The interface of intonation and lexical tone: Boundary phenomena in Mandarin varieties

arXiv:2608.05364 · cs.CL, cs.SD · Submitted 2026-08-05 · Read on arXiv

Cong Zhang, Yiya Chen

cs.CL, cs.SD

Submitted: 2026-08-05

Comments: to be published in book 'Shaping Phonological and Morphological Representations: Diachrony, Acquisition, and Processing'

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

The gist: This chapter explores the intricate interplay between intonation and tone in Mandarin Chinese varieties, focusing on f0, the primary acoustic cue for both intonation and tone.

Terminology

Composition — 3× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
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Growth Curve Analysis — 2× in this paper
Papers — 2× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Adam — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
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Core — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Functional Principal Component Analysis — 1× in this paper
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Abstract

This chapter explores the intricate interplay between intonation and tone in Mandarin Chinese varieties, focusing on f0, the primary acoustic cue for both intonation and tone. The main empirical base is intonation boundary phenomena, where intonation and tone intersect and influence each other in conveying a range of sentence-level linguistic functions -- such as question vs. statement -- and a rich array of speakers' attitudinal information. Theoretical models and emerging techniques are also discussed to account for the observed interactions of tonal aspects and boundary phenomena to convey multiple levels of communicative meanings.

Terminology

Abstract

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