Tonal Phonology Research Articles

Acoustic patterns in Hong Kong Cantonese hesitation markers: Vowel quality and omnisyllabic tone

ABSTRACT: Hesitation markers (HMs) lie somewhere on the dividing line between linguistic and sub-linguistic, evincing at the same time crosslinguistic commonalities as well as language-specific features (Candea et al. 2005; Dingemanse and Woensdregt 2020). This study seeks to expand on understanding of these lexically peripheral items by analyzing their acoustic properties in Hong Kong Cantonese (HKCT), including vowel quality and F0. Recent work by Dingemanse and Woensdregt (2020) discusses phonetic similarities in HMs across languages, which are constrained by adherence to the phonologies of their respective languages. However, it is unclear how HMs are incorporated into HKCT tonal phonology, which can be characterized as 'omnisyllabic' (Matisoff 1995), every syllable being associated with a lexical tone. The present study gathers acoustic data (F0, F1–F2, duration) from the PolyU Corpus of Spoken Chinese (http://wongtaksum.no-ip.info:81/corpus.htm) across 10 speakers and 196 HMs, comparing them against 525 lexical items. Results for F1–F2 clustered around mid-front /ɛ/, which is in line both with crosslinguistic trends and HKCT phonology. Results for F0 clustered around the lower end of the pitch range, approaching Tones 3 and 6, which is expected given effort minimization trends. However, establishing a connection with a particular lexical tone was complicated by the similarity of Tones 3 and 6, which could not be statistically distinguished. Cross-speaker analysis showed considerable variation in F0, indicating that context, intonation, or idiolectal variation may play a substantial role. This has implications for our understanding of how peripheral items like hesitation markers are treated in omnisyllabic tone languages like Cantonese. 摘要: 犹豫标记置身语言学与副语言学的边界，占据一个既有跨语言共性又 具特定语言特征的区域(Candea et al. 2005; Dingemanse and Woensdregt 2020)。本研究旨在透过分析犹豫标记在香港粤语中，包含元音音色 及 F0 的声学特性，扩充对这些语义周边项目的理解。Dingemanse and Woensdregt(2020)最近的研究论及犹豫标记有跨语言声学相似性，亦 受制于各语言对自身的音段音韵学的持守。不过，香港粤语作为"全 音节语言"(Matisoff 1995)，每个音节均附上声调，犹豫标记应如何 纳入香港粤语的声调音韵学，这仍不清楚。本研究从理工大学中文口 语语料库 (PolyU Corpus of Spoken Chinese, http://wongtaksum.noip.info:81/corpus.htm) 集结 F0、 F1–F2 及时长的声学资料，横跨十位语 者，共 196 个犹豫标记，与 525 个词汇作比较分析。F1–F2 的结果围 绕半开前元音/ɛ/丛集，与跨语言趋势及香港粤语音韵学均能匹配。F0 的结果则丛集于近乎最低的音高，接近调三及调六，合乎最少付出倾 向的预想。可是，要与特定字词声调建立联系仍很复杂，因为调三及 调六相似，不能以统计学区分。跨语者分析显示 F0 有相当变化，提示 语境、语调或个人习语变化可能有重大影响。这对理解全音节语言 (如粤语)如何应对犹豫标记等等周边项目有所提示。

On the learnability of level-based and unit-based tonal OCP generalizations: An artificial grammar learning study

In previous research of tonal phonology, contour tones were assumed to be phonologically presented not only as a sequence of level tones but also as a single unit. Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) constraints, by extension, were thought to prohibit identical level tones associated to adjacent terminal nodes (OCP-Terminal) and identical adjacent tonal units (OCP-Unit). This proposal has nevertheless been challenged theoretically and empirically. This study seeks to offer new experimental evidence to help solve the debate by comparing the learnability of the two OCP generalizations in an artificial grammar learning paradigm. In Exp I, we exposed disyllabic tonal patterns conforming either to OCP-Terminal or to OCP-Unit to two target groups of learners, who were then tested if they could extend the hidden generalization to their auditory acceptability judgment of novel disyllabic items. Exp II had the same exposure phase but required learners to produce novel disyllabic items with tonal combinations of their choice. In both experiments, the two target groups demonstrated signs of learning target OCP generalizations from different channels. Crucially, learners implicitly acquired the OCP-Terminal generalization but only learned the OCP-Unit pattern as explicit knowledge. These findings led us to conclude that OCP-Unit may not be involved in implicit and automatized phonological computation.

