The Representation of Contour Tones in Cantonese

Abstract

<p>A central question in tonal phonology is the representation of tone. One of the focal points is the representation of contour tones, especially since Goldsmith (1976) and subsequent works have analyzed contour tones in Bantu languages as sequences of level tones. Cross-linguistically, it is generally well-recognized, following Yip’s (1989) terminology, that contour tones in African languages are typically clusters, which are sequences of level tones and consist of multiple tonal root nodes, and that contour tones in Asian languages are typically tone units, which have only one tonal root node. This paper points out an important exception—Cantonese— particularly in light of Yip (2001) and Barrie (2007) on Chinese contour tones. The correct view is at least implied in earlier analyses: Cantonese tones, contour and level alike, should be represented as sequences of level tones but not unitary tone units.</p>

Tone slips in Cantonese: Evidence for early phonological encoding

“…To assess this similarity effect systematically, we required a measure of tone similarity, as well as a test for correlations between confusability and similarity. In the Cantonese tone literature, there is no widely agreed upon procedure for assessing the phonological similarity of tones because there is no consensus on the critical tone features (Barrie, 2007;J. L. Lee, 2012).…”