Rhythm, intonation and focus in Mandarin : syllabic volume as an acoustic correlate of metrical structure

Abstract

In the last decade the theory of metrical phonology has been an important development in linguistic theory. It began by concentrating on stress and rhythmical phenomena in English. The main idea of metrical phonology is that phonological strings are not merely linear sequences but are hierarchically structured. Stress patterns of rhythm reflect, to some extent at least, relations of prominence between the constituents of sentences. The relative prominence of each constituent in a metrical tree is indicated by nodes at different levels. Each node is labeled either s or w where s means 'stronger than' and w means 'weaker than' its sister node (Hogg and McCully 1987: 62-75). However, how can the relationship between strong and weak constituents be interpreted physically? What kind of value can be identified as an acoustic correlate of metrical structure? Up to now there has been little work addressing these problems. In this thesis I concentrate on· these questions in relation to rhythm, intonation, and focus in the Mandarin sentence JINTIAN TA BAN JIA (She/he is moving house today). The aim of my thesis is to develop the hierarchical rhythm approach and suggest that syllabic volume (a three dimensional acoustic value) can be identified as the acoustic correlate of metrical structure. Show more