Input and output locality and representation

Using a rigorous, computational notion of locality, this paper evaluates one of the central motivations for autosegmental representations (ARs)—that they reduce long-distance processes to local ones. We analyze a variety of tone processes using two computational notions of locality: input strict locality as defined by Chandlee (2014) and Chandlee & Jardine (2019a) and a corresponding notion of output strict locality we call recursive strict locality. The results of our survey add to our understanding of the typology of tone patterns and the role of ARs in two key ways. First, they indicate that both input and output locality play a role in a comprehensive theory of tone. Second, they reveal the various mechanisms by which ARs render long-distance patterns local by disentangling the various properties these representations combine. The larger contribution then is a more detailed and nuanced exploration of the interaction of representation, locality, and computational complexity in the domain of tonal phonology.

Highs and Lows: A Previously Unattested Tone Split from Vowel Height in Metnyo Ambel

AbstractAmbel is a tonal Austronesian (South Halmahera‐West New Guinea) language, spoken to the west of New Guinea. There are two dialects of Ambel: Metsam and Metnyo. In this paper, the segments and tones of proto‐Ambel monosyllables are reconstructed. Proto‐Ambel had two tones, *High and *Rise; toneless monosyllables are also reconstructed. The tonal phonology of Metsam Ambel is identical with the proto‐Ambel system. The tone system of Metnyo Ambel, however, has undergone two innovations: an unconditioned merger of *Rise and toneless syllables; and a primary split affecting proto‐Ambel toneless syllables. Notably, this latter change was conditioned by vowel height: toneless monosyllables with high vowel nuclei (*i or *u) remained toneless, while those with non‐high vowel nuclei (*e, *a, or *o) merged with *High tone. The diachronic development of High tone on non‐high vowels has not previously been attested. The possible mechanisms that caused this split will therefore be given special attention. Based on experimental phonetic evidence, it will be argued that the split was caused by the neutralisation, in low‐pitched contexts, of the intrinsic differences in fundamental frequency found between high and low vowels; combined with the utilisation of Intrinsic Pitch, an auditory mechanism used to compensate for intrinsic f0 differences.

The impact of foreign language caregiving on native language acquisition

There is increasing interest in the influence of language input during children’s early years. Over the first 3 years of life, children are highly sensitive to the quantity and quality of language input they receive. The focus of this study was on whether learning a different language in the early years affects the acquisition of English over the longer term. In this study, we investigated effects of foreign language (Hokkien) caregiving on the eventual acquisition of English as well as on memory traces of Hokkien. We sampled individuals who received foreign language caregiving in Hokkien during their early years either predominantly or in addition to English. Our control group had lifetime primary exposure to English. We compared the Hokkien- and English-only reared groups on phonological, semantic, and grammatical knowledge in English. We also compared the groups on memories for Hokkien tonal phonology and vocabulary. Overall, there were no statistically significant differences in performance in English tasks between groups, yet the Hokkien-reared group demonstrated selective learning advantages in reacquiring Hokkien tonal contrasts. Findings are discussed with reference to the effects of timing and language input on later language proficiency.

Being exceptional is being weak: Tonal exceptions in San Miguel el Grande Mixtec

The assumption of Gradient Symbolic Representations (Smolensky & Goldrick 2016; Rosen 2016) allows a unified account of lexical exceptions to phonological generalizations or processes. It states that phonological elements can have different degrees of presence in an underlying representation, expressed as numerical activities. In this paper, I strengthen the argument for Gradient Symbolic Representations and provide a case study of two seemingly unrelated exceptions in the tonal phonology of San Miguel el Grande Mixtec that receive a unified explanation under the assumption of gradient activity. In addition, I argue for a modification of the original Gradient Symbolic Representation assumption and propose the existence of gradient activity in the output. This assumption allows to predict markedness-driven exceptionality patterns that remain unexplained in the original proposal.

