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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

Locality in Mandarin Tone Sandhi Processes

Eva Yu-Ti Huang
#260574607
McGill University
Ling 619
Instructor: Dr. Michael Wagner

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

Locality in Mandarin Tone Sandhi Processes

Abstract:
We see the regulations of pronunciation in different languages in language learning
books, but we find native speakers of one language with different accents across the same nation.
Mandarin, the official language in China and in Taiwan, includes tones and for prosodic
hierarchy reasons, tone sandhi allows the speakers to speak smoothly. The regulations of the tone
sandhi can be found in books as well, but its variation can still be found across the nation. The
choice of allomorphy, such as [i] vs. [in] in ing, among English speakers is explained as the
locality in production planning (Wagner, 2012), and the acoustic prominence (Arnold et al,
2013), which will be used to test the variation of tone sandhi in Mandarin in this proposal. The
morphosyntactic constituents of our objective sentences, the ways of reading (locality on
production planning and speech rate), and the participants first language (L1) background will
be our variables to test the tone variations among Mandarin speakers.
Instruction
Language is more than the knowledge written in the books. We can read the masterpieces
written in fifteen centuries England or written in twenty centuries by a Sothern American writer.
However, we could not figure how they would be pronounced by the writers themselves. Not
only does the writing style change over time, the pronunciation also varies as well. Due to the
effect of globalization of the world and mobilization of people, we see the mixed colours of
languages. Most people can speak more than one language, they can speak them equally well or
speak one better than another. Sometimes because of the language policy in a country, some
people can speak their second language (L2) better than their first, such as the people in China.
They acquire their L2 at school from teachers and by books. The narrow definition of mother
tongue seems difficult to fit into this situation. That makes us wonder whether the speakers can
speak their L2s exactly as what they are taught at school and as what is regulated in books, and
whether the languages they can speak can affect one another and might render a variation of
pronunciation among speakers.
There are no tones in English, so English speakers seem to have more freedom on their
melodic decisions. We thus see a range of difference accents among English speakers. However,
all the Chinese dialects are tonic, and the tonal combinations affect and determine some of the
accentual patterns in the speech (Chen, 2000, p64). Due to the prosodic hierarchy as well as the
rhythm effects, we see tone sandhi across all the dialects. The tone sandhi seems to be well
regulated in books. Does that mean there shouldnt be much variation on tone sandhi among
Mandarin speakers and there shouldnt be much different accents among Mandarin speakers? As
I mentioned earlier, language is more than the knowledge written in the books. Do people really
follow the regulations of tone sandhi written in books? If they dont, what contributes the
variations on tone sandhi in Mandarin among the speakers? According to Chen (2000, p102),
tone sandhi applies cyclically on morphosyntactic constituents in Mandarin. The
morphosyntactic constituents will be applied to create our objective sentences for our
participants to test whether they follow the regulations found in books. Their ways of reading,

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

self-pace, regular, and fast, will be controlled during this study. The demographic information of
our participants will be collected to double check the tendency of different speakers.
Mandarin Tones
Chinese tones are divided into two descriptive terms (Chen, 2000, p53): pitch height /
register (high/ low), and pitch movement/ pitch contour (rising, falling, dipping etc.), and thus
render the four Mandarin tones: 55/T1 (level), 35/T2 (rising), 214/T3 (dipping), and 51/T4
(falling); plus toneless suffix (0) as a clause marker. Tones are not just personal emphasis choice
to reflect emotions and feelings. The confusions of tones can actually cause the confusions of
meanings.
1) ai

55

35

214

51

short

love

uh-hun

cancer

To note, among these tone, T3 (214) is long and deep and need more energy and time to
process. Thus, when a T3 is followed by another T3, the first T3 will change into T2 for easier
sound production.
214 35/ __ 214
Here are some word-level tone sandhi--the combination of more than two morphemes
2) Disyllabic tone sandhi
a. mi -mi mi-mi
214 214

35 214

b. gn-jn gn-jn
214 214

Mei-Mei

immediately

35 214

When there are more than two syllables within words, there will be more than one possibilities of
tone sandhi. We could either apply left-to-right, or right to left rule depends on the morphological
structures of the phrases. (Chen, 2000, p100)
Left to right: ABCXBC XZC
Right to left: ABCAZCYZC

3) Trisyllabic tone sandhi+ polysyllabic tone sandhi

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

a. li wn -m li -wn m
214 214 214

35

Liu, Wan-Mi

35 214

Left to right: 214.214.214 35.214.21435.35.214

Direct modifier +noun constructions in this case is treated as a lexical compound. (Chen,
2000, p101) See below.
b. [lo -h] -dn [lo -h] -dn
214 214 214
Tiger

