Pitch realisation and creaky phonation of Malaysian Mandarin tones / Yong Zhien Bao

Yong , Zhien Bao (2024) Pitch realisation and creaky phonation of Malaysian Mandarin tones / Yong Zhien Bao. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

Mandarin has become a global language with many different varieties around the world, but the phonology of many Mandarin varieties such as Malaysian Mandarin remains understudied. This study seeks to examine pitch realisation and creaky phonation of Malaysian Mandarin citation tones and non-final tones produced by young Chinese speakers from Kuala Lumpur or Selangor. A total of 10 participants (5 male, 5 female) ranging from 19 to 30 years old were recruited. Elicitation was done through a picture-guessing game to obtain a more natural pronunciation. Pitch data was processed using Praat while creaky phonation was identified auditorily and acoustically. The results show that Malaysian Mandarin tones are unique in certain aspects. In terms of pitch realisation, unlike other varieties where Tone 1 and Tone 4 are both high tones, Malaysian Mandarin citation Tone 1 is a mid falling-level tone dividing the tonal space in half. The high-falling citation Tone 4 occupies the high level while citation Tone 2 and 3 resides at the lower halve of the tonal space. The mid-dipping citation Tone 2 and low-falling citation Tone 3 in Malaysian Mandarin are similar to Singapore and Taiwanese Mandarin but the former dips much lower. Non-final tones are similar to citation tones in pitch realisation except the initial F0 of Tone 1 and 4 are higher possibly due to anticipatory dissimilation. Tone 3 sandhi occurs in most cases of T3T3, resulting non-final tone resembles Tone 2 in pitch height and contour. Phonation-wise, citation Tone 3 and Tone 4 have similar likelihood of creakiness unlike Beijing Mandarin where Tone 3 is creakier. Tone 2 in both citation and non-final form is sometimes characterised by medial vowel laryngealisation which accentuates its dipping contour. Citation tones are more susceptible to creakiness than non-final tones likely due to the effects of prosodic boundary. Overall, this study contributes to research on the phonological interrelationship of pitch and phonation.

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