Legacy of the Yang-Ping/Ru-Sheng Distinction: Production of Changsha Mandarin Tone 2 by Different Genders

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Abstract

The study sought to determine if in the production of Mandarin Tone 2 words by Changsha Mandarin speakers, discrimination is made between words going into the yang-ping/ru-sheng divides in Changsha Xiang. The acoustic analysis of citation tone productions by three males and three females revealed some degree of statistically significant difference between these two types of words (Changsha Xiang yang-ping words (T2-2) vs. Changsha Xiang ru-sheng words (T2-6)), and showed that the tonal features of T2-6 words have been transferred from Changsha Xiang (higher f0 contours for T2-6 words). However, this production pattern was not present in the data of female speakers’ contours, evidencing the classical sociophonetic discovery of females’ stronger adherence to prestige forms. Additionally, these findings might also provide a snapshot of the diachronic progress of ru-sheng migration into yang-ping.

Citation

Zhou, W. (2023, July 8). Legacy of the yang-ping/ru-sheng distinction: Production of Changsha Mandarin Tone 2 by different genders [Oral presentation]. The 15th Phonetic Conference of China (PCC2023), July 7-10, Shenzhen, China.