Substance matters: a reply to Jardine (2016)

Jardine (2016) claims that tonal phonology is more formally complex than the phonology of other segmental features, in that only tonal phonology goes beyond the class of weakly deterministic maps. He then goes on to argue that this formal distinction is superior to any available treatment in Optimality Theory. This reply points out that Jardine's formal distinction conflates attested and unattested tonal patterns, which can be distinguished in Optimality Theory, given a substantively defined constraint set.

Field Notes on Kono, a Southwestern Mande Lect of Forest Guinea1

Kono (knu) is a Southwestern Mande lect of the Republic of Guinea, not to be confused with Kono of Sierra Leone (kno, Kono-Vai group). It is a member of the Kpelle macro-language together with Guinean Kpelle (gkp) and Liberian Kpelle (xpe). This paper is a brief description of Kono based on the author’s field notes collected in the Republic of Guinea in 2009 and 2014. I discuss segmental and tonal phonology of Kono as well as its basic morphology and grammatical constructions. 100‑word Swadesh lists for Kono, Guinean and Liberian Kpelle are also provided. As I demonstrate in this sketch, Kono is lexically and grammatically distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Some phonological and grammatical phenomena in Kono, e.g. consonant harmony, first vowel elision in CVLV structures and obligatory pronominal doubling of definite noun phrases, suggest that, unlike other Kpelle lects, Kono has undergone a strong contact influence from Southern Mande.

Computationally, tone is different

This paper establishes that unbounded circumambient processes, phonological processes for which crucial information in the environment may appear unboundedly far away on both sides of a target, are common in tonal phonology, but rare in segmental phonology. It then argues that this typological asymmetry is best characterised by positing that tone is more computationally complex than segmental phonology. The evidence for the asymmetry is based around attestations of unbounded tonal plateauing, but it is also shown how the ‘sour-grapes’ harmony pathology is unbounded circumambient. The paper argues that such processes are not weakly deterministic, which contrasts with previous typological work on segmental phonology. Positing that weak determinism bounds segmental phonology but not tonal phonology thus captures the typological asymmetry. It is also discussed why this explanation is superior to any offered by Optimality Theory.

Dissimilation in the second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones

This article extends Optimality Theoretic studies to the research on second language tone phonology. Specifically, this work analyses the acquisition of identical tone sequences in Mandarin Chinese by adult speakers of three non-tonal languages: English, Japanese and Korean. This study finds that the learners prefer not to use identical lexical tones on adjacent syllables, especially the contour tone sequences. It is argued that the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) was playing a role in shaping the second language Chinese tonal phonology even though it was not learned from these speakers’ native languages, nor found widely applied in the target language. The acquisition order of tone pairs suggests an interacting effect of the OCP and the Tonal Markedness Scale. This study presents a constraint-based analysis and proposes a four-stage path of OCP sub-constraint re-ranking to account for the error patterns found in the phonological experiment.

The Representation of Contour Tones in Cantonese

<p>A central question in tonal phonology is the representation of tone. One of the focal points is the representation of contour tones, especially since Goldsmith (1976) and subsequent works have analyzed contour tones in Bantu languages as sequences of level tones. Cross-linguistically, it is generally well-recognized, following Yip’s (1989) terminology, that contour tones in African languages are typically clusters, which are sequences of level tones and consist of multiple tonal root nodes, and that contour tones in Asian languages are typically tone units, which have only one tonal root node. This paper points out an important exception—Cantonese— particularly in light of Yip (2001) and Barrie (2007) on Chinese contour tones. The correct view is at least implied in earlier analyses: Cantonese tones, contour and level alike, should be represented as sequences of level tones but not unitary tone units.</p>

