Pitch Prominence and Tonal Typology for Low Register Tone in Mandarin

This paper tries to explore the relationship between pitch prominence and tonal typology by examining pitch behavior of the 3 tone, a low register tone, in different accent contexts under Mandarin Chinese. The primary results obtained so far show that, pitch level of the 3 tone is obviously lowered in focal condition, which is mainly manifested by lowering the L-point value of its F0, rather than raising the H-point value. This peculiar prominence pattern is not only reverse to the general model well established as the H raising effect in many languages of the world, but also remarkably diverse from the case of low register tone in Cantonese, another Chinese dialect typologically different from Mandarin. Considering on this deviation and referring to similar findings reported in other languages, we propose that implementational strategy of pitch prominence in certain language may be restricted by not only phonological contrast, but also by typological distinction.