Carryover effects on tones in Hong Kong Cantonese

Abstract

Tonal coarticulation has been found in connected speech in many tonal languages. The current study investigated the carryover effect on tones of Hong Kong Cantonese (Cantonese), by examining F0 perturbation and preservation of two rising tones (T2 and T5) under the influence of a preceding tone (Tx). Twenty-three young adults were recruited to read a wordlist containing disyllabic words (Tx+T2/T5) and monosyllabic characters in six lexical tones. Onsets, offsets, and contours of T2 and T5 were measured and entered for statistical analyses. The carryover effect of high and low tones was found on T2 and T5. The coarticulation triggered by the low tone carried throughout the entire tonal contour while the coarticulation triggered by the high tone did not, as offsets of pitch contours of T2 and T5 preceded by a high tone reached comparable levels of their own underlying pitch targets.