Citation Tones Research Articles

A cross-linguistic review of citation tone production studies: Methodology and recommendations.

The study of citation tones, lexical tones produced in isolation, is one of the first steps towards understanding speech prosody in tone languages. However, methodologies for investigating citation tones vary significantly, often leading to limited comparability of tone inventories, both within and across languages. This paper presents a systematic review of research methods and practices in 136 citation tone studies on 129 tonal language varieties in China, including 99 studies published in Chinese, which are therefore not easily available to an international scientific readership. The review provides an overview of possible analytical decisions along the research pipeline, and unveils considerable variation in data collection, analysis, and reporting conventions, particularly in how f0, the primary acoustic correlate for tone, is operationalised and reported across studies. Key methodological issues are identified, including small sample sizes and inadequate transparency in communicating methodological decisions and procedure. This paper offers a clear road map for citation tone production research and proposes a range of recommendations on speaker sampling, experimental design, acoustic processing techniques, f0 analysis, and result reporting, with the goal of facilitating future tonal research and enhancing resources for underrepresented tonal varieties.

Atypical prosodic realization by Mandarin-speaking autistic children: Evidence from tone sandhi and neutral tone

Introduction Atypical prosodic features have been widely reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), primarily in non-tonal language speakers. Nevertheless, the prosodic realizations in autistic people who speak tonal languages were relatively understudied. This study aimed to investigate the acoustic and phonetic patterns at the word-level speech in Mandarin-speaking autistic and typically developing (TD) children at different age ranges.Methods Thirty Mandarin-speaking autistic children (15 three- to five-year-olds and 15 six- to eight-year-olds) were recruited into the ASD group. The TD group consisted of 30 age- and gender-matched children. We employed a picture-naming task to elicit the spontaneous speech production of Mandarin disyllabic words in which tone change processes occur, namely Tone 3 (T3) sandhi and neutral tone (T0).Results The phonetic analysis showed that the ASD group generally could produce typical-like T3 sandhi and T0 in terms of pitch height. However, relative to the TD group, they exhibited flatter pitch contours during T3 sandhi production. Moreover, the acoustic pitch mean of citation tones in the ASD group was also significantly higher, accompanied by more rigid pitch curves in contour tones. In addition, the atypical temporal realization in the ASD group was manifested by the longer duration of T0 and the earlier inflection position of T3.Conclusions Mandarin-speaking autistic children under eight had the phonological ability to produce context-dependent tones based on connected tonal information at the word level. Nevertheless, their phonetic prosodic realization of tone change processes was atypical. Our findings provide evidence of atypical prosody in autistic children who speak tone languages. Clinically, these findings may be attributable to underlying neural differences in autistic children.

Perception of Intonation on Neutral Tone in Mandarin

In Mandarin, lexical tone has been found to interact with intonational tone to influence intonation perception, with the falling T4 facilitating the perception of the statement/question contrast the most, and the rising T2 the least. However, in addition to the four citation tones T1-T4, Mandarin has “neutral tone” which marks weak, non-initial syllables that do not carry a citation tone. The prevailing view is that neutral tone is, in fact, phonologically toneless. It is unknown whether neutral tone can also affect intonation perception. However, it is reasonable to hypothesize that if neutral tone is indeed toneless, it cannot interact with intonational tone in the same way as citation tones do. We investigated this novel hypothesis with a perception experiment in which 22 Mandarin speakers had to determine whether disyllabic citation tone and neutral tone words were a question or statement. Results show that the identification of intonation contours is more accurate for neutral tone than for T2, and similarly accurate for neutral tone and T4, regardless of whether the neutral tone is intrinsic or derived. Furthermore, both T4 and neutral tone are realized with a reduced pitch range at a higher pitch level in questions, unlike T2, which is characterized by a slightly expanded pitch range and a higher pitch level. It is possible that intonation perception in Mandarin is facilitated by changes in the phonetic shapes of lexical tones brought by intonation rather than the phonological interaction between lexical tones and intonation. The importance of pitch changes to the intonation perception in Mandarin was further tested in a second perception experiment with the same 22 participants and disyllabic stimuli with manipulated pitch level and range. Results indicate that the use of pitch cues in intonation perception shows tone-specific differences, namely, pitch range is more important in signaling the question/statement contrast in utterances ending with T4 or neutral tone, while pitch level is the only perceptual cue to interrogativity for utterances ending in T2.

