Testing the Productivity of Chinese Tone Sandhi

世界上的大多数语言都是声调语言。例如，在普通话中，高音高的音节“ma”与音高由高到低的音节“ma”的意思完全不同(“母亲”和“骂”)。一个音节上的声调有时会随着它所处的语言环境而变化，这个过程被称为“变调”。在普通话中，当一个中低高的轻声放在另一个轻声之前时，它就会变成一个中高的上声。一种语言中的变调模式可能非常错综复杂，至于说话者如何将这些模式内化，还有许多谜团尚未解开。这个项目调查了以不同汉语方言为母语的人在多大程度上能够将变调模式应用于新词。这一结果将有助于揭示语音知识的本质，特别是发音限制、知觉差异和变调模式的词汇频率是否构成说话者关于其语言声调系统的知识的一部分。由于研究的国际性，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.