Linguistic-Tonetic Variation in the Areal Tone Acoustics of Chuqu Wu
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Same Tone, Different Category: Linguistic-Tonetic Variation in the Areal Tone Acoustics of Chuqu Wu William Steed, Phil Rose Linguistics, School of Language Studies, The Australian National University [email protected], [email protected] The Chuqu subgroup of Wu lies in a mountainous area Abstract inland from the coastal Oujiang subgroup and south of the Acoustic and auditory data are presented for the citation tones Wuzhou subgroup. Among a population of ca. 3.5 million, of single speakers from nine sites (eight hitherto undescribed quite a small number by Chinese standards, and in an area of just 17,000km2, the linguistic diversity is great. The location in English) from the little-studied Chuqu subgroup of 处衢 of the varieties described here (mostly from the eastern half of Wu 吴 in East Central China: Lìshuĭ 丽水, Lóngquán 龙泉, the Chuqu subgroup) is shown in Figure 1. Anecdotally, the eastern, Chu, varieties are mutually intelligible to varying Qìngyuán , Lóngyóu , Jìnyún , Qīngtián , 庆元 龙游 缙云 青田 degrees. The westernmost, Qu, varieties (Longyou, Qingyuan Yúnhé 云和, Jĭngníng 景宁, and Táishùn 泰顺. The data and Longquan) are not intelligible with the Chu sub-subgroup. demonstrate a high degree of complexity, having no less than None are intelligible with northern Wu varieties like Shanghai 22 linguistic-tonetically different tones. The nature of the or Ningpo, or with Oujiang varieties like Wenzhou. complexity of these forms is discussed, especially with respect Although they are classified as Wu dialects e.g. in [3], to whether the variation is continuous or categorical, and most of the varieties described here do not exhibit all of the inferences are drawn on their historical development. features typical of a Wu variety, particularly the well-known Index terms: tone, linguistic-tonetics, Chinese, Wu, Chuqu, diagnostic tripartite division of syllable-initial stops into areal variation. voiceless aspirated, voiceless unaspirated and voiced [1]. Thus all except one variety – Qingyuan – contrast only two series of 1. Introduction stops: aspirated and unaspirated; and Qingyuan has three series, but has implosive [, ] stops instead of voiceless How do tones vary phonetically across a dialectal area? Is the unaspirated [p, t]. variation continuous, such that one finds a gradual change in The varieties in this paper are described from recordings tonal pitch shape as one goes from dialect to dialect? Or is it from three sources. The data for Jingning, Longyou, Lishui, categorical, showing abrupt changes from site to site? This Longquan and Taishun were recorded by Prof. William paper provides an answer to this question using acoustic data Ballard in the 1980s, as part of his own project in southern Wu from the Chuqu dialects of the Wu language of China. Despite lexical variation. The data for Jinyun, Yunhe and Qingyuan their more distant relationship with the northern Wu varieties, were recorded by Prof. Zhu Xiaonong in the late 1990s. these southern Wu dialects have not been described Qingtian was recorded by the first author as a part of his acoustically before. Auditory descriptions are also rarely fieldwork research in 2007. Recordings from one speaker from 10.21437/Interspeech.2009-650 found in comparative or typological tonal studies, whether on each site were used. Wu or generally. 2. Procedure All recordings were digitised at 16 kHz and then further processed with Praat. The recordings were first transcribed and the number of tones in each dialect determined by auditory-linguistic analysis. (The term tone is used here in the sense analogous to phone, that is, as a constellation of audibly different properties, with pitch predominating but also including length and phonation type, that constitutes observation data for further analysis.) For each token of each tone, F0 was sampled at a high enough rate to capture the details of the tonally relevant F0 time course – 10% intervals of the tonally relevant portion of the Rhyme – and at the 5% point to capture any segmental perturbatory effects in F0 from initial consonants. The Rhyme duration was also measured. Means were calculated for between five and ten tokens per tone per speaker to derive a mean duration and F0 contour for each tone. The resulting mean F0 contours were then plotted Figure 1. The Chuqu region, showing location of sites as a function of mean Rhyme duration: it is important when described. ─ = boundaries with non-Wu dialects; -- = doing