Mandarin Tone 2 Coarticulation: Phonetic or phonological?

Tone processes in Chinese languages can be identified as phonological or phonetic. In the literature, this distinction is often made by referring to them as either tone sandhi (phonological) or tonal coarticulation (phonetic). However, while it is unchallenged that certain processes (e.g. Standard Mandarin Tone 3 Sandhi) belong to the phonological camp, some other tone processes that are considered phonetic may infact display both properties of sandhi and coarticulation. The current paper investigates the mixed properties of Mandarin Tone 2 (T2) Coarticulation (Wu, 1985; Chen, 2000) observed in preliminary production data. I begin by discussing the properties of tonal processes that make them either phonological or phonetic (§2.1), why the coarticulation process of interest may display both types of properties (§2.2), as well as the remaining unresolved issues regarding this tonal process that has prompted this study (§2.3). I will then present the methods of the production study (§3), the results (§4), what it may reveal about the process (§5), and finally a summary of the findings (§6).