-tone Syllables in Taiwan Mandarin: An Acoustic Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-50
Author(s):  
Karen HUANG
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Taiwan Mandarin ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Neutral Tone

Taiwan Mandarin, one of the more syllable-timed dialects of Mandarin, has fewer unstressed syllables than Standard Mandarin. Acoustic analyses show that the supposedly unstressed syllables—neutral-tone syllables—in Taiwan Mandarin behave differently from those of Standard Mandarin. Unlike Standard Mandarin, these syllables do not raise their pitch after Tone 3. They have a distinct static mid-low pitch target and the target is implemented with a stronger articulatory strength. Moreover, acoustic analyses demonstrate that not all of these “unstressed syllables” are unstressed. The phonetic evidence suggests that these neutral-tone syllables should be analyzed as unaccented rather than unstressed in Taiwan Mandarin. These unaccented syllables are only lexically marked, and their pitch is neutralized into a mid-low tone. This study sheds light on how rhythm can affect stress and accent in a lexical tone language.

scholarly journals Acoustic Study of Tone 3 Sandhi in Beijing and Taiwan Mandarin

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Hui Yin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Sandhi ◽  
Taiwan Mandarin ◽  
The Third ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Beijing Mandarin ◽  
Mandarin Tone

Studies on Mandarin tone sandhi have focused on Beijing Mandarin. Taiwan has been politically separated from mainland China since 1949, but it is not known if tone sandhi in Taiwan Mandarin displays different patterns or characteristics. However, there has been no comparative study to investigate if Beijing Mandarin and Taiwan Mandarin display the same tone sandhi pattern. This study aims to fill this gap by comparing Beijing and Taiwan Mandarin through a productive experiment to examine acoustic differences between sandhied tone 3 and lexical tone 2. The results indicate that tone 3 sandhi among Mandarin dialects is not a homogeneous category, but displays a graded phenomenon of a categorical change and tonal reduction. The experimental evidence shows that acoustic difference between sandhied tone 3 and lexical tone 2 is larger in Beijing Mandarin than that in Taiwan Mandarin. Gender effects are also detected and acoustic difference in female samples is consistently larger than that in male samples across Beijing and Taiwan Mandarin. The findings suggest that the third tone sandhi in Beijing Mandarin is more like a categorical change (i.e., changed to lexical tone 2) whereas the sandhi in Taiwan Mandarin is more like a tonal reduction.

scholarly journals Lexical tone contrast in Izon as ubiquitous floating tone

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Rolle
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Patterns ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Low Tone

This paper establishes the lexical tone contrasts in the Nigerian language Izon, focusing on evidence for floating tone. Many tonal languages show effects of floating tone, though typically in a restricted way, such as occurring with only a minority of morphemes, or restricted to certain grammatical environments. For Izon, the claim here is that all lexical items sponsor floating tone, making it ubiquitous across the lexicon and as common as pre-associated tone. The motivation for floating tone comes from the tonal patterns of morphemes in isolation and within tone groups. Based on these patterns, all lexical morphemes are placed into one of four tone classes defined according to which floating tones they end in. This paper provides extensive empirical support for this analysis and discusses several issues which emerge under ubiquitous floating tone. Issues include the principled allowance of OCP(T) violations, and the propensity for word-initial vowels and low tone to coincide.

Tunes and Tones: Music, Language, and Inhibitory Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
Robert E. Graham ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Stroop Tasks

Abstract A debate is underway regarding the perceptual and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and musical experience. This study contributes to the debate by investigating auditory inhibitory control in English-speaking monolingual musicians, non-musicians, tone language bilinguals, and non-tone language bilinguals. We predicted that musicians and tone language bilinguals would demonstrate enhanced processing relative to monolinguals and other bilinguals. Groups of monolinguals (N = 22), monolingual musicians (N = 19), non-tone language bilinguals (N = 20) and tone language bilinguals (N = 18) were compared on auditory Stroop tasks to assess domain-transferable processing benefits (e.g. auditory inhibitory control) resulting from potentially shared underlying cognitive mechanisms (Patel, 2003; Bialystok & DePape, 2009). In one task, participants heard the words “high” and “low” presented in high or low pitches, and responded regarding the pitch of the stimuli as quickly as possible. In another task, participants heard the words “rise” or “fall” presented in rising or falling pitch contours, and responded regarding the contour of the stimuli as quickly as possible. Results suggest transferable auditory inhibitory control benefits for musicians across pitch and contour processing, but any possible enhanced processing for speakers of tone languages may be task-dependent, as lexical tone activation may interfere with pitch contour processing.