comparative work of this kind not to equalize duration, other Wu sub-group boundaries; dot-dashed line = otherwise important linguistic-tonetic details may be lost [5]. boundary between Chu & Qu sub-subgroups. Copyright © 2009 ISCA 2295 6-10 September, Brighton UK Category Ping Shang Qu Ru Yin Yang Yin Yang Yin Yang Yin Yang Lishui 213 211 322 = 51 342 5 23 丽水 low rise low fall- mid fall- yinshang high fall depressed stopped stopped level level high fall high low rise Longyou 33 31 35 214 52 342 5 23 龙游 mid low fall high rise low rise high fall depressed stopped stopped level high fall high low rise Jinyun 44 131 51 331 342 411 311 213 缙云 high low high fall mid fall depressed high fall- mid fall- stopped level convex high fall level level low rise Qingtian 434 331 231 = 311 11 51 231 青田 mid mid depressed yinshang mid fall- low level high fall short dipping level-fall high fall level depressed high fall Yunhe 213 211 31 = 44 11 5 2 云和 low rise low fall- low fall yinshang high low level stopped stopped level level high low Jingning 31~ 41 322 = 324 11 5 23 景宁 low fall high fall mid fall- yinshang low rise low fall stopped stopped creaky level high low rise Longquan 31~3 31 52 = 324 213 5 23 龙泉 creaky low fall high fall yinshang low low rise stopped stopped mid rise high low rise level Qingyuan 24 52 33 = 11 31 5 3 庆元 mid high mid level yangqu low level mid fall stopped stopped rising falling high mid Taishun 212 42 44 = 324 33 5 2 泰顺 low high fall high yangqu mid rise mid stopped stopped dipping level level high mid Table 1. Citation tone pitch of nine Chuqu sites compared by Middle Chinese category. 180 260 HF 270 sH LISHUI JINYUN 170 240 260 HF HR 220 250 160 sH 240 HF 200 HLe 150 LR 230 dHF 180 HF-Le dHF 140 LR sLR 220 sLR 160 MLe 210 130 MF-Le 140 200 MF dHF 120 LF-Le 120 LF 190 LC 180 110 100 LR LONGYOU 170 MF-Le 100 80 0 10 20 30 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 280 170 160 HF QINGTIAN JINGNING 270 sH YUNHE 150 sH 160 260 140 HLe HF LR 250 dHF 150 130 sLR 240 MLe-F MD 120 140 MF-Le 230 LR 110 220 MF short dHF 130 100 sL 210 LF 90 LLe 120 LLe LF 200 LF-Le 80 LF creaky 190 110 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 10 20 30 40 170 180 180 sH QINGYUAN sH sH 160 TAISHUN MR 150 160 HF 160 HLe HF 140 MR LR 140 140 130 sM MR HF 120 120 sLR MLe 120 110 sM MLe 100 100 LF MF 100 MLe creaky 90 Ldi LLe LONGQUAN 80 80 80 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 10 20 30 40 Figure 2. Mean citation tonal acoustics (F0, duration) for speakers from nine Chuqu sites. Vertical axis = F0 (Hz), horizontal axis = duration (csec). H, M, L = high, mid low; F, R, Le, Di,C = fall, rise, level, dipping, convex; s = stopped, d = depressed. 2296 3. Results high falling: [51 - nwm 懂 know, tiw 岛 island, faŋ 粉 Table 1 gives the results of the auditory-linguistic analysis of powder]; mid falling: [331 - mw 马 horse, ta 近 near, tsz the tones of the nine sites. Tones are described by their Chao 是 be]; depressed high fall: [342 - tsz 醉 drunk, ej 爱 love, tone letters [2] and also by a simple pitch descriptor. Stopped means the tone occurs on syllables with a glottal-stop coda. najŋ 登 climb]; high falling-level: [411 - t 大 big, va 饭 rice, Such tones sound much shorter than the unstopped tones (this jŋ 用 use] mid falling-level and stopped: [311 - p 八 eight, is transcribed by the underline). Depressed is term referring to the lowering of a tone’s pitch onset (such that a convex pitch tja 铁 iron, t 脚 foot]; low rising and stopped: [213 - is interpreted as a depressed high falling tone). To facilitate zε 杂 mixed, taw 读 read, pa 白 white]. subsequent comparison, the tones are set out according to the The diversity of tone realisations in the Chuqu region is eight historical tonal categories which developed from Middle thus clear in these data. This diversity contrasts with the Chinese (Yinping, Yangping; Yinshang, Yangshang; Yinqu, segmental phonology, which is more uniform. Yangqu; Yinru, Yangru). This guarantees identification of cognate tones across dialects. For example, table 1 shows that The mean tonal F0 for all nine sites is plotted as a function the low rising [213] tone in Lishui is cognate with (i.e comes of absolute duration in figure 2. The complexity of the from the same historical Yinping tone as) the mid level [33] resulting configurations gives an idea of the variety in tonal tone in Longyou, and the high level [44] tone in Jinyun. Table acoustics in this area: there are considerable pairwise 1 shows that the dialects have either seven or eight tones, differences between all sites.