35 35 214

gall

(brave)

Left to right: 214.214.214 35.214.21435.35.21

c. zh
214
Paper

-[lo -h] zh [lo h]

214 214

214 35 214

tiger

Right to left:

(coward)
214.214.214214.35.214

d. dng - xio - z
214

214

214

35

Party small

unit

dng - xio -z (left-to-right)

35

214

dng - xio -z (right-to-left)

214

35

214

A morpheme repetition will cause a tone deletion

e. li [lo lo] lilolao (left-to-right)
214 214 214

35 214 0

Liu grandma
Here is an example of a polysyllabic word.
f. su -m -l -y su m -l -y
214 214 214 214

Somalia

35 214 35 214

It seems the tone sandhi in Mandarin is restricted (p102). The mechanism the tone sandhi applies
is the morphosyntactic constituents as well as the phonetic effects.

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

For the phrasal tone sandhi, short syntactic phrases is considered as a single lexical unit, and thus
follows tone sandhi applications in lexical units. (p490)
4) Short syntactic phrase
jing

zo

zu

214

214

214

Jiang

early leave

jing

zo

zu

35

35

214

jing

zo

zu

214

35

214

(base tone)

(sandhi tone) (left-to-right)

(sandhi tone) (right-to-left)

For long phrases, morphosyntactic junctures play a key role on tone sandhi.
5) mi -mi

gn -jn

zho-li

zh-zi

214 214

214 214

214 35

35 0

Mei-Mei

immediately

fetch

mi-mi

gn-jn

zho-li

35 214

/ 35 35

214 35

mi-mi

/ gn- jn

/ zho-li

35 214

35 214

214 35

base tone

bamboo stick
zh-zi (Sandhi tone 1)
35 0
zh-zi (Sandhi tone 2)
35 0

It seems there is the minimal rhythmic unit (MRU) mentioned in Chens (2000, p505), as a
tone sandhi unit. It can be sublexical fragment, a whole word, or a whole clause and affects
the applications of tone sandhi and thus cause its variation.
However when we are talking, does the tone sandhi and its variation follows what is listed in the
books and depends exclusively on the syntactic junctures and prosodic boundary strength?
Rationale & Research Questions
Besides the syntactic junctures, we still see the variations of pronunciations, such as
allormorphy, in across-word boundary phonological process (Wagner, 2012, p15) among
English speakers due to locality on production planning, acoustic prominence (Arnold et al,
2013), and alternative stress (Wagner & Klasen, 2015). This proposal intends to explore locality
on production planning on Mandarin tone sandhi and try to locate the variables that contribute
the variation in tone sandhi processes.

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

i.

Locality constraints on phonological interaction

In sentence 6, r in u- r involving rolling up the tongue tip to the palate as well as the
back low vowel sound. T3 (214) needs to be processed and controlled by the glottal area. It
seems the combination of both contribute to unusual tone sandhi in Sandhi tone 1.
6)

ii.

mi- mi

u- r

mng

214 214

214 214

Mei-Mei

sometimes

mi- mi

u- r

mng

zho

35 35

214 35

35

214

mi- mi

u- r

mng

zho

35 214

/ 35 214

35

214

214

wn- mn (base tone)

zho
214

214 214

hard/badly look for

Wan-Min
wn- mn (Sandhi tone 1)
/

35 214
wn- mn (Sandhi tone 2)
/

35 214

Prosodic boundary strength

As mentioned earlier, short syntactic phrase tends to be treated as a lexical unit and thus
follows lexical tone sandhi process, either left-to-right or right-to-left. It is the rhythmic
affect. The MRU seems not to across clauses.
7) n

xio,

lo

214 214
214
you young, I
n
xio, w
35
214
35

214
old
lo
214

8) a. w
214

(base tone)

(sandhi tone)

(base tone)

yo
214

mi-mi
214 214

bite

Mei-Mei

yo

mi-mi (sandhi tone)

35

214

9) a. mn
214

35 214

zho

zh (base tone)

214

214

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

Min

iii.

look for paper

mn

zho

zh (sandhi tone 1)

35

35

214

mn

zho

zh (sandhi tone 2)

214

35

Morpho-syntactic locality effect

w

gn-jn

yo le

mi-mi (base tone)

214

214 214

214 0

214 214

immediately

bit

10)

Mei-Mei

gn-jn

yo le

mi-mi

35 35

214 0

35 214

214
/

214
iv.