Checked Syllables, Checked Tones, and Tone Sandhi in Xiapu Min

A “checked” syllable usually refers to one with a short vowel and an oral or glottal coda, which results impressionistically in a “short” and “abrupt” quality. Although common in languages of the world, it is unclear how to characterize checked syllables phonetically. In this study, we investigated the acoustic features of checked syllables in citation and sandhi forms in Xiapu Min, an under-documented language from China. We conducted a production experiment and analyzed the F0, phonatory quality, vowel duration, and vowel quality in checked syllables. The results show that, in citation tones, checked syllables are realized with distinct F0 contours from unchecked syllables, along with glottalization in the end and a shorter duration overall. In sandhi tones, checked syllables lose their distinct F0 contours and become less glottalized. However, the shorter duration of checked syllables is retained in sandhi forms. This study lays out the acoustic properties that tend to be associated with checked syllables and can be used when testing checked syllables in other language varieties. The fact that in Xiapu Min sandhi checked tones become less glottalized but preserve their shorter duration suggests that, when checked syllables become unchecked diachronically, glottalization might be lost prior to duration lengthening.

A Review of Research on Vocal Tones in Hebei Dialects

Since the 1980s, the research on Hebei dialects has made great achievements, and the study on Hebei dialects tone has been gradually deepened. Before 1990, the study on tones of Hebei dialects mostly focused on citation tones, and was mostly limited to the synchronic description of citation tones of specific dialect spots. After the 1990s, the study turned from citation tones to the analysis of the diachronic evolution of tones. At the same time, increasing attention has been paid to the ancient tone forms contained in the tone sandhi and the synchronic and diachronic relationship between citation tone and tone sandhi.

An Experimental Study of Tone and Tone Sandhi in Baoding Dialect

This paper analyzes the tone and tone sandhi of Baoding dialect by means of experimental phonetics. So far, only Li Zihe has conducted typological research on the tone sandhi of Baoding dialect in 2008. By using statistical methods, his paper summarizes the common characteristics of tone types and tone sandhi in northern dialects, and then investigates the two-character tone sandhi in Baoding dialect from the perspective of typology. This paper uses Praat to analyze the tone and tone sandhi of Baoding dialect and tries to give an objective description. In this paper, we obtain the data from the pronunciation of the native speakers of Baoding dialect. The data were collected from the native speakers of Baoding dialect by recording their pronunciation of the citation syllables and disyllabic sequence. The collected data were given a careful and detailed acoustic analysis by Praat. This study is the first attempt to analyze the tone and tone sandhi in Baoding dialect using the Praat. Comparing the present study with the previous study of Mandarin in terms of citation tones, it is found that T2 (43) is different in both pitch values and tonal shape; T1 and T4 are different in pitch values but not tonal shapes; T3 is the same in both pitch values and tonal shape. In terms of tone sandhi, the third tone T3 changed significantly in disyllabic sequence.

Speaker discrimination: Citation tones vs. coarticulated tones

The task of forensic voice comparison (FVC) often involves the comparison of a voice in an offender recording with that in a suspect recording, with the aim to assist the investigating authority or the court in determining the identity of the speaker. One of the main goals in FVC research is to identify speech variables that are useful for differentiating speakers. While French and Stevens (2013) stated that connected speech processes (CSPs) vary across speakers and thus CSPs may be included in the ‘toolbox’ for forensic voice comparison casework, little empirical research has been done to test how effective various CSPs are in speaker discrimination. This paper reports an exploratory study comparing the speaker-discriminatory power of lexical tones in their citation forms and coarticulated tones. 20 Cantonese and 20 Mandarin speakers were instructed to produce tones under different speech rates and tonal contexts. Results based on discriminant analysis show that the combination of normal speech rate and compatible tonal context appears to have yielded the best speaker discrimination. On the other hand, the combination of fast speech and a conflicting tonal context, which in principle led to the greatest tonal coarticulatory effects, yielded the worst speaker discrimination. The addition of duration on top of tonal f0 significantly improved the classification rates in both languages. Furthermore, for the same tone categories, the Mandarin ones generally discriminate speakers better than the Cantonese counterparts, suggesting that tone inventory density affects the speaker-discriminatory power of tones. Implications of the findings for forensic speaker comparison are discussed.

