Glottalization and Taiwan Min checked tone sound change

This study investigates the glottalization of Taiwan Min checked tones with CV[p, t, k, ʔ] syllable structures. The results of Electroglottography (EGG) and acoustic measures showed that above 80% of [ʔ] and below 15% of [p, t, k] were deleted. Codas were most often realized as energy damping during the vowel final portion. Full stop closures were observed significantly more often among Tone 3 and sandhi tones. Codas are rarely realized with an aperiodic voicing. In the non-final position of the tone sandhi group, the occurrence of contact phases during the coda were less than 30%. Moreover, checked Tone 3 was produced with the shortest glottal contact quotient. However, in the final position of the tone sandhi group, the mid-frequency spectral tilt, H1*-A3*, and the glottal contact quotient were indistinguishable between the two checked tones, suggesting a sound change in voice quality.