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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2018

Lei Wang ,
Carlos Gussenhoven  and
Jie Liang
Lei Wang
Affiliation:
School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University & Centre for Language Studies, Radboud Universiteit [email protected]
Carlos Gussenhoven
Affiliation:
Centre for Language Studies, Radboud Universiteit [email protected]
Jie Liang
Affiliation:
School of Foreign Languages, Tongji [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , August 2020 , pp. 199 - 219
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Copyright
© International Phonetic Association 2018

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