Identification and discrimination of lexical tones in Cantonese were compared in the context of a traditional categoricalperception paradigm. Three lexical tone continua were used: one ranging from low level to high level, one from high rising to high level, and one from low falling to high rising. Identification data showed steep slopes at category boundaries, suggesting that lexical tones are perceived categorically. In contrast, discrimination curves generally showed much weaker evidence for categorical perception. Subsequent investigation showed that the presence of a tonal context played a strong role in the identification of target tones and less of a role in discrimination. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that tonal category boundaries are determined by a combination of regions of natural auditory sensitivity and the influence of linguistic experience.

careful-͓t-i͔. ͑4͒ idet Ir'ina goes Irina fast-͓t-i͔; careful-͓t-i͔. Formants of ͓i͔ versus ͓-i͔ were measured to examine coarticulation, as evidenced by a barred i in the phonetic realization of /i/. Results showed that ͑A͒ stressed V1 of the final word has no coarticulatory effects in careful speech, whereas ͑B͒ stressed V2 adhered to the rule. 2aSC14. Effects of syllable structure and syllable boundary on segment duration in Seoul Korean. Byung-jin Lim ͑Dept. of Linguist.,