A unified approach to Tianjin trisyllabic tone sandhi: Metrical conditions and tonal complexity

Xiaomei Wang, Yen-Hwei Lin

Abstract


Tianjin (Chinese) exhibits complex interactions among its disyllabic tone sandhi rules, leading to both left-to-right and right-to-left rule applications in trisyllabic sequences (cf. Chen 1986, X. Wang 2003). Which directionality to adopt for each particular trisyllabic sequence is arbitrary and cannot be accounted for by any known principles. Based on data from a recent acoustic study, our phonological analysis demonstrates that the seemingly ungoverned directionality is only apparent and that Tianjin tone sandhi rules apply only from left to right when both metrical and tonal complexity conditions are satisfied, thereby providing a unified account. 


Keywords


Tianjin Chinese; trisyllabic tone sandhi; metrical structure; tonal complexity

Full Text:

PDF


DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v2i0.4063

Copyright (c) 2017 Xiaomei Wang, Yen-Hwei Lin

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Donate to the Open-Access Fund of the LSA

Linguistic Society of America

Advancing the Scientific Study of Language since 1924

ISSN (online): 2473-8689

This publication is made available for free to readers and with no charge to authors thanks in part to your continuing LSA membership and your donations to the open access fund.