University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses August 2014 Acoustic Analysis of the Tones in the Shantou Dialect Danni Li University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Chinese Studies Commons Recommended Citation Li, Danni, "Acoustic Analysis of the Tones in the Shantou Dialect" (2014). Masters Theses. 29. https://doi.org/10.7275/5458658 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/29 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF THE TONES IN THE SHANTOU DIALECT A Thesis Presented by DANNI LI Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2014 Asian Languages and Literatures, LLC © Copyright by Danni Li 2014 All Rights Reserved ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF THE TONES IN THE SHANTOU DIALECT A Thesis Presented by DANNI LI Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ Zhongwei Shen, Chair _______________________________________ David K Schneider, Member _______________________________________ Zhijun Wang, Member ____________________________________ Stephen Miller, Chair Asian Languages and Literatures, LLC ____________________________________ William Moebius, Chair Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures DEDICATION I would like to dedicate my thesis and give thanks to my family especially my brother, who have always support and encourage me whenever it is needed. I also want to give thanks to my friends, who have helped me with the data collection in parts of this work. Without the support of my family and friends, this work would not have made possible. Many thanks, to my family and friends. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to give sincere gratitude and many thanks to my advisor, Professor Zhongwei Shen. His great linguistic knowledge and guidance have kept me improving throughout my pursuit of graduate studies. Professor Zhongwei Shen has given me a lot of creative ideas, insightful advices and support during the period of writing my thesis. Second, I would like thank Professor John Kingston, who has offered me great help during the experiment of this study. Last but not least, I express my sincere thanks to my thesis committee: Professor David Schneider and Professor Zhijun Wang, for their encouragement, support, and comments. v ABSTRACT ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF THE TONES IN THE SHANTOU DIALECT MAY 2014 DANNI LI, B.A., HUI ZHOU UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor ZHONGWEI SHEN This paper mainly analyzes the different tones in the Shantou dialect. The Shantou dialect is known as one of the branches of the Chaoshan dialect which is a sub- group of the southern Min. Compared to other sub-group southern Min dialects, one of the distinguishing tonal characteristics of the Shantou dialect is that it has eight tones while the others have seven. Common views have explained that the eight tones in the Shantou dialect are the result of the four Middle Chinese tones further splitting into the upper register and the lower register. Thus, the Shantou dialect has its unique position in the study of the tonal development of Chinese. In order to better understand this unique tonal phenomenon, with references to the four Middle Chinese tonal categories, the tonal system in the Shantou dialect is acoustically examined. With an acoustic tonal experiment, this study aims to discuss three questions. First, what are the Shantou dialect’s tonal values? Second, what is the relation between its tones and the four Middle Chinese tones? Third, what is the tonal value difference between auditory perception and objective analysis? vi Based on the measurement of fundamental frequency of speeches from the selected native Shantou dialect speakers by Praat, objectively analyzed tonal values are provided. In comparison with an auditory perception of tonal value in previous studies, differences between the current study and previous research will be discussed. Moreover, I point out that the tonal system in the Shantou dialect is not spoken with as much symmetrical alignment as compared to the four Middle Chinese tones divided into the upper register and the lower register. This paper contains five main parts. The first chapter gives a detailed introduction of the Shantou dialect. Second, the methodology that is used in this study is illustrated. Specifically, it includes how the data was collected and processed using a software program called Praat. Next, the third chapter gives an analysis on each tone’s value, including illustration on its fundamental frequency and tonal contour. Fourth, previous studies and current study on the tonal system in the Shantou dialect are further discussed. Last, a brief conclusion is listed. Keywords: the Shantou dialect, eight tonal values, four Middle Chinese tones vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Four Middle Chinese Tones ....................................................................... 5 1.2 Phonological System of the Shantou Dialect .................................................... 7 1.3 Additional Information ..................................................................................... 7 2. METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Materials ........................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Informants ....................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Methods and Data .......................................................................................... 12 2.4 Normalization of Fundamental Frequency ..................................................... 15 3. ANALYSES OF TONAL VALUES ............................................................................... 17 3.1 Tone Ia ............................................................................................................. 17 3.2 Tone Ib ............................................................................................................ 21 3.3 Tone IIa ............................................................................................................ 24 3.4 Tone IIb ........................................................................................................... 28 3.5 Tone IIIa ........................................................................................................... 35 3.6 Tone IIIb .......................................................................................................... 38 3.7 Tone IVa .......................................................................................................... 43 3.8 Tone IVb .......................................................................................................... 44 3.9 Time Duration of Each Tone ........................................................................... 46 3.10 Summary on the Eight Tonal Values ............................................................. 47 4. REMARKS ON PREVIOUS STUDIES AND CURRENT STUDIES ................................. 48 viii 4.1 Remarks on Previous Studies .......................................................................... 48 4.1.1 Fielde's Study ................................................................................... 48 4.1.2 Lin's Study ........................................................................................ 49 4.2 Remarks on the Current Study ........................................................................ 50 4.3 Comparison between Current Study and Previous Studies ............................ 53 4.4 Notes ............................................................................................................... 54 5. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 56 APPENDICES A. THE WORD LIST SELECTED FROM FANGYAN DIAOCHA ZIBIAO ............................ 57 B. THE TABLE FROM CONTROL METHOD USED IN A STUDY OF THE VOWELS ......... 58 C. THE T-DISTRIBUTION TABLE FROM STATISTICS IN DIALECTOLOGY ...................... 59 D. THE T VALUE CALCULATION REFERRED TO STATISTICS IN DIALECTOLOGY .......... 60 E. THE LIST OF DATA ................................................................................................. 61 F. DATA OF THE TONAL TIME DURATION ................................................................