F0 and voice quality of coarticulated Mandarin tones

Abstract

Tonal coarticulation occurs when adjacent tones affect the production of each other, and this often induces changes in both F0 and voice quality of the tones. In Mandarin, F0 height of the target tone is affected by adjacent tones through both carryover assimilation and anticipatory dissimilation (Xu, 1997). Additionally, voice quality is found to be largely dependent on F0, such that lower F0 induces creakier quality, regardless of tone (Kuang, 2017). Given this dependency of voice quality on F0, it is unclear how this interaction manifests in the context of coarticulated tones. The present study investigates the relationship between F0 and voice quality changes in coarticulated tones in three-tone sequences. Voice quality is assessed both acoustically and articulatorily using electroglottography (EGG). Our study confirms both carryover and anticipatory effects on F0. Changes in voice quality are largely expected from the direction of F0 changes. However, some tone-specific exceptions are present, which we interpret as support for the (potential) independence of voice quality from F0.