15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-15) Barcelona, Spain August 3-9, 2003

Contour Tone-Induced Lengthening in Cantonese

Alan C. L. Yu

University of California at Berkeley, USA

Current debates on the distribution of contour tones center on the issue of whether the durational properties of contour tone bearing units should be characterized in terms of phonological or phonetic parameters. Based on evidence from the phonetics of morphologically- and sandhi-derived rising toned CVVO syllables (O=obstruents) in Cantonese, this study lends support for the phonetic explanation of the durational properties of contour tone bearing units.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Yu, Alan C. L. (2003): "Contour tone-induced lengthening in Cantonese", In ICPhS-15, 2381-2384.