Testing the Productivity of Chinese Tone Sandhi

世界上大多数语言都是声调语言。例如，在普通话中，用高音调说的音节“妈”与用高到低的降调说的音节有完全不同的含义（“母亲”与“责骂”）。一个音节的声调有时会随着它所处的语境而变化，这个过程被称为“连读变调”。“在普通话中，当一个中低高的上声放在另一个上声之前时，它会变成一个中高的上声。一种语言中的连读变调模式可能是极其复杂的，关于说话者如何内化这些模式的许多谜团仍然没有解决。本研究旨在探讨不同方言的母语使用者对新词语连读变调的运用程度。研究结果将揭示语音知识的本质，特别是，是否发音的限制，知觉的独特性，和词汇频率的变调模式构成的知识，扬声器的一部分，他们的语言的音调系统。由于该研究的国际性，该项目还促进了美国和中国机构之间的合作关系。

The majority of the world's languages are tone languages. In Mandarin, for example, the syllable "ma" said with a high level pitch has a completely different meaning from the same syllable said with a high-to-low falling pitch ("mother" vs. "to scold"). The tone on a syllable sometimes changes according to the linguistic context in which it is found; this process is known as "tone sandhi." In Mandarin a mid-low-high dipping tone will change to a mid-high rising tone when it is placed immediately before another dipping tone. The patterns of tone sandhi in a language can be extremely intricate, and many mysteries remain unsolved as to how speakers internalize these patterns. This project investigates the extent to which native speakers of various Chinese dialects can apply tone sandhi patterns to novel words. The results will shed light on the nature of phonological knowledge, in particular, whether articulatory constraints, perceptual distinctiveness, and the lexical frequencies of tone sandhi patterns constitute part of the knowledge that speakers have about the tone system of their language. Due to the international nature of the research, the project also fosters collaborative relations between U.S. and Chinese institutions.