Using map tasks to investigate the effect of contrastive focus on the mandarin alveolar-retroflex contrast

Yung Hsiang Shawn Chang, Chilin Shih

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

A series of map tasks were designed to investigate whether vowel contexts and prosodic prominence may affect the realizations of the alveolar and retroflex sibilants in Beijing Mandarin and Taiwan Mandarin. Results show that the realizations of the sibilants and their contrast varied by vowel context for most speakers, and were selectively subject to prosodic conditioning for only some speakers. The /u/ vowel context was where the alveolar-retroflex contrast was the least distinct and where an enhanced place contrast was achieved for half of the Beijing Mandarin speakers under focus condition. On the other hand, /u/ was the context where some Taiwan Mandarin speakers showed confusion over the place distinction or hypercorrected in response to focal prominence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 6th International Conference on Speech Prosody
PublisherTongji University Press
Pages302-305
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)9787560848693
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Event6th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2012, SP 2012 - Shanghai, China
Duration: May 22 2012May 25 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 6th International Conference on Speech Prosody, SP 2012
Volume1

Other

Other6th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2012, SP 2012
Country/TerritoryChina
CityShanghai
Period5/22/125/25/12

Keywords

  • Beijing mandarin
  • Focus
  • Mandarin alveolar and retroflex sibilants
  • Taiwan mandarin
  • Vowel context

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Software
  • Mechanical Engineering

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