The Phonetics and Phonology of Tone Mapping in a Constraint-Based Approach by Zhiqiang Li B.A., Tianjin Normal University (1992) M.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University (1995) Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY September 2003 @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2003. All rights reserved. Author .... Department of Linguistics and Philosophy August 19, 2003 Certified by..- 7/ " Michael Kenstowicz Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor A ccepted by . .... ..... ....... .... Alec Marantz Head, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy MASSACNHUSETTSIN-STITUTE OF TECHNOLOGy ARCHIVES OCT 0 6 2003 LLIBRARIES 2. The Phonetics and Phonology of Tone Mapping in a Constraint-Based Approach by Zhiqiang Li Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy on August 19, 2003, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Abstract This dissertation concerns both phonetic and phonological aspects of tone mapping in various Chinese languages. The central issue addressed is the role of contrast and positional prominence and neutralization in the realization of tone. The inventory of tonal contrasts constrains the outputs of contextual neutralization as well as the location of pitch targets in phonetic implementation. Two prominent phonological positions in the tone sandhi domain are distinguished: peripheral (initial and final) positions and metrically strong positions. Input tones occupying different prominent positions in the input are preserved in the output; their realization in the output can be determined by the location of stress. A typology of diverse patterns of tone preservation and realization emerge from the interaction of positional faithfulness and positional markedness constraints. The research findings reported here have implications for both phonetics and phonoloy. Thesis Supervisor: Michael Kenstowicz Title: Professor of Linguistics 4 Acknowledgments First of all, my deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Michael Kenstowicz, who has guided me in every step of my thesis work and also through my years at MIT. I feel honored to have him as my teacher and advisor. I wish to thank other memebers of the committee, Donca Steriade, Ken Stevens and Cheryl Zoll, for their interest in my work and their insightful comments which lead to significant improvement of my dissertation. Many of the ideas in this work have originated in my appointments with them. Phil Rose's phonetic study of Zhenhai tone sandhi is the most important source of inspiration of my work. I am very grateful to him for sending me his papers and answering my questions on Zhenhai in several lengthy emails. I also wish to thank people in Ken Stevens' lab, in particular Ken Stevens, Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, Laura Redi, Marilyn Chen and Chao-Yang Lee (now at Ohio University), for enjoyable discussions of phonetic matters and beyond. I am particularly indebted to Wang Jialing at Tianjin Normal University, China. He is my first phonology teacher. I became interested in phonology because of his teaching. To people in the Phonetic Lab, Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, I extend my sincere gratitude, in particular, Lin Maocan, Wu Zongji and Cao Jianfen. My thanks also go to Duanmu San and Xu Yi for the much help they have given me in phonology and phonetics. They both have had a tremendous impact on my thinking about Chinese tones and intonation through their work and personal interactions. Finally, I wish to thank my wife Zhang Lijuan for her constant support through these many years. This dissertation is dedicated to her and our daughter Nancy Li. 6 Contents I Introduction 13 2 Tonal Contrast in Tone Mapping 19 2.1 Introduction . .. .. .. .. - . - - -- - - - - . 19 2.2 Allotonic Selection in Mandarin . .. .. .. .. 20 2.2.1 Tones in Mandarin Chinese .. .. .. .. 20 2.2.2 Allotonic Variants of Tones .. .. .. .. .. 22 2.2.3 Third Tone Sandhi .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 26 2.2.4 Positional Asymmetry in Tonal Distribution . .. .. .. 29 2.2.5 Tonal Contrast . .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. 34 2.2.6 Summary . .. .. .. .. .. ... --.. .. .. 37 2.3 Phonetic Timing of FO Target . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 2.3.1 Motivation of the Study . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 2.3.2 Language Background and Experimental Method .. .. .. 41 2.3.3 Results and Discussion . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 46 2.3.3.1 Syllable Duration . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 46 2.3.3.2 Positional Asymmetry in Tonal Target Alignment . 47 2.3.3.3 Duration and Excursion Size of FO Contours .. .. 60 2.3.3.4 Summary .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 62 2.3.4 Analysis .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 62 2.3.4.1 Perceptual Distinctiveness of Tonal Contrast .. .. 63 2.3.4.2 Constraint on Contour Duration .. .. .. .. .. 66 2.3.4.3 Other Constraints .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 69 2.3.4.4 Constraint Rankings . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 70 2.3.5 Summary .