Speech Act and Tonal Pattern in Standard Chinese: Constancy and Variation

Abstract

This paper is a study of how speech act (statement, question, focus) influences some tonal patterns in Standard Chinese. The material presents four tonal patterns in five speech acts produced three times each by 4 speakers. To limit the size of comparisons, one of the speakers is analyzed first, the others are then compared with him. The analysis of constant and varying features in the interaction of speech act and tonal pattern uses a model of intonation described elsewhere. The results indicate that Chinese prosody shares with other languages a number of general features which were taken as a basis for the model.

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