2008/09/03

Wu, S-C. (2007). A sociolinguistic study of Chinese tonal variation in Puli, Nantou, Taiwan. In S. H. Wang & F.-M. Hsu (Eds.), Shehui yuyanxue yu gongneng yufa lunwenji [Proceedings of sociolinguistics and functional grammar] (pp. 103–147). Taipei: Crane Press.

Presentation: Chris

Summary: Sally

In this study, both linguistic and social dimensions were investigated for the T4 raising phenomenon in Puli accented Mandarin. Three age groups (those in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s) of Puli residents were recruited for the study (54 in total). They were recorded for both casual and read speech for quantitative analyses and tested for language attitudes towards Puli and non-Puli (standard) accents via questionnaires. For quantitative analyses, independent factors of the linguistic dimension included the formality of the context, the location of the target T4 syllable, as well as the tone of the preceding syllable. Results showed that T4 raising occurred much more frequently in casual contexts, as compared to carefully read speech. In addition, the tonal contour of a T4 syllable was more likely to be raised when it was at the final position of an intonation unit (IT-final hereafter). Furthermore, most IT-final T4 raising were preceded by T2 and T1 syllables, which made the author speculate that assimilation of the final high of the two tone shapes might possibly be accounted for the T4 raising phenomenon. The social dimension, on the other hand, covered age, gender, and social network density as independent factors. For this dimension, T4 raising phenomenon was more frequently observed in the younger generation. Interaction between gender and social network density was found in that for males, those with higher social density were observed with more T4 raising occurrence, but the trend was just the opposite for females. Lastly, Puli residents showed positive attitudes towards their own accent in terms of solidarity (i.e. friendliness and trustworthiness); in terms of power (i.e. educational attainment and status), however, they showed positive attitudes to the standard accent of Taiwan Mandarin.