title: Organizing syllables into groups - Evidence from F0and duration patterns in Mandarin.
abstract: In this study we investigated grouping-related F0patterns in Mandarin by examining the effect of syllable position in a group while controlling for tone, speaking mode, number of syllables in a group, and group position in a sentence. We analyzed syllable duration, F0displacement, ratio of peak velocity to F0displacement (vp/d ratio) and shape of F0velocity profile (parameter C) in sequences of Rising, Falling and High tones. Results showed that syllable duration had the most consistent grouping-related patterns. In a short phrase of 1-4 syllables, duration is longest in the final position, second longest in the initial position, and shortest in the medial positions. In Rising and Falling tone sequences, syllable duration was positively related to F0displacement, but negatively related to vp/d ratio. Sequences consisting of only the High tone, however, showed no duration-matching F0variations. Modeling simulations with a second-order linear system showed that duration variations alone could generate F0displacement and vp/d ratio variations comparable to those in actual data. We interpret the results as evidence that grouping is encoded directly by syllable duration, while the corresponding variations in F0displacement, vp/d ratio and velocity profile are the consequences of duration control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Maolin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: F0 contour; affinity index; duration; peak velocity; second-order linear system; stiffness; stress; syllable grouping; vp/d ratio