PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION OF KAIFENG MANDARIN TONES Published by LOT phone: +31 30 253 6111 Trans 10 3512 JK Utrecht e-mail: [email protected] The Netherlands http://www.lotschool.nl Cover illustration: The ‘bridge scene’ in the famous painting 清明上河 图 ‘along the river during the Qingming festival’ by Zeduan Zhang, which depicts the people and the landscape of Kaifeng in the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). The painting had been redrawn by Hai Ying and the cover picture was taken by Lei Wang with the former’s kind permission. ISBN: 978-94-6093-311-0 NUR 616 Copyright © 2018: Lei Wang. All rights reserved. PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION OF KAIFENG MANDARIN TONES Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 19 december 2018 om 16.30 uur precies door Lei Wang geboren op 6 november 1987 te Kaifeng, China Promotor: Prof. dr. C.H.M. Gussenhoven Copromotor: Dr. M.A.M. van de Ven Manuscriptcommissie: Prof. dr. J.P.M. Fikkert (voorzitter) Dr. Y. Chen, Universiteit Leiden Dr. P. Hallé, Université Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle, Frankrijk Prof. dr. V.J.J.P. van Heuven, Pannon Egyetem, Hongarije Prof. dr. J. Zhang, University of Kansas, Verenigde Staten ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation marks the end of my two-year journey at Radboud Universiteit (RU). Words fail me when I attempt to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Carlos Gussenhoven, without whom this journey could not have started in the first place. Carlos is always ready for feedback amidst his busy schedule. His theoretical input has inspired me from the very beginning. He effortlessly interpreted my tone data in our first weekly meeting (Wednesday, 11:00), which eventually led to the submission of my first journal article (Chapter 3) about three months later. “Well, let’s go to JIPA, Journal of Phonetics or Phonetica…” I had never thought I could make it into professional A-rated journals in my entire research career before I became a guest researcher at RU in 2016/2017. Not only is Carlos a perfect academic figure, but he also remains approachable and considerate. I feel cool, calm and collected, each time when greeted with a warm friendly smile; I shall never forget our pleasant conversations and relaxing get-togethers; I also still remember the food he purchased for me when I first arrived in Nijmegen on the evening of 18-09-2016, Muesli, croissant, instant cupnoodles, egg, apple, milk, juice and canned meat – that is virtually everything one can ever imagine. I am grateful to my co-supervisor, Marco van de Ven, especially for his detailed and step-by-step assistance in linear mixed effects modelling. Our cheerful conversations nicely occupied the otherwise boring hours it took for the complex models to converge. I would like to thank the members of the manuscript committee, Paula Fikkert, Yiya Chen, Pierre Hallé, Vincent van Heuven and Jie Zhang for their careful reading of the manuscript and for their constructive suggestions. I have also benefited enormously from the comments and feedback from the JIPA editors and reviewers, which significantly improved the readability of Chapters 2 and 3. Special thanks are due to my MA and PhD supervisor in Tongji University, Jie Liang for having developed my research interest in vi | L. WANG: PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTON OF KAIFENG MANDARIN TONES Chinese dialects and for her generous support in my application of the exchange program to RU in 2016/2017. The program was financially supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council, which is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks also go to Qi Zhang and Bijun Ling for serving as my guarantors in the program, and to Lu Zhang and Yilai Wang for helping me with the extension of the program to the second year. I would like to thank Kitty Rikken for helping me with the visa and for answering my endless questions. My life in the Netherlands was made much easier and enjoyable by the constant interaction with friends both in China and in the Netherlands. Qi Zhang, Yuan Zhang and Huangmei Liu are so nice and considerate, who have dominated my WeChat (the most popular social communication network in China) for the past two years. I have enjoyed our talks, academic or otherwise, which have become one of the most unforgettable moments in the Netherlands. Special thanks go to Yuan Zhang for sharing many important references. I am thankful to Sam Zhang for the time spent together playing basketball and hunting for delicious cuisine. Chao Guo is a nice neighbor and an excellent cook. Hamed Rahmani is good company. I would like to thank Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia, Sophie Villerius, Jinbiao Yang, Chen Shen, Hongling Xiao and other colleagues in CLS for discussions and get-togethers. I would also like to extend my thanks to my friends and my neighbors in Kaifeng for their abundant help with the data collection, Yuetao Ren, Long Ma, Guohua Fang, Yongchuan Xuan, Junqing Tian, Shi Yan, Chenshu Fang, Linlin Deng, Wuping Zhao, just to mention a few. Lastly, I am deeply indebted to my family, my father, my mother and my brother for their love, understanding and unselfish support. I love them more than anything else in this world. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................ v 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Tones in Mandarin dialects ........................................................ 1 1.2 Production and perception of Mandarin tones ........................... 5 1.3 Kaifeng Mandarin ....................................................................... 7 1.4 Motivation and outline ............................................................. 11 2 KAIFENG MANDARIN: THE PHONOLOGY 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 19 2.2 Consonants ............................................................................... 20 2.3 Vowels ...................................................................................... 26 2.4 Syllable Structure ..................................................................... 35 2.5 Tones ........................................................................................ 37 2.6 Transcription ............................................................................ 42 3 HOW TO PRONOUNCE A LOW TONE: A LESSON FROM KAIFENG MANDARIN 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 47 3.2 Method ...................................................................................... 50 3.3 Results ...................................................................................... 54 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................ 63 3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................ 71 4 PHONETIC ENHANCEMENT AND PERCEPTUAL DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE KAIFENG MANDARIN L-TONE 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 79 viii | L. WANG: PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTON OF KAIFENG MANDARIN TONES 4.2 Method ...................................................................................... 82 4.3 Results ...................................................................................... 87 4.4 Discussion ................................................................................ 94 4.5 Conclusion ................................................................................ 96 5 INHIBITED REALIZATION OF KAIFENG MANDARIN SANDHI TONES 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................ 101 5.2 Kaifeng Mandarin tonal phonology ....................................... 104 5.3 Experiment I: IN and inserted tones ....................................... 105 5.4 Interim discussion: Questioning the ‘mini-phonology’ hypothesis ...................................................................................................... 116 5.5 Experiment II: Multiple underlying forms ............................. 120 5.6 Conclusion .............................................................................. 123 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 6.1 Synchronous phonology of Kaifeng Mandarin ...................... 131 6.2 L-tone variation: production and perception .......................... 133 6.3 Incomplete neutralization of sandhi tones .............................. 135 6.4 Implications and future research ............................................ 136 6.5 Concluding remarks ............................................................... 139 APPENDIX ......................................................................................... 141 CURRICULUM VITAE ........................................................................ 145 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This dissertation is about the phonetics of the lexical tones in Kaifeng Mandarin. This chapter starts out with a general background of the tones in Mandarin dialects (§1.1). After defining tone language in the broad sense, a sketch of Chinese dialect classification is introduced and the tone categories in modern Mandarin dialects are outlined. Next, the concept of tone sandhi and its typological properties are briefly given. §1.2 reviews the phonetic work on Mandarin tones in citation forms as well as in context. After highlighting the various phonetic parameters that constitute the acoustic and perceptual correlates