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 78 2.4 Concluding Remarks . .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 Neutral Tone and Boundary Intonation 81 3.1 Introduction . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 81 3.2 Basic Properties of Neutral Tone in Mandarin .. .. .. .. .. 81 3.2.1 Distribution of Neutral Tone . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 81 3.2.2 Phonetic Pitch of Neutral Tone .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 84 3.2.3 Acoustic Properties of Neutral Tone Syllables .. .. .. .. 84 3.3 Previous Analyses and Overview of Present Analysis . .. .. .. 85 3.3.1 Previous Analysis of Pitch Target of Neutral Tone .. .. .. 85 3.3.2 Overview of Present Analysis .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 86 3.4 Deriving Pitch Targets of Neutral Tone . .. .. .. .. .. .. 87 3.4.1 Experimental Setup .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 87 3.4.2 Deriving Pitch Targets of Neutral Tone .. .. .. .. .. .. 87 3.4.3 Evidence from FO Peak Delay .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 89 3.4.4 Boundary Intonation and Prosodic Domains .. .. .. .. .. 89 3.5 Prosodic Word and De-stressing .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 91 3.5.1 Neutral Tone Alternation of Function Words .. .. .. .. 91 3.5.2 Prosodic Domain of De-stressing .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 92 3.6 Concluding Remarks . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 95 4 Positional Prominence in Tone Mapping 97 4.1 Introduction . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. 97 4.2 Positional Prominence in Phonology . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 98 4.2.1 Prominent and Non-Prominent Positions in Phonology .. .. 98 4.2.2 Multiple Prominence in Tone Mapping . .. .. .. .. .. .. 99 4.2.3 Approaches to Positional Prominence . .. .. .. .. .. .. 100 4.3 Dual Prominence in Tone Sandhi: Stress and Edge .. .. .. .. .. 101 4.3.1 Prosodic Edges in Phonology and Phonetics .. .. .. .. .. 101 4.3.2 Single Prominence or Dual Prominence . .. .. .. .. .. 103 4.3.3 A Tone-Prominence Typology . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 104 4.4 Stress and Edge in Tone Sandhi . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 106 4.4.1 Setting the Stage: Tone Sandhi and Stress .. .. .. .. ... .. 106 4.4.2 Tone Movement in Zhenhai .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 109 4.4.2.1 Tones in Citation Form .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 110 4.4.2.2 Metrical Prominence and Initial-Position Prominence . 114 4.4.2.3 Tone Patterns in W-S Tone Sandhi . .. .. .. .. ... 121 4.4.2.4 Initial-Position Prominence and Final Stress: Tone Movement .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 128 4.4.2.5 Tone Patterns in S-W Tone Sandhi . .. .. .. .. .. 130 4.4.2.6 Initial-Position Prominence and Initial Stress: S-W Patterns ... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. .. .. 136 4.4.2.7 Trisyllabic Lexical Tone Sandhi . ... .. .. ... .. 137 4.4.2.8 Summary . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... 137 4.4.3 Tone Preservation and Initial Stress in Shanghai ... .. ... 138 4.4.3.1 Citation Tones in Shanghai .. .. .. .. .. ... .. 138 4.4.3.2 Tone Sandhi in Shanghai . .. ... .. ... .. .. .. 139 4.4.3.3 Phonological Evidence of Stress .. .. ... ... .. 145 4.4.3.4 Phonetic Evidence of Stress .. ... .. ... .. ... 147 4.4.3.5 Tone Movement: Effect of Stress or Contour Tone Licensing . .. ... ... ... .. .. 148 4.4.4 Final Tone Preservation and Initial Stress: Tone Movement in Wenzhou ... ... ... ... ... ... 150 4.4.4.1 Citation Tones in Wenzhou .. ... ... ... ... 151 4.4.4.2 Disyllabic Tone Sandhi ... ... .... ... ... 153 4.4.4.3 Final Tone Preservation and Stress-Conditioned Tone Shift .. .. ... ... ... .. ... ... .. 154 4.4.5 Final Tone Preservation and Final Stress: Yantai and Xiamen ... 159 4.4.5.1 Final Tone Preservation in Yantai . .... .... ... 159 4.4.5.2 Tones and Tone Sandhi in Xiamen .. .... ... ... 161 4.4.5.3 Final Tone Preservation and Stress ..... .... ... 162 4.4.6 Tone Sandhi as Contextual Modification . 166 4.5 Concluding Remarks . .. .. .. .. .. .. 169 5 A Formal Theory of Tone Movement 171 5.1 Introduction . .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. 171 5.2 Positional Faithfulness and Positional Markedness . .. .. .. .. 172 5.2.1 Positional Faithfulness Constraints . .. .. .. .. .. .. 172 5.2.2 Positional Markedness Constraints . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 176 5.3 An OT Analysis of Tone Movement in Zhenhai . .. .. .. .. .. 181 5.3.1 W-S Disyllabic Tone Sandhi .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 181 5.3.2 S-W Disyllabic Tone Sandhi .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 204 5.3.3 Trisyllabic Lexical Tone Sandhi . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 210 5.3.4 Chen's (2000) Analysis of Zhenhai Lexical Tone Sandhi . .. .. 215 5.3.4.1 W-S Patterns . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 215 5.3.4.2 S-W Pattersn . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 217 5.4 Theoretical Implications .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. 220 5.4.1 Tonal Representation