TONAL PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION PATTERNS OF CANADIAN RAISED CANTONESE SPEAKERS Kwok Lai Connie So B.Sc., University of Victoria, 1996 THESIS SUBMi'iTED IN PARTIAL FüLFiLLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Linguistics O Kwok Lai Connie So 2000 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 2000 Al1 rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part. by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author- uigitions and Acquisitions el "BBib iographic Senrices senricss bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence dowhgthe exclusive permettant A la Nationai Llbrary of Canada to BiblioWque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distniute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic fonnats. h forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This thesis examines the tonal systems of two groups of Canadian Raised Cantonese speakers (CRCs) in Vancouver, British Columbia, from the perspectives of the production and perception of Cantonese tones. Thirty participants, aged from 18 to 24 years, were recruited as both speakers and Iisteners for production and perception experiments. They were divided into three groups. The first group consisted of ten Canadian Raised Cantonese speakers, who had immigrated to Canada in their teens (TCRC). The second group consisted of ten Canadian Raised Cantonese speakers, who were either bom in Canada or had moved to Canada as young children (YCRC). The third group (the cornparison group) was made up of ten native (Hong Kong) Cantonese speakers (NCAN), who moved to Canada less than two years at the time of recordings. Twelve Chinese words from root-words, /si/ and /fu/, associated with the six lexical tones in Cantonese, were used as target words as well as listening stimuli for the production and perception experiments respectively. 6.. Ill In the production experiment, two acoustic correlates of tones, vowel duration and fundamental frequency (Fo), were examined from 3547 samples. With regard to duration, the CRC speakers maintain relative durational patterns among the Cantonese tones. The analysis of fundamental frequency resulted in two important findings. First, the tonal patterns of the YCRC group deviated to a greater degree than those of the TCRC group. Second, tonal reductions of the two CRC groups appear to be constrained by certain hierarchies. In the perception experiment, the thirty participants identified the six lexical tones associated with the target words in two sets of stimuli, /si/ and /fut. Forty-eight stimuli in citation forms, produced by four experienced Cantonese language instructors, were presented to the listeners. The results were consistent with those of the production experiment. The findings of this thesis reveal two important implications. First, there exists a correlation between tonal reduction and the degree of mastery of tones. Second, an inverse relationship can be recognized between the acquisition of tone and the hiecarchical order apparent in the tonal reduction patterns. To rny beloved parents with deep appreciation for titeir endless love and support w Acknowledgments Hallelujah, thank God for guiding me through al1 the difficulties and fmstrations, so that my thesis could become a reality . 1 must thank my supervisor Dr. Zita McRobbie for her encouragement throughout my years of graduate study, and for her thoughtful and valuable comments on this thesis. Special thanks also go to Dr. Murray Munro for his insightful and critical comments on this thesis; and to Dr. Edwin Pulleyblank for his invaluable comments on the Cantonese materials in this thesis. 1 should express my thankfulness to the Department of Linguistics for providing me with financial support in the forms of teaching assistantship and university fellowship during my academic years. 1 would also Like to thank Sheilagh, Georgina, Rita, Carol, Gladys, and Grace for their secretarial assistance. Special thank goes to Renee McCallum for her friendship and for her important contribution to the editing and proof-reading of my thesis. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Teresa Yu for helping me to get assistance €rom Cantonese language instructors at Simon Fraser University. My sincere gratefulness also goes to Dr. Billy Ng, Jenny Tse, and Alison Winters (from Sm), Salina Leung and Mr. Lo (from the Chinese Culture Center in Vancouver), as well as al1 the participants in this thesis study. 