The Institute for Chinese Studies presents the Re-Imagining China's Past and Present Lecture Series:
Suki Yiu
Visiting Scholar
The University of Hong Kong
“Prominence in Tone Languages”
Flyer: Suki Yiu Flyer.pdf
Abstract: The representation of tone has long been an issue in phonology. While taking sandhi tones as less prominent for languages having complex tone systems, the role of duration or even intensity in signaling prominence remains largely as an assumption. In this talk, I explore the question of what the phonetic evidence is for a metrical representation of tone in complex tone languages via acoustic measurements of duration and intensity. The metrical view hypothesizes that duration and intensity cues are present on top of tone sandhi to determine whether a language has iambic/trochaic-like structure. I examine first hand data in Teochew (Southern Min, Hong Kong/Chaozhou) to illustrate the discussion.
Bio: Suki Yiu is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. She works on phonology, phonetics, ultrasound imaging, and fieldwork. Her doctoral dissertation specializes in linguistic tone and rhythm. She has recently received a Universitas 21 Collaborative Research Award to be a Visiting Scholar at Ohio State University and University of British Columbia in Fall 2017.
Free and open to the public
This event made possible in part by OSU’s Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Department of Linguistics, Graduate Association of Chinese Linguistics, Graduate Students of East Asian Languages and Literatures, and by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.