Prosodic Characteristics of the Neutral Tone in Beijing Mandarin
北京话轻声的韵律特征
Wai-Sum Lee 李蕙心; Eric Zee 徐云杨

Abstract 摘要
The neutral tone in Beijing Mandarin referred to by linguists in China as the fifth tone in addition to the four citation tones is analyzed for its prosodic characteristics, including F0 (fundamental frequency) or pitch, intensity and duration. The results of the analysis show that the F0 contour of the neutral tone on the non-initial component syllable of a bisyllabic or trisyllabic word is a variable which may be characterized as high falling, mid falling, low falling or mid level, determined chiefly by the preceding citation tone. The intensity curve of the neutral tone co-varies with the corresponding F0 contour, suggesting that the intensity of the neutral tone is not necessarily lower than that of the preceding or following citation tone. As for duration, the neutral tone in the large majority of cases is shorter than the preceding or following citation tone. The results of the analysis are compared with the impressionistic descriptions of the phonetic characteristics of the neutral tone in the earlier studies, and they are discussed in the context of the perceptual data relating to the neutral tone and the concepts of tonal neutralization and qingsheng 轻声.

本文分析北京话中被语言学家视为在四声以外的第五声即轻声的韵律特征, 包括基频(音高), 音强及时长。分析结果显示, 在二字组或三字组的非第一音节上轻声的基频曲线是一个变数, 主要是由轻声前的声调来决定。这些基频曲线可描述为‘高降’, ‘中降’, ‘低降’或‘中平’。轻声的音强与音高作协调变化, 显示出轻声的音强并不一定比前面或后面声调的音强为低。时长方面, 在绝大多数情况下轻声都比前面或后面的声调为短。本文的分析结果跟过去研究对轻声语音特色的描述作了比较, 也跟过去与轻声有关的感知资料, 声调中和化及轻声的概念作了讨论。

Keywords 关键词

The neutral tone 轻声 F0 contour 基频曲线 Intensity 音强 Duration　时长

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