Acoustic characteristics of highly distinguishable Cantonese tones

Abstract

To date, few studies have thoroughly examined the acoustic properties of Cantonese tones, particularly lacking data for the entering tones, compromising more accurate understanding of development and difficulty in tone perception and production in typical developing and disordered populations. This study aimed at providing detailed acoustic descriptions of highly distinguishable Cantonese full tones and entering tones, addressing the issue of whether entering tones share the same acoustic features as the three level full tones except for durations, and examining the acoustic contrasts that distinguish the more confusing tones pairs. Seventeen native Cantonese-speaking adults were recruited to produce 90 monosyllabic words covering the nine tones. Their productions were low-pass filtered and categorized into nine tones by five judges. The productions in which the tones were identified correctly by all judges were compared acoustically using pitch height, slope and pitch duration measures. Counter to the established notion that the entering tones are just a shorter version of the three level full tones, the findings showed that the three entering tones have instead falling shapes. Detailed description of the nine tones and the acoustic contrasts of the four more easily confused tone pairs (T2(HR)-T5(LR), T3(ML)-T6(LL), T4(LF)-T6(LL) and T8(MS)-T9(LS)) were presented. A revised tone letter system is presented to provide fine-tuned information on the pitch heights and pitch shapes of the nine tones. The information would facilitate understanding of perception and production of Cantonese tones.