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Effects of consonant aspiration on Mandarin tones

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2004

Ching X. Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Northwestern Universityxxq@northwestern.edu
Yi Xu
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories New Haven, Connecticut xu@haskins.yale.edu

Abstract

The influence of consonant aspiration on the F0 contours of tones in Mandarin Chinese was tested in continuous speech by reference to a minimal pair of syllables, /ta/ and /tha/, which differ only in terms of aspiration. It was found that, consonant aspiration affects the fundamental frequency (F0) of the following vowel. The onset F0 of a tone is higher following unaspirated consonants than following aspirated consonants, and the magnitude of the differences are related to the tone itself as well as the preceding tone. The underlying mechanisms of this effect, as well as its interaction with other effects on F0 contours, are discussed.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Journal of the International Phonetic Association 2003

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