Tone Sandhi
Patterns across Chinese Dialects

This book, first published in 2000, is a most comprehensive analysis of the complex tonal patterns of Chinese languages.

Matthew Y. Chen (Author)

9780521033404, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2007

576 pages, 139 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 3.6 cm, 0.845 kg

"A valuable book that will be of great interest to all phonologists, as well as students of Chinese linguistics." General Linguistics

Matthew Chen's study, first published in 2000, offers a most comprehensive analysis of the rich and complex patterns of tone used in Chinese languages. Chinese has a wide repertoire of tones which undergo often surprising changes when they are connected in speech flow. The term tone sandhi refers to this tonal alternation. Chen examines tone sandhi phenomena in detail across a variety of Chinese dialects. He explores a range of important theoretical issues such as the nature of tonal representation, the relation of tone to accent, the prosodic domain of sandhi rules, and the interface between syntax and phonology. His book is the culmination of a ten-year research project and offers a wealth of empirical data not previously accessible to linguists. Extensive references and a bibliography on tone sandhi complete this invaluable resource which will be welcomed as a standard reference on Chinese tone.

Preface
Notational conventions
1. Setting the stage
2. Tonal representation and tonal processes
3. Directionality and interacting sandhi processes I
4. Directionality and interacting sandhi processes II
5. From base tones to sandhi forms: a constraint-based analysis
6. From tone to accent
7. Stress-foot as sandhi domain I
8. Stress-foot as sandhi domain II
9. Minimal rhythmic unit as obligatory sandhi domain
10. Phonological phrase as a sandhi domain
11. From tone to intonation
Concluding remarks
Bibliographical appendix: tone sandhi across Chinese dialects
References
Subject index
Author index.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]