A quantitative analysis of tone sandhi in Standard Mandarin and Nanjing Mandarin based on surface pitch contours and underlying pitch targets

Abstract Two statistical modelling methods are first used to quantify the third tone sandhi in Standard Mandarin in which the first falling-rising T3 becomes a rising T2 in the T3 + T3 disyllabic context. Growth curve analysis suggests non-neutralization of the surface F0 contours of the sandhi tone and its corresponding citation tone (T2), whereas a quantitative F0 target approximation model reveals neutralization of their underlying pitch targets, congruent with the stable and categorical tone shift properties of tone sandhi processes. The same statistical procedure is successfully extended to examine tone sandhi rules in Nanjing Mandarin. Our analysis leads to a proposal to change tonal values based on the Chao’s number system of some Nanjing Mandarin monosyllabic tones. The transformation method from acoustic data to Chao’s number applies well to our data and proves superior to those previously described in the literature.

Analyzing Nanjing Tones and Sandhi: Statistical Modelling Methods

In this study, we used growth curve analysis to model the surface f0 contours of the sandhi tones, and we also modelled the underlying pitch target of sandhi tones and their corresponding citation tones in Nanjing Chinese. The underlying pitch targets of reported sandhi tones showed neutralization with reported base tones in most cases, but the surface f0 contours of each pair were not neutralized. Our results provided acoustic evidence for the debate over the existence of some tone sandhi rules in Nanjing Chinese based on impressionistic data. Finally, transcription modification of some monosyllabic Nanjing Chinese tones was recommended based on the transformation of the results of the statistical modelling of the acoustic data.

Interactions between prosody and morphosyntax in Fuzhou VO phrases

Abstract This study examines how tone sandhi domains (TSDs) are determined in Fuzhou. The data include: (i) regular verb-object phrases (VOs) where the verb takes a direct bare noun object; and (ii) non-canonical VOs where the verb takes an adverbial expression as a surface object. Several observations are made. First, a three-way sandhi exists within every TSD. All antepenultimate syllables neutralize to low tones. A penultimate syllable’s sandhi tone is dependent on the final syllable’s citation tone, which remains unchanged. Second, in regular VOs, a monosyllabic verb consistently forms a single TSD with its direct bare noun object, but a disyllabic verb and its object are separated into two TSDs. Third, in non-canonical VOs, a monosyllabic verb never forms a single TSD with its adverbial object. Three questions are raised. First, what is the nature of each TSD? Second, why does the number of syllables in a verb determine the distinct TSDs formed in regular VOs? Third, how can we account for the different patterns of TSD formation in two types of VOs? We propose that each TSD equals to a prosodic word (PrWd). OT analyses are provided to show how PrWds are derived. The analysis of regular VOs relies on the ranking of a prosodic markedness constraint ft bin above the word-level interface correspondence constraints. The contrast between two types of VOs is explained by applying the model of Multiple Spell-Out and a cyclic interaction of morphosyntax and prosody. This approach is new in explaining the TSDs that are constrained by morphosyntax.

How to pronounce a low tone: A lesson from Kaifeng Mandarin

A multi-speaker acoustic study on citation tones in Kaifeng Mandarin, referred to as LH, HL, H and L, shows that L is realized as three different subtypes by different speakers, i.e. dipping, falling and falling with lengthening, while generally being longer than the other three tones and frequently spoken with creaky voice in part of the vowel. This inter-speaker variation is reflected in the different transcriptions of Kaifeng L that have been given in the literature. We argue that a L-tone is intrinsically less salient than a H-tone, due to a lack of phonetic space in the low pitch range as well as to a potential ambiguity between contextual low pitch around f0 peaks and low pitch due to L-tones, and thus more likely to be enhanced.

Tonal Neutralization of Taiwanese Checked and Smooth Syllables: An Acoustic Study.