Contextual Evidence for the Representation of Pitch Accents in Standard Serbian

This paper reports the results of an experiment that elicits contextual effects on Rising and Falling accents in Standard Serbian, with the goal of determining their acoustic correlates and their phonological representation. Materials systematically vary the distance between pitch accents, inducing "tone crowding," in order to identify the phonetic dimensions that consistently distinguish the two pitch accent types, to examine the association between accents and the segmental string, as well as the timing relationship between accent minima and maxima, and to investigate the interaction between lexical accents and boundary tones. On the basis of the phonetic findings, a unified analysis of the phonological distribution and phonetic realization of Falling and Rising accents in Standard Serbian is proposed. It is proposed that both Rising and Falling accents consist of a single lexical High (H). The restricted distribution of the two accents emerges from the interaction of stress and tone: Falling accents are monosyllabic, such that stress and pitch prominence coincide; Rising accents are bisyllabic, such that the stressed syllable precedes the pitch-accented syllable. The phonetic differences between the Falling and Rising accents follow from the place of lexically designated H, the location of stress, and the effects of boundary tones. The larger issue we address concerns the phonological characterization of tone/stress interactions. Given the two general types of interactions, one in which the place of stress is predictable from the place of tone, and the other with the reversed direction of influence, we analyze Standard Serbian as belonging to the former type. While both types can be characterized in systems of tonal phonology, which allow free interaction of tone and stress, the type exemplified by Standard Serbian, with contrastive tonal specifications governing the distribution of stress, cannot be captured in an Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) framework, in which stress serves as anchor for tonal melodies.

Questions in Bantu languages: prosodies and positions

The papers in this volume were originally presented at the Workshop on Bantu Wh-questions, held at the Institut des Sciences de l’Homme, Université Lyon 2, on 25-26 March 2011, which was organized by the French-German cooperative project on the Phonology/Syntax Interface in Bantu Languages (BANTU PSYN). This project, which is funded by the ANR and the DFG, comprises three research teams, based in Berlin, Paris and Lyon. The Berlin team, at the ZAS, is: Laura Downing (project leader) and Kristina Riedel (post-doc). The Paris team, at the Laboratoire de phonétique et phonologie (LPP; UMR 7018), is: Annie Rialland (project leader), Cédric Patin (Maître de Conférences, STL, Université Lille 3), Jean-Marc Beltzung (post-doc), Martial Embanga Aborobongui (doctoral student), Fatima Hamlaoui (post-doc). The Lyon team, at the Dynamique du Langage (UMR 5596) is: Gérard Philippson (project leader) and Sophie Manus (Maître de Conférences, Université Lyon 2). These three research teams bring together the range of theoretical expertise necessary to investigate the phonology-syntax interface: intonation (Patin, Rialland), tonal phonology (Aborobongui, Downing, Manus, Patin, Philippson, Rialland), phonology-syntax interface (Downing, Patin) and formal syntax (Riedel, Hamlaoui). They also bring together a range of Bantu language expertise: Western Bantu (Aboronbongui, Rialland), Eastern Bantu (Manus, Patin, Philippson, Riedel), and Southern Bantu (Downing).

How to Study a Tone Language, with Exemplification from Oku (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon)

UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2010) How To Study a Tone Language, with exemplification from Oku (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon) Larry M. Hyman University of California, Berkeley DRAFT • August 2010 • Comments Welcome Introduction On numerous occasions I have been asked, “How does one study a tone language?” Or: “How can I tell if my language is tonal?” Even seasoned field researchers, upon confronting their first tone system, have asked me: “How do I figure out the number of tones I have?” When it comes to tone, colleagues and students alike often forget everything they’ve learned about discovering the phonology of a language and assume that tone is somehow different, that it requires different techniques or expertise. Some of this may derive from an incomplete understanding of what it means to be a tone system. Prior knowledge of possible tonal inventories, tone rules, and tone- grammar interfaces would definitely be helpful to a field researcher who has to decipher a tone system. However, despite such recurrent encounters, general works on tone seem not to answer these questions—specifically, they rarely tell you how to start and how to discover. I sometimes respond to the last question, “How do I figure out the number of tones I have?”, by asking in return, “Well, how would you figure out the number of vowels you have?” Hopefully the answer would be something like: “I would get a word list, starting with nouns, listen carefully, transcribe as much detail as I can, and then organize the materials to see if I have been consistent.” (I will put off until §5 commentary concerning the use of speech software as an aid in linguistic discovery.) Although I don’t think the elicitation techniques that one applies in studying segmental vs. tonal phonology are really very different, what is needed is a general discussion and illustration of how tonologists go about their work from beginning to end. My goal here is to share my personal experience with tonal elicitation in hopes that it will be useful to field researchers and students who are lucky enough to face an unknown tone system. I will not claim that every tonologist adopts the same strategies as I do, some of which I learned directly or indirectly from my teacher, Wm. E. Welmers, but I believe that most Africanists do. Logically, there are three separate tasks that one must take up in studying a tone system from scratch. Since these are necessarily ordered, with each one feeding into the next, I will refer to the three tasks as stages: (i) In Stage I the goal is to determine the surface tonal contrasts. This is first done by considering words in isolation. (ii) In Stage II the goal is to discover any tonal alternations (“morphotonemics”) which may exist in the language. This can be done either by putting words together to make short phrases or by eliciting paradigms. (iii) Stage III comprises the tonal analysis itself, the interpretation of what has been discovered in Stages I and II. At this point one typically draws on theoretical constructs and formal devices, e.g. autosegmental notation, to help express one’s insights as to how the tone system works.