214

gn- jn

35 214

(sandhi tone1)

yo le

mi-mi (sandhi tone 2)

214 0

35 214

Speaking speed/ Another first language (L1) background

w (base tone)

11) a. mi - mi

hn-sho

ko do

214 214

214 214

214

Mei-Mei

seldom

beat/ get

me

mi - mi

hn-sho

ko do

w (sandhi tone1)

35 214
mi - mi
35 214

/ 35 35

35

hn-sho
/ 35 214

214

35

214

214

ko do

w (sandhi tone2)

35

214

35

Here come our research questions!

1. Are the tone sandhi in Mandarin purely rule-governed?

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

2. If not, does the locality on production planning, speech rate, syntactic junctures, rhythmic
effects or speakers other L1 background contribute to the variations on tone sandhi
processes among speakers?
Methodology
In order to explore the tone sandhi processes in Mandarin, sentences with following
structures will be created, with three sentences in each structure. Among these three sentences,
one will have short syntactic phrases with one morpheme in each lexical unit, and the other two
will have longer syntactic phrases with two to three morphemes in each lexical unit. In sentence
structure c, d and e, there will be an extra sentence with a u morpheme or phoneme in it.
There will be 18 sentences in total and they will be consisted with most morphemes with T3 in
them.
Sentences structures:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Subject + v.i., subject +v.i.

Subject + v.t. + object
Subject + verb adverb + v.t. + object
Subject + time adverb + verb adverb + v.t. + object
Subject + time adverb + verb adverb + v.i.

1 short + 2 long
1 short + 2 long
1 short + 2 long + 1 u
1 short + 2 long + 1 u
1 short + 2 long + 1 u
18 phrases in total

Participants:
The Chinese speakers who have been to study in the public school system in either China or
Taiwan will be our interest and 30 of them will be recruited at McGill University. They can be
either undergraduate students or graduate students with any kinds of majors. Their demography
information will be collectedage, sex, origin (which part of China), other first language (L1)
information etc.
Ways of reading:
For testing the locality in production planning in tone sandhi processes, participants will
have to do one self-paced reading, one regular reading and one fast reading. Among the three
ways of reading, regular reading and fast reading can be also used to test the effect of speech
rate.
1. Self-paced reading (one word at a time) all the sentences
2. Regular reading (one sentence at a time)all the sentences will be listed in a
different order than the self-paced reading. (Regular speed)
3. Fast reading after several times of practiceeach sentence will be completed right
after the regular reading after several times of practice. (Fast speed)
Procedure and Data analysis

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Running head: LOCALITY IN MANDARIN TONE SANDHI PROCESSES

Participants will read the 18 sentences in three different ways and everything will be
recorded. The morphemes between words will be collected with Prat. Each morpheme will be
isolated and played individually for rating. Three other Chinese speakers at McGill with similar
backgrounds with the participants will be recruited as raters. The raters can only hear one
morpheme at a time so that they judge its tone without the effect of other morphemes before or
after it. They will rate the morphemes that they have heard as T2, T3or any other tone.
1. T1 (55) 2.T2 (35) 3.T3 (214) 4.T4(51) 5.T0 6.Not-distinguishable 6 scales
Independent variables will be ways of reading, speech rates, morphosyntactic
constituents, including words with one or two syllables, and speakers other L1 backgrounds.
The dependent variable will be the tone sandhi choices. Most tone sandhi choices will fall on
either T2 or T3. R will be used to display the results of tone sandhi with different independent
variables.
Anticipated Outcomes
The variations of tone sandhi might be affected by speakers L1 backgrounds, speech rates
(regular reading vs. fast reading) and locality on production planning (self-paced reading, regular
reading, and fast reading), and morphosyntatic constituents, including the rhythmic effect of the
words with one or two syllables.
Limitation and Future Studies
Since this study will be complete in a lab and the participants are asked to read the
sentences with different syntactic structures, thus participants natural speech cannot be captured.
We cannot infer our results to participants everyday tone sandhi processes when they are with
friends or at home. We can only draw our conclusion on participants formal speech in formal
settings.
References
Arnold, J. E. and Watson, D. G. (2015). Synthesising meaning and processing approaches to
prosody: performance matters. Language and Cognitive Processes, 30:88-102.
Chen, M.Y. (2000). Tone Sandhi: patterns across Chinese dialects. Cambridge, UK; New York:
Cambridge University Press
Wagner, M. (2012). Locality in phonology and production planning. In Proceedings of
Phonology in the 21 Century: Papers in Honour of Glyne Piggott. McGill Working
Papers.
Wagner, M. & Klassen, J. (2015). Accessibility is no alternative to alternatives. Language,
Cognition, and Neuroscience, 30:212--233