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Investigating the Lexical Representation of Mandarin Tone 3 Phonological Alternations

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Abstract

Phonological alternations pose challenges for models of spoken word recognition in how surface information is mapped onto stored representations in the lexicon. In the current study, an auditory-auditory priming lexical decision experiment was conducted to investigate the alternating representations of Mandarin Tone 3 in both half-third and third tone sandhi contexts. In Mandarin, a full Tone 3 (213) is reduced to an abridged tone (21) when followed by Tone 1, Tone 2, or Tone 4 (half-third tone sandhi), and Tone 3 is replaced by Tone 2 when followed by another Tone 3 (third tone sandhi). In the half-third sandhi block, disyllabic targets with a half-third (21) or full-third (213) tone FIRST syllable and a Tone 2 (35) or Tone 4 (51) second syllable were preceded by either a half-third prime, a full-third prime, or a control prime. In the third tone sandhi block, third-tone sandhi disyllabic targets with a half-third or full-third SECOND syllable were preceded by either a half-third prime, a full-third prime, or a control prime. Results showed that both half-third and full-third primes elicited significantly faster reaction times relative to the control Tone 1 condition. The size of the facilitation was not influenced by prime condition, target frequency, targets’ first syllable tone or targets’ second syllable tone. These data suggest that Mandarin T3 may be a more abstract tone and stored as the first syllable for both types of sandhi words.

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Funding

This study was funded by Ministry of Education, China, under grant [18YJC740075] and Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, China, under grant [2018EYY002].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Yu-Fu Chien

  2. Department of Modern Languages, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Yu-Fu Chien

  3. School of Chinese Studies and Exchange, Shanghai International Studies University, Room 418, Building 2, Number 550 West Dalian Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai, 200083, China

    Hanbo Yan

  4. Department of Linguistics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Joan A. Sereno

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  1. Yu-Fu Chien
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Correspondence to Hanbo Yan.

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The authors, Yu-Fu Chien, Hanbo Yan, Joan A. Sereno, declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Drs. Huizhong Chen, Fang Liu, Qinning Lu, Hongliang Shao, Chunxiang Wu, Yanli Zhang, and Jianjun Zhu) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Half-third Sandhi Critical Targets

取得 quT3 deT2, 解決 jieT3 jueT2, 選擇 xuanT3 zeT2, 改革gaiT3 geT2, 舉行 juT3 xingT2, 感情 ganT3 qingT2, 總結 zongT3 jieT2, 檢查 jianT3 chaT2, 轉移 zhuanT3 yiT2, 早晨 zaoT3 chenT2, 主席 zhuT3 xiT2, 典型 dianT3 xingT2, 組合 zuT3 heT2, 保存 baoT3 cunT2, 表情 biaoT3 qingT2, 黨員 dangT3 yuanT2, 可憐 keT3 lianT2, 請求 qingT3 qiuT2.

使用 shiT3 yongT4, 反映 fanT3 yingT4, 討論 taoT3 lunT4, 法律 faT3 luT4, 改造 gaiT3 zaoT4, 掌握 zhangT3 woT4, 鞏固 gongT3 guT4, 土地 tuT3 diT4, 導致 daoT3 zhiT4, 享受 xiangT3 shouT4, 種類 zhongT3 leiT4, 體制 tiT3 zhiT4, 顯示 xianT3 shiT4, 統計 tongT3 jiT4, 訪問 fangT3 wenT4, 鼓勵 guT3 liT4, 寫作 xieT3 zuoT4, 假設 jiaT3 sheT4.

Appendix 2: Third-tone Sandhi Critical Targets

產品 chanT3 pinT3, 演講 yanT3 jiangT3, 輔導 fuT3 daoT3, 以往 yiT3 wangT3, 只有 zhiT3 youT3, 也許 yeT3 xuT3, 領導 lingT3 daoT3, 彼此 biT3 ciT3, 想法 xiangT3 faT3, 處理 chuT3 liT3, 採取 caiT3 quT3, 引起 yinT3 qiT3, 保險 baoT3 xianT3, 主管 zhuT3 guanT3, 選舉 xuanT3 juT3, 顯眼 xianT3 yanT3, 扭轉 niuT3 zhuanT3, 海產 haiT3 chanT3, 雅典 yaT3 dianT3, 可口 keT3 kouT3, 打手 daT3 shouT3, 審理 shenT3 liT3, 賭場 duT3 changT3, 廠長 changT3 zhangT3, 乞討 qiT3 taoT3, 腳本 jiaoT3 benT3, 婉轉 wuanT3 zhuanT3, 體檢 tiT3 jianT3, 養老 yangT3 laoT3, 喜酒 xiT3 jiuT3.

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Chien, YF., Yan, H. & Sereno, J.A. Investigating the Lexical Representation of Mandarin Tone 3 Phonological Alternations. J Psycholinguist Res 50, 777–796 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09745-0

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