Abstract
Production and perception of Mandarin tones in whisper
  
DOI:
EN KeyWords: Mandarin tones  whisper  duration  intensity  vowel formants
Fund Project:国家社科基金重点项目(16AYY015);西南政法大学科研资助项目(2015-XZRCXM003)
作者单位
李彬 香港城市大学翻译及语言学系香港 九龙塘 
张翠玲 西南政法大学刑事侦查学院重庆 401120 
View Counts: 10757
PDF Download Counts: 7579
EN Abstract:
  Objective: To examine and compare phonetic realization of Mandarin tones in whisper and in normal phonation, so as to identify cues to tonal contrasts in whisper at the absence of fundamental frequency. Methods: We extracted and measured pitch correlates of characters and words produced by two Mandarin speakers, and assessed their roles in tone perception. Results: Acoustic analysis showed that "pitch" duration and intensity were retained and enhanced in whisper. First formants of vowels were raised but formants at higher range were lowered. Tones in whisper were, however, perceptually unintelligible in simple contexts. Conclusion: Lack of fundamental frequency in whisper triggers a compensation mechanism for tonal contrasts. Even non-pitch-related correlates such as vowel formants are used in the mechanism. Modifications to the cues, however, are not sufficient for perception when only limited contexts are provided.
查看全文   Download PDF Reader  HTML Full Text
Close
本刊微信二维码