Cross-dialectal perspective on the form and meaning relation: the case of Tone 3 sandhi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/TheLinguisticProceedings/2025/16/01/018/000678Keywords:
Tone 3 sandhi, GAMMs, form-meaning relation, word-specific tonal realizationAbstract
This study investigates the tonal realization of Tone 3 sandhi in spontaneous speech in Beijing and Taiwan Mandarin, focusing on the influence of word-specific and semantic factors. Using corpus data and Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs), the study found complete neutralisation between T2–T3 and T3–T3 tone patterns in both Mandarin varieties. However, words displayed distinct “pitch signatures,” with some exhibiting similar pitch contours across varieties and others showing notable differences. Computational modelling using the Discriminative Lexicon Model further demonstrated that tonal contours can be predicted from contextual meaning with above-chance accuracy. These findings suggest that tone realization is shaped not only by phonological structure but also by word-specific semantics and collocational preferences.
References
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