This study statistically models perturbation effects of consonants on f0 values of the following ... more This study statistically models perturbation effects of consonants on f0 values of the following vowel in order to quantify the differences between phonetic perturbation effects (i.e., phonetic variation) and phonologised perturbation effects (i.e., tone distinctions). We investigated perturbation effects in a non-tonal language, Japanese and a tonal language, Chongming Chinese. Traditional methods of modelling cannot distinguish phonetic and phonologised effects on surface f0 contours, as variation caused by both effects reached statistical significance. We therefore statistically modelled and tested the differences in underlying pitch targets, which successfully distinguished between phonetic and phonologised effects, and is robust to data variability. The methods used in this study can be further applied to examine perturbation effects cross-linguistically and shed light on the development of tones and stages of phonologisation more broadly.
This study examines tonal coarticulation in Nanjing Chinese, and compares and contrasts its prope... more This study examines tonal coarticulation in Nanjing Chinese, and compares and contrasts its properties with those reported for other languages. Although many languages show similar characteristics, recent examinations of some languages have contradicted generalizations derived from previous findings. This study utilised descriptive statistics, linear mixed effects models, and Pearson's correlation to explore the properties of tonal coarticulation in Nanjing Chinese. The results conflict with previous generalizations that carryover effects are greater than anticipatory effects. Nanjing Chinese shows a similar magnitude in these two effects, as does Malaysian Hokkein (Chang and Hsieh 2012). Moreover, in Nanjing Chinese and Malaysian Hokkein, there are no consistent results for H/L asymmetry as has been reported for other languages. These diverging findings warrant further study to enhance our understanding of the universality of tonal coarticulation properties. Based on the findings thus far, we present an updated typology of the known properties of tonal coarticulation.
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