Native and nonnative processing of Japanese pitch accent

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIANGHUA WU ◽  
JUNG-YUEH TU ◽  
YUE WANG
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
Nonnative Listeners ◽  
Prosodic Processing ◽  
Japanese Pitch Accent

ABSTRACTThe theoretical framework of this study is based on the prevalent debate of whether prosodic processing is influenced by higher level linguistic-specific circuits or reflects lower level encoding of physical properties. Using the dichotic listening technique, the study investigates the hemispheric processing of Japanese pitch accent by native Japanese listeners and two groups of nonnative listeners with no prior pitch accent experience but differing in their native language experience with linguistic pitch: native listeners of Mandarin (a tone language with higher linguistic functional use of pitch) and native listeners of English (a stress language with lower functional use of pitch). The overall results reveal that, for both native and nonnative listeners, the processing of Japanese pitch accent is less lateralized (compared to lexical tone processing, which has been found to be a left hemisphere property). However, detailed analysis with individual pitch accents across groups shows a right hemisphere preference for processing the high–accent–low (H*L) pattern, a left hemisphere preference for LH*, and no hemisphere dominance for LH, indicating a significant reliance on the acoustic cues. These patterns are particularly prominent with the English listeners who are least experienced with linguistic pitch. Together, the findings suggest an interplay of linguistic and acoustic aspects in the processing of Japanese pitch accent by native and nonnative listeners.

scholarly journals Arguments for a Privative L Tone in Northern Tepehuan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Ivanhoe Gil Burgoin
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
System L ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Low Constraint ◽  
Heavy Syllable ◽  
Tonal System

This paper proposes that Northern Tepehuan is a tonal language with just one lexical tone 'low tone' and is therefore a privative tonal system. L tone is sufficient to explain the pitch contrasts in the language and also necessary to explain the "inconsistencies" of stress assignment. Stress is normally predictable from the size of the word, from syllable-weight, and is cued by a H* intonational tone. Nonetheless, in words that do not obey the Stress-to-Weight constraint, it could be argued that stress is displaced from the heavy syllable by virtue of a high-ranked *Align(Head/Low) constraint that prohibits the placement of stress on a syllable with a lexical L. The L tone also explains why the H* intonational tone can be displaced from stressed syllables.

scholarly journals NP internal syntax: High tone and quantifier conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Schaefer ◽  
Francis O. Egbokhare
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Internal Syntax

This paper applies a model of tonosyntax designed for the Dogon languages to Emai, another language of West Africa that belongs to the Edoid group. The Dogon model aligns with and diverges from the tonosyntax of Emai. In Dogon noun phrases, an adnominal controller prompts a {L} (low) tone overlay onto the lexical tone of a left-adjacent target. Numerals, quantifiers and discourse markers fail as controllers. In Emai, most adnominals except cardinal numerals and discourse markers trigger a {H} overlay on a left-adjacent head or other adnominal. Emai varies from Dogon on two additional counts. Emai quantifiers prompt tonal overlay. In addition, right edge lexical /H/ constrains {H} overlay. We conclude by positing a potential relation between low {L} vs high {H} overlay and Clements and Railland’s (2008) lax vs tense prosody types.

scholarly journals ASPM-lexical tone association in speakers of a tone language: Direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. eaba5090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. M. Wong ◽  
Xin Kang ◽  
Kay H. Y. Wong ◽  
Hon-Cheong So ◽  
Kwong Wai Choy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Statistical Studies

How language has evolved into more than 7000 varieties today remains a question that puzzles linguists, anthropologists, and evolutionary scientists. The genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution postulates that genes and language features coevolve, such that a population that is genetically predisposed to perceiving a particular linguistic feature would tend to adopt that feature in their language. Statistical studies that correlated a large number of genetic variants and linguistic features not only generated this hypothesis but also specifically pinpointed a linkage between ASPM and lexical tone. However, there is currently no direct evidence for this association and, therefore, the hypothesis. In an experimental study, we provide evidence to link ASPM with lexical tone perception in a sample of over 400 speakers of a tone language. In addition to providing the first direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis, our results have implications for further studies of linguistic anthropology and language disorders.

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