MATRIZ DE ANÁLISIS DE LOS BARRIOS

220 200 180 N X 160 - - A o 140 - 120 100 80 Time T1 - A- - T3 T4 - * - T5 - T6

The response results in Vance's experiment shows that the tonal onsets tend to be crowded in the low Fo range and the tonal offsets tend to spread out. It seems that the onset Fo value

is less important than the offset Fo value in the identification of Cantonese tones. Cheung, in discussing Vance's results, sees that the offset pitch is not the most reliable clue but the onset pitch is even less relevant (1986: 186). The result in the present experiment coincides

with Cheung's point of view drawn from Vance's perceptual experiment. The present experiment further claims that the most important element in representing the identity of tones is the gravity of tones. The gravity is never located at the beginning or the end portions of the tonal body but in the central portion. The beginning and the end portions of the tonal body need to make considerable adjustments to accommodate to the adjacent tones, and this can result in a change in their height and direction. This leads listeners to a great extent to tolerate a wide pitch range at the beginning and the ending of a tone. The reconstructed figure shows clearly that the height hierarchy and the direction of the slope coincide with those in the monosyllables shown in my last experiment. Moreover, if my hypothesis about less relevance in the beginning and ending portions turns out to be right, we will find that the height hierarchy and the direction in the central portion of the tonal contours in the reconstructed figure not only coincide with those in the monosyllables shown in my last experiment but also coincide with those in the gravity of the middle syllable in the three-tone sequences shown in the present experiment. In the central portion of the tonal contours in the reconstructed figure, in the experiments on monosyllables, disyllables and the middle syllable of trisyllables, there are lots of similarities in terms of tonal height and slope, as discussed above. Cheung, as a phonologist, chooses to use a bundle of feature values to explain why T1 tends to be perceived in such a wide range - that is, T1 is [+high, +extreme, - rising] - combined with the lack of another tone which is [+high, +falling]. He says that because of the lack of any tone that is [-extreme, +falling], a slight fall is tolerable for T3 and T6. For T2 and T5, the most important difference is one of gradient (1986:186). We can

safely say that the height and slope of tonal contour in the gravity are both important in terms of tone production and perception in Cantonese.

2.2.4. Summary

A tone maintains its identity in terms of height and slope in its gravity - which is located in the central portion of the tonal body - while allowing the two ends to be modified in terms of height and slope in order to accommodate to the preceding and following adjacent tones. The gravity of the three level tones is located at the centre point area; the gravity of the falling tone is located at the central left whereas the gravity of the two rising tones is located

at the central right. The gravity is the least affected in accommodating to its adjacent tones. When a tone is in a conflicting tonal environment, its two ends (about a quarter of the duration from each end) are open to modification in terms of height and slope while the characteristic gravity is preserved. When a tone is in a compatible tonal environment, its canonical form can be preserved to a greater extent, but does not necessarily remain exactly the same. This is due to the coarticulation occurring at both ends - the preceding and the following tones both affect the target tone. In other words, a tonal contour is triggered by forces from both left and right. The central portion of the tonal body in compatible contexts draws close to and may overlap with the gravity of the tonal contour in conflicting contexts. The carryover effect appears to be greater than the anticipatory effect. The modification in the first quarter of the duration is greater than in the last quarter of the duration. The declination effect interacts with tonal contour as shown in the downward trajectory of level tones, of the falling tones, and of the rising peaks of the rising tones when in sequences. These findings are consistent with the results obtained in the experiment on tonal behaviour in two-tone sequences.

The table below lists the location and the characteristics of the gravity of the six tones when in the middle position of a three-tone sequence and coincides with the characteristics of the six tones in monosyllabic and disyllabic words.

Table 2.1. The location and the characteristics of the gravity of the six tones.

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6

location centre central centre central central centre

point area right point area left right point area

height high high mid low mid-low mid-low

& & & & & & &

CHAPTER THREE