Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T07:56:08.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Syllabic weight and syllabic duration: a correlation between phonology and phonetics*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2008

San Duanmu
San Duanmu
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper explores a correlation between phonology and phonetics. It first reviews a phonological analysis that proposes that all full Mandarin rhymes are heavy and that all Shanghai rhymes are underlyingly light. Then it reports a small phonetic experiment that attempts to determine whether there is a phonetic correlate for the phonological claim. Four Mandarin speakers and five Shanghai speakers were recorded, each reading five sentences four times at normal speed. Average syllable durations were determined. It was found that the average syllable duration in Mandarin was 215 ms and that in Shanghai was 162 ms. Statistics show that the durational difference is significant. The result thus agrees with the phonological analysis. Implications and limitations of the present study will be discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Phonology , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , May 1994 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abercrombie, David (1964). Syllable quantity and enclitics in English. In Abercrombie, David, Fry, Dennis B., MacCarthy, P. A. D., Scott, N. C. & Trim, John L. M. (eds.) In honour of Daniel Jones. London: Longman. 216–222.Google Scholar
Ao, Benjamin X. P. (1993). Phonetics and phonology of Nantong Chinese. PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus.Google Scholar
Balasubramanian, T. (1980). Timing in Tamil. JPh 8. 449–468.Google Scholar
Bao, Zhiming (1990). On the nature of tone. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Bao, Zhiming (1992). Toward a typology of tone sandhi. Paper presented at the Special Session on the Typology of Tonal Systems, 18th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckman, Mary & Edwards, Jan (1990). Lengthening and shortening and the nature of prosodic constituency. In John, Kingston & Mary, Beckman (eds.) Papers in laboratory phonology I: between the grammar and physics of speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 152–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catford, J. C. (1977). Fundamental problems in phonetics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Chan, Marjorie K. M. (1991). Contour-tone spreading and tone sandhi in Danyang Chinese. Phonology 8. 237–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen-Ren (1928). Xiandai Wuyu yanju. [Studies in the Modern Wu dialects] Peking: Tsing Hua University Press.Google Scholar
Chao, Yuen-Ren (1934). The non-uniqueness of phonemic solutions of phonetic systems. Bulletin of Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 4. 363–397. Reprinted in Martin, Joos (ed.) (1957) Readings in linguistics I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 38–54.Google Scholar
Chao, Yuen-Ren (1967). Contrastive aspects of the Wu dialects. Lg 43. 92–101.Google Scholar
Chen, Matthew (1986). An overview of tone sandhi phenomena across Chinese dialects. Paper presented at the Conference on Languages and Dialects of China, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Chen, Matthew (1992). Tone rule typology. Paper presented at the Special Session on the Typology of Tonal Systems, 18th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, Kwan-Hin (1986). The phonology of present-day Cantonese. PhD dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Duanmu, San (1990). A formal study of syllable, tone, stress and domain in Chinese languages. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Duanmu, San (1992). Re-examining contour tone units in Chinese languages. Paper presented at the Special Session on the Typology of Tonal Systems, 18th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duanmu, San (1993). Rime length, stress, and association domains. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 2. 1–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duanmu, San (to appear). Against contour tone units. LI.Google Scholar
Gandour, Jack T. (1974). On the representation of tone in Siamese. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 427. 118–146.Google Scholar
Gandour, Jack & Fromkin, Victoria (1978). On the phonological representation of contour tones. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 4. 73–74.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, John (1976). Autosegmental phonology. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris & Vergnaud, Jean-Roger (1987). An essay on stress. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce (1989). Compensatory lengthening in moraic phonology. LI 20. 253–306.Google Scholar
