Temporal Distribution of Tonal Information in Continuous Cantonese Speech

According to previous studies on contextual tonal variations, as a result of interaction between tone-bearing syllables, carryover effect is much greater than anticipatory effect. Consequently, for a given tone in continuous speech, the most consistent portion of F0 (fundamental frequency) contour resides in the latter part of the host syllable. Perception tests on Cantonese level tones were conducted in this study to investigate whether such asymmetry in terms of F0 contour consistency is exploited by our tone perception system. Given conflicting tonal information within the target syllable, our tests give evidence that the latter portion is more prominent in determining tonal identities. This finding coincides harmoniously with several related results like syllable structure typology and contour tone restrictions, and more importantly, leads us to deeper understanding of temporal organization of human speech sounds. Topics relevant to the current study such as role of intensity profile, etc. and further extensions are also presented.