Chinese Intonation Research Articles

Coordination versus separation: difference of gapping between Chinese and English and its prosodic attribution

Abstract In this paper, we have analyzed a whole set of data of gapping in Mandarin Chinese from a novel point of view and fleshed out a bi-sentential derivation analysis for the formation of this construction. While taking the canonical gapping in English as a reference, we have explored some idiomatic properties of the relevant structures in Chinese and summarized core differences: the gapping constructions in English follow a strict rule of sentence grammar while those of Chinese have demonstrated kind of inter-sentential effect. We propose that such differences can be attributed to the prosodic factors: The Constraint on Sentential Intonation in Chinese (CSIC for short), firstly proposed in Feng (Feng, Shengli. 2017. Hanyu jufa zhongyin yudiao xianghu zuoyong de yufa xiaoying. ‘On grammatical effects of interactions between intonation, stress and syntax’. Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Study] (1). 1–15), bans the occurrence of the coordinate [VP & VP] structures, and thus two parallel but separate sentences are used in the contexts where a sentence with VP coordination in English is used. Then, the verb in the second sentence is deleted at PF under the identity condition. Consequently, the gapping structures thus formed demonstrate their own unique properties and are different from the canonical gapping in English. The result of our discussion indicates that prosody can play a role in accounting for language specificities as well as cross-linguistic variations.

Prosody and sentencehood in Chinese: A case study with reference to Chinese-English comparison

This paper addresses the role of sentential intonation in delimitating sentencehood in Chinese and shows how this helps to reveal the idiosyncrasies of the flowing sentence, a unique sentence pattern used with yet high frequency. While taking the relevant facts in English as a reference, we provide a new set of data to illuminate two vital aspects that contribute to the uniqueness of this sentence pattern: the former is the phonological feature of keduan kelian 可断可连 ‘being either separable or connectable’ and can be attributed to an unconventional intonation contour, while the latter is the syntactic feature of looseness or chunkiness. As we will show, these two aspects can be well explained under the framework of the Constraint on Sentential Intonation in Chinese, a rule proposed in Feng (2017) that bans the mono-sentential predicative coordination like that of English. In reaction to this constraint, the various chunks of the flowing sentence, essentially coordinate to each other, are actually within a sequence of juxtaposed sentences. We conclude, therefore, that both the phonological and syntactic properties come to be the corollary of our new treatment relating to sentencehood of the flowing sentence. The result of our discussion indicates that prosody can play a vital role in accounting for language specificities as well as cross-linguistic variations.

ОБУЧЕНИЕ КИТАЙСКИХ СТУДЕНТОВ В КЛАССЕ СПЕЦИАЛЬНОГО ФОРТЕПИАНО. ИЗ ОПЫТА ДАЛЬНЕВОСТОЧНОГО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО ИНСТИТУТА ИСКУССТВ

The article summarizes the authors’ long-term experience of teaching special piano to the Chinese students. The study is based on the results of a survey conducted among the Chinese graduates. The paper proposes methodological recommendations concerning repertoire policy, interaction with the students and influence of the Chinese intonation patterns on intoning techniques. For the first time in domestic musical education methodology, the paper raises the problems of discrepancy between the stereotypes of the Chinese students and the actual contingent of learners at the Russian higher education establishments.

The Effects of Vibrotactile Stimuli on Learning Chinese Intonation and Vocabulary

This study proposes a novel method of learning Chinese vocabulary using vibrotactile stimuli corresponding to Chinese intonation. We have created vibration feedback for the experiment, and developed a mobile application for the testing. Learning and testing have been carried out using the developed application with 30 subjects that had no preliminary knowledge of Chinese, and were divided into haptic and non-haptic groups. The experiment results show that the haptic group earned higher points than the non-haptic group by 46%, in terms of the average test score. Consequently, we conclude that learning Chinese intonation with vibrotactile stimuli is effective.

The Comparative Study on English and Chinese Intonation

Intonation, being the essential element and external form of a language, serves the human beings primarily as a medium of communication. The contrastive analysis of English and Chinese intonation has great significance in the development of contrastive phonology and improvement of foreign language learning and teaching practice. This article attempts to make a contrastive study of English and Chinese intonation from two aspects: structure and function. The differences and similarities between English and Chinese intonation can clarify some misunderstandings in both English and Chinese intonation teaching.