Taiwanese tonal alternation is realized in a circular chain shift fashion for both smooth and checked syllables. Debate regarding the processes of less productive Taiwanese tonal alternation has centered on whether a surface tone is derived from an underlying tone, or whether a surface tone is selected without undergoing any derivation. The current study investigates this controversial issue by examining Taiwanese checked tone and smooth tone sandhi neutralization in production. In particular, we analyzed whether checked citation and sandhi tone 53 (C21→C53), checked citation and sandhi tone 21 (C53→C21), smooth citation and sandhi tone 55 (S51→S55), and smooth citation and sandhi tone 21 (S33→S21) are acoustically completely neutralized in fundamental frequency (F0) height, contour, and duration. A non-sandhi exception was also included to evaluate the effect of position-in-word on F0 height and duration given that citation tones always appear in phrase-final position. Any trace of influence from the underlying representation would indicate a computational mechanism, whereas the absence of any trace would suggest a lexical mechanism for the production of Taiwanese tonal alternation. Results did not show any influence of F0 height, F0 contour, or tone duration from the underlying representation for both checked and smooth tones, supporting a lexical mechanism in speech production for less productive tonal alternations.

Neutralization of Taiwanese tone sandhi: An acoustic study

Taiwanese tonal alternation is realized in a circular chain shift fashion for both smooth and checked syllables. Debate regarding the processes of Taiwanese tonal alternation has centered on whether a surface tone is derived from an underlying tone, or whether a surface tone is selected without undergoing any derivation. The current study investigates this controversial issue by examining Taiwanese checked tone and smooth tone neutralization in production. In particular, we analyzed whether smooth citation and sandhi tone 55 (T51→T55) are completely neutralized in F0 contour, F0 height, and duration. We further extended the Taiwanese neutralization literature by also comparing smooth citation and sandhi tone 21 (T33→T21), checked citation and sandhi tone 53 (CT21→CT53), and checked citation and sandhi tone 21 (CT53→CT21). Non-sandhi exceptions were also included to evaluate the effect of position-in-word on F0 height and duration given that citation tones always appear in phrase-final position. Complete n...

Osaka and Kagoshima Japanese citation tone acoustics: A linguistic-tonetic comparative study

The pitch realisations of the accentual systems in Osaka Japanese (OJ) and Kagoshima Japanese (KJ) have been auditorily described in detail, and analysed within various phonological frameworks. However, little linguistic-phonetic descriptive research has been undertaken on the accent types of Japanese dialects in such a way as to enable a cross-dialectal comparison of their acoustic realisation. In this study, linguistic-tonetic representations of OJ and KJ tonalities are derived from normalised acoustic representations for pitch patterns conventionally described as LH, LHL, LLH and LLLH. A comparison of these representations across the two dialects demonstrates some significant differences in the acoustic realisation of the H/L units. The implications of these observed differences for surface tonal representation of KJ within Autosegmental-Metrical theory are also explored.

The development of neutral tone in Mandarin-speaking children

Besides the four citation tones in Mandarin stressed syllables, neutral tone usually occurs in unstressed syllables. The fundamental frequency (F0) contour and height of neutral tone are determined by the preceding tones. Neutral tone was also considered to have lower intensity and shorter duration compared to citation tones (Cao, 1986; Chao, 1968). Li and Thompson (1977) suggested that neutral tone was not fully acquired by Mandarin-speaking children of age 2. However, the acoustic characteristics of neutral tone in the extended period of acquisition were not explored. The present study compared acoustic realizations of neutral tone in children's production with adults. Eight 5-yr-old and eight 8-yr-old mono-lingual Mandarin-speaking children and young adults participated. Bi-syllabic target words containing neutral tone in the second syllable was elicited by picture-naming tasks. F0, duration and intensity of neutral tone syllables were measured. The ratio of these acoustic parameters between the first and second syllable was calculated. Results indicated that 5-yr-old children started to produce F0 contour and height of neutral tone according to the preceding tone.

Tonal variations in Anong.

This study presents an acoustic analysis of Anong tones. It has three aims: (1) to present some detailed documentation of instrumental‐acoustic data on citation tones, (2) to compare the acoustic features of the citation tones with the same tones used in disyllabic utterances, and (3) to analyze tones in disyllabic utterances. Anong citation tones are characterized by three features. First, the tonal space is small. Second, onset consonant type correlates with the pitch height of the following vowel. Third, non‐modal phonation is not an acoustic cue to any of the five tones. Neither is it a contrastive property of vowels. In disyllabic utterances, the F0 shapes and heights on the first‐syllable tones can be readily related to the F0 shapes and heights in the citation forms. The F0 value of the second‐syllable tones depends on the offset value of the tone in the first syllable. However, disyllabic forms with the prefix /a31/ follow a different pattern, one in which the first‐syllable tone is raised. This pattern correlates with vowel laryngealization and vowel duration.

