Investigating the Phonetics of Mandarin Tone Sandhi

Abstract

本文的目的在討論華語變調發聲的聲學證據。我們比較變調的兩個觀點：標準“範疇性的”觀點認為華語三聲變調類似英語冠詞a/an的分詞關係；“階層性的”觀點則認為華語三聲變調類似英語齒齦塞音變拍音的轉換。我們提出證據來支持兩個論點：首先，根據文獻上有關華語三聲變調的聲學研究，北京華語的三聲變調與“階層性的”觀點比較一致，而其他地方（包括台灣）的華語三聲變調與“範疇性的”觀點比較一致；其次，我們的三聲變調與「一」的特殊變調的聲學研究也支持台灣華語的三聲變調是“範疇性的”，雖然這些結果同時也顯示變調的聲學研究在實證與理論上容易犯的錯誤。

The goal of this paper is to discuss phonetic evidence relating to the production of tone sandhi in Mandarin. Two views of tone sandhi are contrasted: the standard \"categorical\" view, whereby tone 3 sandhi is treated similarly to a/an allomorphy in English, and an alternative \"gradient\" view, which treats tone 3 sandhi as similar to flapping in English. Evidence is presented for two main claims. First, based on a review of the phonetic literature, it appears that native speakers of Beijing Mandarin process tone sandhi more in line with the gradient view, while speakers of other varieties (including Taiwan Mandarin) process tone sandhi in accordance with the categorical view. Second, a new phonetic study of both tone 3 sandhi and the idiosyncratic tone sandhi found with the morpheme yi (\"one\") provides further support for the claim of categoricality of tone 3 sandhi in Taiwan Mandarin, yet also illustrates the empirical and theoretical pitfalls of phonetic research on tone sandhi.