Cue weighting in the tonal register contrast of Jiashan Wu

Abstract

Chinese Wu dialects are known to have two tonal registers, where the lower register is realized with lower pitch and breathy phonation and the upper register is realized with higher pitch and modal phonation. In Jiashan Wu, the falling tone is realized differently in the two registers: the pitch contour of the upper register is slightly steeper than the lower register. This study investigates how speakers of Jiashan Wu weight the three cues (i.e., breathiness, pitch height, pitch contour) in the register contrast. We recorded two words /ka/ from the upper and lower register and created stimuli varying in both dimensions (5 steps pitch height x 5 step breathiness = 25 stimuli) and imposed the two contours on all stimuli. 28 native listeners performed a forced-choice categorization task on 5 repetitions of each stimuli in random order. A mixed effect logistic model shows that all three factors affect categorization, and that pitch contour is the most important cue and breathiness the least. Moreover, the effect of breathiness was smaller with higher pitches and a steep contour, and the effect of pitch height is smaller with a steep contour. Data are being collected comparing Jiashan and Shanghai dialects.