The development of neutral tone in Mandarin-speaking children.

Besides the four citation tones in Mandarin stressed syllables, neutral tone usually occurs in unstressed syllables. The fundamental frequency (F0) contour and height of neutral tone are determined by the preceding tones. Neutral tone was also considered to have lower intensity and shorter duration compared to citation tones [Cao (1986); Chao (1968)]. Li and Thompson [(1977)] suggested that neutral tone was not fully acquired by Mandarin-speaking children by age 2. However, the acoustic characteristics of neutral tone in the extended period of acquisition were not explored. The present study compared acoustic realizations of neutral tone in children’s production with adults. Eight 5-year-old and eight 8-year-old monolingual Mandarin-speaking children and young adults participated. Bisyllabic target words containing neutral tone in the second syllable were elicited by picture-naming tasks. F0, duration, and intensity of neutral tone syllables were measured. The ratios of these acoustic parameters between the first and second syllables were calculated. Results indicated that 5-year-old children started to produce F0 contour and height of neutral tone according to the preceding tone. But they still showed significant differences in the above-mentioned measures compared to 8-year-olds and adults.

On the perception of tones in Fuzhou.

The Fuzhou dialect of Chinese has seven citation tones. Three of these tones are considered phonologically level. An acoustic quantification revealed consistent changes in pitch contour in addition to pitch height for these tones, with the highest tone rising slightly and the lower two tones dropping slightly. Moreover a non‐modal phonation was found to occur consistently with the lowest of these “level” tones. This study focuses on the role of pitch height versus contour and phonation as relevant for tonal identification. Actual tokens were altered to modify the pitch height of these tones, maintaining their inherent contours and phonation. Native speakers were then asked to identify the “word” that they heard (from a list). The results show that both contour and phonation, in addition to pitch height, play a role in tonal perception.

Production and perception of lexical tones in Beijing and Taiwan Mandarin.

The acoustic properties of four lexical tones between two regional varieties of Mandarin Chinese, Beijing Mandarin (Putonghua), and Taiwan Mandarin (Guoyu) were examined in terms of duration, pitch contours, and rms amplitude. Tokens included CV and V monosyllables, representing each of the four tones of Mandarin Chinese, and were produced in isolation and in sentence context by 15 adult native speakers. A different durational pattern of citation tones emerged for two dialect variety groups. In Taiwan Mandarin, it was T2>T1>T3>T4; whereas, it was T3>T2>T1>T4 in Beijing Mandarin [Deng et al. (2006)]. The durational discrepancy in isolated T3 may be related to different realization of T3 between two dialect groups. While T3 exhibited a falling-rising pitch contour in Beijing Mandarin, it was falling in Taiwan Mandarin. Such dialectal divergence in T3 contours shapes can be verified from the amplitude contours. Furthermore, pitch contours of other tones in two dialects will be compared to see if there is tonetic sound change in other Taiwan Mandarin tones. These surface acoustic variations in linguistically identical categories can result in perceptually ambiguous tones. A gating experiment was utilized to examine how native and non-native listeners adapt to speaker and dialect variability in the stimuli.

Acoustic analysis of the tones and tone sandhi in Hakka Chinese.

This paper analyzes F0 contours of (i) the six citations tones of Hakka Chinese which consist of four long tones that occur on open syllables and closed syllables with a nasal and two short tones on checked syllables and (ii) tone contours on 36 bisyllabic compounds, representing possible permutations of the six citation tones, and 120 commonly used trisyllabic compounds. Based on the F0 data, (i) tone values are assigned to the citation tones and (ii) tone patterns on the bisyllabic and trisyllabic compounds are defined. Tone sandhi rules are formulated, summing up the phonological changes in the citation tones when juxtaposed. Phonetic tonal co-articulations are also examined. The F0 data show that the citation tones may be represented in terms of tone letter as [53 31 33 11] (long) and [5 32] (short). Major tone sandhis include [33] becoming [35] and [53] becoming [55] before [11], [31], or [53]; and before another [31], [31] becomes [33]. Process such as [53 53 53 53] becoming [5 5 5 53] illustrates simultaneous application of tone sandhi to only tones on the non-compound-final syllables, and [5 33 11 53 31] do not undergo tone sandhi before [5] or [33].