The Perception of Tone 2 and Tone 3 in Mandarin

An Experimental Study on Tones with Low Falling Contours in Monosyllabic Words

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220105.104How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tone2; Tone3; Perceptual pattern; Identification; Mandarin

Abstract

This paper explores tone2 and tone3 in monosyllabic words in Mandarin, aiming to illustrate the contributing factors that influence the perception of tone2 and tone3 with low-falling contours. Previous studies mainly focus on inflection position and onset or final F0 values. As the pitch value of the inflection point is a vital acoustic parameter for tone3 identification, this study brings in inflection F0 values as one of the focuses. To reveal the crucial features of tone2 and tone3 identification, this study applies a series of synthetic sounds with identification tasks to investigate three factors that influence tone perception in Mandarin, inflection F0 values, final F0 values, and inflection position, both as independent variables and combined variables. Empirical results suggest that an individual variable cannot determine the perception of tone2 and tone3. Only combinations of variables can decisively alter tone identification. The inflection position plays a minor role in identifications of tone2 and tone3, contradicting with findings from previous researches. The status of inflection F0 values seems to be crucial in tone3 perception. The relationship between inflection F0 values and inflection positions is mutually promotion and compensation for tone3 identification. Final F0 values function as compensation for the emphasis on T2 perception caused by inflection F0 values. The perception of tone2 and tone3 does not show a categorical pattern at a stimuli continuum with varying inflection F0 values.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ruiting Dong
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/01/17
TI  - The Perception of Tone 2 and Tone 3 in Mandarin
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 564
EP  - 573
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220105.104
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.104
ID  - Dong2022
ER  -