Howie, John (1976). An acoustic study of Mandarin tones and vowels. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jin, Shunde (1986). Shanghai morphotonemics: a preliminary study of tone sandhi behavior across word boundaries. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Klatt, Dennis H. (1975). Vowel lengthening is syntactically determined in a connected discourse. JPh 3. 129–140.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, Peter (1982). A course in phonetics. 2nd edn. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Leben, William (1973). Suprasegmental phonology. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Lehiste, Ilse (1973). Phonetic disambiguation of syntactic ambiguity. Glossa 7. 107–121.Google Scholar
Lehiste, Ilse (1977). Isochrony reconsidered. JPh 5. 253–263.Google Scholar
Lin, Maochan & Yan, Jingzhu (1988). The characteristic features of the final reduction in the neutral-tone syllable of Beijing Mandarin. Phonetic Laboratory Annual Report of Phonetic Research, Phonetic Laboratory, Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. 37–51.Google Scholar
Luo, Chang-Pei & Wang, Jun (1957). Putong yuyinxue gangyao. [Outline of general phonetics.] Peking: Kexue Chubanshe. Reprinted 1981 by Shangwu, Yinshuguan.Google Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang (1947). Danyang hua li de lianci bian tone. [Tone sandhi in the Tanyang dialect.] Bulletin of Chinese Studies 1. 225–238.Google Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang (1980). Danyang fangyan de shengdiao xitong. [The tonal system of the Danyang dialect.] Fangyan 80. 85–122.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John & Prince, Alan (1990). Foot and word in prosodic morphology: the Arabic broken plural. NLLT 8. 209–284.Google Scholar
Pike, Kenneth (1945). The intonation of American English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Pike, Kenneth (1948). Tone languages. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Pointon, Graham E. (1980). Is Spanish really syllable-timed? JPh 8. 293–304.Google Scholar
Prince, Alan (1990). Quantitative consequences of rhythmic organization. CLS 26:2. 355–398.Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, Douglas (1986). Tone in Lexical Phonology. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, Nairong & Shi, Rujie (1983). Remarks on the tone sandhi of Suzhou. Fangyan 83. 275–296.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elizabeth & Shen, Tong (1990). Prosodic domains in Shanghai Chinese. In Sharon, Inkelas & Draga, Zee (eds.) The phonology-syntax connection. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 313–337.Google Scholar
Shen, Tong (1981a). Lao pai Shanghai fang yan de lian du bian diao. [Tone sandhi in Old Shanghai.] Fangyan 81. 131–144.Google Scholar
Shen, Tong (1981b). Shanghai hua laopai xinpai de chabie. [Differences between Old and New Shanghai dialects.] Fangyan 81. 275–283.Google Scholar
Shen, Tong (1982). Lao pai Shanghai fang yan de lian du bian diao [2]. [Tone sandhi in Old Shanghai, Part 2.] Fangyan 82. 100–114.Google Scholar
Sherard, Michael (1972). Shanghai phonology. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Shih, Chi-Lin (1986). The prosodic domain of tone sandhi in Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Simpson, Rita (1993). Syllable length in Thai. Ms, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Wang, Futang (1959). Shaoxing hua ji yin. [A description of Shaoxing sounds.] Yuyanxue Luncong 3. 73–126.Google Scholar
Wang, Hongjun (1991). Tonal system of Shaoxing dialect. Ms, MIT.Google Scholar
Wang, William S.-Y. (1967). Phonological features of tone. IJAL 33. 93–105.Google Scholar
Whalen, Dough H. & Beddor, Patrice S. (1989). Connections between nasality and vowel duration and height: elucidation of the Eastern Algonquian intrusive nasal. Lg 65. 457–486.Google Scholar
Williams, Edwin (1976). Underlying tone in Margi and Igbo. LI 1. 436–468.Google Scholar
Woo, Nancy (1969). Prosody and phonology. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Xie, Zili (1982). Suzhou fangyan liang zi zu de lian du biandiao. [Tone sandhi in bisyllabic phrases in Suzhou.] Fangyan 82. 245–263.Google Scholar
Xu, Baohua, Tang, Zhenzhu, You, Rujie, Qian, Nairong, Shi, Rujie & Shen, Yarning (1988). Shanghai shiqü fangyan zhi. [Urban Shanghai dialects.] Shanghai: Shanghai Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ye, Xiang-Ling (1979). Suzhou fangyan de lian du biandiao. [Tone sandhi in Suzhou.] Fangyan 79. 30–46.Google Scholar
Yip, Moira (1980). Tonal phonology of Chinese. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Yip, Moira (1989). Contour tones. Phonology 6. 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moira, Yip (1992). The spreading of tonal nodes and tonal features in Chinese dialects. Paper presented at the Special Session on the Typology of Tonal Systems, 18th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Zee, Eric & Maddieson, Ian (1979). Tones and tone sandhi in Shanghai: phonetic evidence and phonological analysis. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics. 93–129.Google Scholar
Zhu, Chuan, Jia-Ji Min, Song-YueZhang & Xiao Fan (1986). Jianming wu fangyan cidian. [A concise dictionary of Wu dialects.] Shanghai: Shanghai Ci Shu Chubanshe.Google Scholar