汉语语句声调的降阶.pptVIP

汉语语句声调的降阶 王茂林 Downstep in High-Low Sequences in Chinese Mao-Lin WANG Introduction In tone languages, downstep typically consists of the stepwise lowering of High (H) tones in certain contexts. In automatic downstep, H tones are lowered in sequences of alternating H and Low (L) tones. In nonautomatic downstep, often noted H!H, there is no overt conditioning L tone between the two H tones. In downstep, each successive H tone in longer downstepping sequences is lower than the preceding one, creating a cumulative staircase pattern. 1. PREVIOUS STUDIES ON DOWNSTEP 1.1 Stewart—The typology of the Twi tone system (1) The pitch of H tones in downstepping sequen- ces in Akan is sensitive to the number of follo- wing downsteps. (2) The pitch of any particular high tone is raised by as many levels as there are downsteps in the subsequent part of the Phrase. (3) The last H tone in the sequence tends to be re- alized at a constant level, its basic pitch. 1.2 Schachter—some comments on J. M. Stewart’s The typology of the Twi tone system (1) The pitch of the first H tone in Akan is normally phonetically the same regardless of the number of following downsteps. (2) later H tones descend to lower and lower values as the number of downsteps increases. 1.3 Studies related to tonal downstep in Chinese Y. Xu proved that anticipatory and carry-over tonal influences co-exist in Chinese, and they differ both in magnitude and in nature. Carry-over effects are mostly assimilatory: the starting F0 of a tone is assimilated to the offset value of a previous tone. Anticipatory effects, on the other hand, are mostly dissimilatory: a low onset value of a tone raises the maximum F0 value of a preceding tone. C. Shih pointed out that the F0 contour of a Chinese sentence is affected by a number of factors, such as declination, downstep and final lowering, etc. X. Huang, Y. Yang