A preliminary study on the modern chinese intonation of speech corpus

A preliminary study on the modern chinese intonation of speech corpus

The Processing and Application of Neutral Tone in Chinese Intonation

The Processing and Application of Neutral Tone in Chinese Intonation

Tone-3 Accent Realization in Short Chinese Sentences

To investigate how a low tone (tone-3, T3) syllable in Chinese can be perceived to be focal accented or not, a total of 156 sentences containing tone-3 words were synthesized and used as stimuli in a perceptual study. The sentences differed in the falling value between the two high pitches, and in the duration and phonation types of the T3 syllables. Thirty-nine subjects were asked to judge where the focus or accent was for each sentence. The results show that at least three degrees of pitch drop are involved in the focus recognition: a big sized drop of about 10 semitones; a middle sized drop of about 6 semitones; a small sized drop of about 2 semitones. The results suggest that the three sizes of pitch drop have different indications in Chinese intonation, depending on both the tone and the tone combination. In perception, there are various ways to realize tone-3 focus in the T x-T3-T y sentences series, but in production or for text-to-speech synthesis, the rule simply is making a middle sized pitch drop with a long and creaky T3 syllable. Similarly, to focus on the low tone syllable in the T3-T x-T y sentences, a creaky T3 syllable is essential. However, a long T3 syllable is a strong determinant for a low tone focus in the T x-T y-T3 sentences.

The Present Stage of the Researches about Chinese Intonation(<Feature Articles>Current Trends in Intonational Research on Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, German and French)

The Present Stage of the Researches about Chinese Intonation(<Feature Articles>Current Trends in Intonational Research on Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, German and French)

Hemispheric roles in the perception of speech prosody

Speech prosody is processed in neither a single region nor a specific hemisphere, but engages multiple areas comprising a large-scale spatially distributed network in both hemispheres. It remains to be elucidated whether hemispheric lateralization is based on higher-level prosodic representations or lower-level encoding of acoustic cues, or both. A cross-language (Chinese; English) fMRI study was conducted to examine brain activity elicited by selective attention to Chinese intonation (I) and tone (T) presented in three-syllable (I3, T3) and one-syllable (I1, T1) utterance pairs in a speeded response, discrimination paradigm. The Chinese group exhibited greater activity than the English in a left inferior parietal region across tasks (I1, I3, T1, T3). Only the Chinese group exhibited a leftward asymmetry in inferior parietal and posterior superior temporal (I1, I3, T1, T3), anterior temporal (I1, I3, T1, T3), and frontopolar (I1, I3) regions. Both language groups shared a rightward asymmetry in the mid portions of the superior temporal sulcus and middle frontal gyrus irrespective of prosodic unit or temporal interval. Hemispheric laterality effects enable us to distinguish brain activity associated with higher-order prosodic representations in the Chinese group from that associated with lower-level acoustic/auditory processes that are shared among listeners regardless of language experience. Lateralization is influenced by language experience that shapes the internal prosodic representation of an external auditory signal. We propose that speech prosody perception is mediated primarily by the RH, but is left-lateralized to task-dependent regions when language processing is required beyond the auditory analysis of the complex sound.

Influence of Mandarin tone exposure on the processing of intonation by 14-year-old American adolescents: An fMRI study

This study investigated, for American adolescents, whether the learning of non-native speech contrasts in one prosodic domain (Mandarin Chinese tones) would influence the processing of non-native contrasts in another prosodic domain (Mandarin Chinese intonation). Two groups of 14-year-old American teenagers were tested using the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique, including eight who had received a two-week Mandarin tone training program and eight with no exposure to Mandarin. Subjects were scanned during identification tasks. Despite their similar behavioral performance on identification of Mandarin intonation, preliminary results showed different cortical activation patterns for the two groups. Teenagers exposed to Mandarin showed similar activation patterns for the Mandarin intonation and Mandarin tone task, with more right-hemisphere activation for intonation, which differed from activation for English intonation. Teenagers without exposure activated similar areas for Mandarin and English intonation. Familiarity with Mandarin tonal contrasts affects brain activation, not only for Mandarin tones but also for Mandarin intonation, suggesting that training effects may transcend levels. [Work supported by NIH (HD 37954) and the Talaris Research Institute.]

The Prosody of Mandarin Chinese

Through acoustic analysis of Mandarin Chinese intonation, the author finds that the intonation baseline moves up when intonation is shifted from assertive to interrogative; therefore, two baselines and two intonation layers must be reckoned with. Sentence intonation affects the tonal values and the tonal shapes of intrinsic lexical tones, though not beyond recognition. Tonal changes prove to be closely related to sentence intonation, which is superimposed simultaneously onto the utterance as a whole. The author's findings support the position of the movability of the intonation baseline and rectify some widely spread traditional claims concerning Mandarin Chinese prosody.