Do Tones Have Features?

Unless explicitly concerned with developing a system of features per se, most studies of tonal phonology refer to contrasting high, mid, low and contour tones as H, M, L, HL, LH (etc.), or with integers, rather than with features such as [±UPPER], [±RAISED]. Since this practice stands in marked contrast to vowel and consonant phonology, where features seem unavoidable, it is natural to ask whether this difference in practice is due simply to convenience or whether tones lend themselves less naturally to a featural interpretation than vowels and consonants. In this paper I suggest that this is indeed the case: while features sometimes facilitate a general and insightful account, there are inconsistencies, indeterminacies, and other reasons to doubt the value of tonal features (and tonal geometry). This then naturally leads to a more general question: Why should tone be different? In Hyman (in press), I provide evidence to suggest that tone is different in its capabilities: tone can do everything that segmental and accentual phonology can do, but the reverse is not true. I start by illustrating some examples to make this point then turn to the question of how this provides insight into the relative unimportance of featural analyses of tone. In this paper I also raise the question of why tone, which might seem like a good bet, is not a linguistic universal (as compared to consonants and vowels). I suggest that it is the relative autonomy and “non-integration” of tone that accounts for its versatile and unique properties. Since some tonal phenomena have no segmental or stress analogues, I argue that anyone who is interested in the outer limits of what is possible in phonology would be well-served to understand how tone systems work.

The tone system of the Luanyjang dialect of Dinka

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of tone in the Luanyjang variety of Dinka, a Nilotic language spoken in Southern Sudan. We show that Luanyjang Dinka has four tonemes, High (H), Low (L), Rising (LH) and Falling (HL). We also describe how underlying tone sequences are often substantially modified in utterances by a number of context-sensitive phonological processes such as dissimilatory lowering of High tones. Given our standard autosegmental description, the phonological categories and processes we posit are broadly familiar from other African languages. However, our analysis requires a typologically less usual understanding of (1) the surface phonetic categories of tone – in particular, what we call “Low” toneme is realized under some conditions as a fairly steep fall; and (2) the relation between the tonal phonology and the quantity system – in particular, we show that each morpheme is underlyingly associated with one and only one toneme, regardless of vowel length. We therefore present a range of acoustic data in support of the basic phonological description.

A Course in Phonology (review)

