An Interplay Between F0 and Phonation in Du’an Zhuang Tone

This paper undertook an acoustic study of the tone system of one speaker of Du'an Zhuang, finding that his tone system involved phonation contrasts in addition to F0 contrasts. It was found that two of the six tones in unchecked syllables involved significant creakiness near the midpoint of the vowel. These results suggest a phonological tone contrast that involves both F0 and creakiness. Among pairs of tones that differed in their phonation, significant differences in the timing of F0 fall were discovered. Additionally, the two creaky tones differed in the timing of the maximum creakiness. Future research could establish whether and to what extent Du'an Zhuang speakers utilize creakiness and F0, and their relative timing, in discerning between tonal categories. Production studies are needed with larger samples of speakers and perception studies are needed to confirm the contrastive roles of phonation and F0 in the Du’an Zhuang tone system.