1 sincerely thank them al1 for their contxibution to my thesis. 1 must mention my gratitude to Dr. Wyn Roberts for his consistent and kind encouragement and generous offerings of tea and coffee during the "cuppa-time" throughout the years of my studies. 1 also thank my fellow graduate students in the Linguistics Department for their support and friendship. Finaily, my deepest gratitude goes to my parents and family members for their support; and to my forever friends: Herman, Derek, Ken, Andersen, Esther, May, Karen, Memory, Pen, Queenie, and Anita for their endIess support, encouragement, and friendships throughout the years. Table of Contents litle page ...................................................................................... i Apvalpage ............................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................ iii Dedication ..................................................................................... v i Acknowledgements ...................................................................... vii Table of Contents .......................................................................... ix Lis@of Tables ................................................................................ xii Lists of Figures ............................................................................... xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 1 .1. Tone Language .............................................................. 1.1.1. Lexical Tones 1.1.2. Production of Tones 1.l. 3. Perception of Tones 1 .1.4. Representation of Tones: Chao's Tone Letters 1.2. Hong Kong Cantonese ................................................. 1 -2.1. Syllable Structure 1.2.2. Tonal System 1.2.3. Factors Affecting Tonal Contours 1.3. Literature Review of Cantonese Studies ................... 1.3.1. Production studies 1.3.2. Perception studies 1.4. Purpose of the Present Study ..................................... 1.4.1. Limitation in Fo Analyses 1-4.2. Different Bilingual Groups: CRC Speakers vs. Hong Kong Speakers 1.4.3. The Outline of the Present Study CHAPTER TWO: TONAL PRODUCTION EXPERIMENT ................. 47 2.1. Methd ...........................................................................52 2.1.1. Participants 2.1.2. Materials 2.1 -3. Description of the Experiment 2.1.4. Analyses for Two Acoustic Comlates of Tones 2.1 3. Measurements 2.1 .S. 1. Vowei Duration Measurement 2.1.5.2. Fundamental Frequency (Fo) Measurement 2 .2. Vowel Durations .......................................................... 67 2.2.1. Measurement Results 2.2.2. Discussion 2.2.2.1. Durational Patterns of The CRC Groups 2.2.2.2, Durational Patterns among Lexical Tones in Speaker Groups 2.3. Fundamental Frequency (Fo) ..................................... 79 2.3.1. Tonal Patterns for the Speaker Groups 2.3.2. Tonal Deviation 2.3.2.1 Analysis of Tond Deviation 2.3.2.2. Unit of Measurements 2.3.2.2.1. Fo Ratios 2.3.2.2.2. Percentage Change in Fo 2.3.3. Results 2.3.3.1 . Tonal Space 2.3.3.2. Spatial Relaiionships for Level Tones 2.3.3.3. Fo Intervals for Contour Tones 2.3.3.4. Rising Tones 2.3.3.4.1. Contour Shapes (in A% ) 2.3.3 A.2. Spatial Relationship 2.3.4. Discussion 2.3.4.1. Reduction Patterns in the Two CRC Groups 2.3.4.2. Fo Ratios 2.4. Conclusion .................................................................... 130 CHAPTER THREE: TONAL PERCEPTION EXPEWENT ................. 132 3 .l. Method .......................................................................... 135 3.1.1. Participants 3.1 -2. Matecials: Prepuation of Natural Stimuli 3.1.3. The Pilot Study and the Selected Stimuli 3.1.4. Stimuli Identification Task 3.1 S. Procedures 3.1.6. Analyses 3.2, Results ...................................................................... 143 3 -2.1. Identification Test 3.2.2. Confusion Matrices 3.3. Discussion .................................................................... 152 3.3.1. Groups Differences 3.3.2. Level Tone Confusions 3.3.2.1. Tone 3 and Tone 6 3.3.2.2. Tone 6 and Tone 4 3.4. Conclusion ................................................................. 165 CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ................................................. 167 4.1. Tonal Patterns Observed in the Two CRC groups .. 167 4.1.1. Findings of the Production Study 4.1.1.1 Vowel duration 4.1.1.2 Fundamental Frequency (Fo) 4.1.2. Findings of the Perception Study 4.1.2.1. Identification Test 4.1.2.2. Confusion Matrices