Reviewed by: A course in phonology by Iggy Roca, Wyn Johnson Jeffrey Steele A course in phonology. By Iggy Roca and Wyn Johnson. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. Pp. xxi, 725. Written in a clear and engaging style, Iggy Roca and Wyn Johnson’s book presents the essentials of nonlinear phonology, including an introduction to Optimality Theory. While examples are taken from English for the most part, some phenomena are exemplified with data from other languages (e.g. Turkish vowel harmony, Japanese pitch accent). The book is organized into three principal sections. Part 1, ‘Phonetics and phonology’, consists of a general introduction to articulatory phonetics and segmental phonology. Chs. 1–4 deal with the articulatory description of consonants. Using assimilation as a starting point, these chapters present the concepts of rules, derivations, distinctive features, natural classes, and autosegmental representation. In Chs. 5–7, R&J shift their focus to vowels. Beginning with a discussion of the vowel space, the learner is shown how the same types of distinctive features and autosegmental representations used for consonants can be applied to vowels. An examination of English vowels and dialectal variation constitutes the core of Ch. 7. Part 1 concludes with an introduction to the timing tier, including its role in the representation of complex segments and its potential as a mechanism for explaining the Great Vowel Shift. The discussion of the timing tier provides a good segue to Part 2, which examines suprasegmental phonology. Chs. 9 and 10 investigate syllable theory; the [End Page 589] concepts of sonority and constituency are presented and illustrated with examples from English. Cross-linguistic syllable typology is also discussed. Chs. 11 and 12 examine metrical phonology using grid theory. Ch. 13 integrates material encountered in the four preceding chapters through a discussion of syllable weight and its role in stress systems. Ch. 14 concludes Part 2 with an investigation of tonal phonology. Intonation, tonal and pitch accent languages, and the concepts of autosegmental association and floating tones are examined. Part 3, ‘Advanced theory’, investigates other topics in nonlinear phonology. Ch. 15 focuses on cyclic vs. noncyclic rules, primarily through a discussion of metrical grid construction in English. Ch. 16 investigates the concept of domain and its role in rule application; lexical phonology is introduced. In Ch. 17, R&J further investigate the lexicon through a discussion of lexical representation, markedness, and underspecification theory. Whereas Ch. 18 provides more study of rules and derivation, Ch. 19 introduces the concept of constraints and constraint interaction in Optimality Theory. Ch. 20 concludes with a summary. This book has many strengths. First, it presents the core of generative phonological theory using readily accessible examples. Second, it is clear and well-organized: The chapters follow logically, and summaries and margin notes highlight important concepts. Finally, much effort is made to guide the novice phonologist through the processes of hypothesis construction and evaluation. The book also has some weaknesses. In general, there is a lack of examples drawn from languages other than English. Second, some of the problem sets could be better constructed. Third, the chapter on Optimality Theory could be better integrated into the book as a whole. Finally, the ‘interactive’ grey boxes, intended to facilitate the reader’s understanding, are excessive in number and interrupt the flow of the text. However, all in all, this is indeed a very sound textbook. Jeffrey Steele McGill University Copyright © 2002 Linguistic Society of America

A Case Study of Acquired Dyslexia and Dysgraphia in Cantonese: Evidence for Nonsemantic Pathways for Reading and Writing Chinese

We report a Cantonese-speaking brain-damaged patient, CML, who demonstrates better oral reading than oral naming and better writing to dictation than written naming. Such dissociations are taken as evidence for nonsemantic routes for the production of spoken and written Chinese words. The occurrence of tonal errors in CML's reading aloud informs us about the structure of phonological representations. We propose that it is a nonlinear structure, similar to that which has been proposed in tonal phonology of Chinese. Specific impairment to these representations may lead to a dissociation between segmental and suprasegmental information. Finally, the similarity of CML's neologistic responses in oral and written naming, and her production of tonal errors in writing to dictation and written naming, favour the mediated version of the nonsemantic pathway for writing more than the unmediated pathway.

Surface underspecification of tone in Chichewa

In Chichewa, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Malawi, there is a contrast between high and low tone, as illustrated by such minimal pairs as mtengo ‘price’ vs. mténgo ‘tree’. But there is a strong asymmetry between the two tones in their phonological behaviour: high tone is phonologically active, while low tone is phonologically inert. Tone changes occur in Chichewa only if there is a high tone present in the phrase; a phrase composed only of low-toned morphemes is always realised unchanged with all low tones. The tonal phonology of the language can be described completely without reference to low tone (Kanerva 1989), as is typical for the Bantu languages (Stevick 1969).I argue in this paper that this asymmetry is due to underspecification. The contrast in Chichewa is a privative one between high tone and no tone. Low tone is phonologically inert because it is simply the absence of tone. In particular, low tone is absent from surface representation. Syllables that are not specified as high-toned are assigned F0 by a non-linear transition function, as proposed for English intonation by Pierre-humbert (1980).

Metrical and Tonal Phonology of Compounds in Two Chinese Dialects

Metrical and Tonal Phonology of Compounds in Two Chinese Dialects