Through a series of well-controlled experiments, this dissertation provides a comprehensive study of incomplete tonal neutralization regarding both production and perception in Dalian Mandarin.... Show moreThrough a series of well-controlled experiments, this dissertation provides a comprehensive study of incomplete tonal neutralization regarding both production and perception in Dalian Mandarin. Dalian Mandarin is used in this instance, as it is known for its interesting tonal characteristics between Tone 1 and Tone 4, the two falling tones. Its Tone 2 and Tone 3 are also comparable with Standard Chinese. Therefore, Dalian Mandarin presents us with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of incomplete tonal neutralization in both isolation and tonal contexts. The dissertation consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 briefly introduces the main research questions to be discussed in this dissertation. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the production of the two falling tones (Tone 1 and Tone 4) in Dalian Mandarin, both in isolation and tonal contexts (in terms of both tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation contexts). Chapter 4 then investigates the online perception of the two falling tones in isolation and in tonal coarticulation contexts. Chapter 5 studies the production and online perception of the 3rd tone sandhi of Dalian Mandarin. Chapter 6 revisits the research questions and concludes the main findings. Show less
Spoken language is rich in its variability due to various factors. Previous studies have paid much attention to how people produce and perceive different types of segmental variation typically in... Show moreSpoken language is rich in its variability due to various factors. Previous studies have paid much attention to how people produce and perceive different types of segmental variation typically in non-tonal languages. Much less, however, has been investigated and understood on how suprasegmental features such as lexical tones vary in their acoustic realizations in different contexts in speech production and how the variabilities further affect listeners' perception of the lexical tones and the recognition of speech. This dissertation provides a comprehensive study of both local and global tonal variability in Tianjin Mandarin with a series of well-controlled experiments. The dissertation consists of seven chapters. Chapter 1 briefly introduces the main research issues to be discussed in this dissertation, followed by a description of the phonological system of Tianjin Mandarin in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 sets out to investigate the f0 variability induced by two local tonal variation processes, i.e., tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation. Chapters 4 and 5 investigate the perceptual consequences of the local tonal variability discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 6 sets out to further understand how global factors might influence the tonal f0 realization. Chapter 7 revisits the research questions and concludes the main findings. Show less
