Dialectal variations on the realization of high tonal targets in Taiwan Mandarin

This study investigated how gender and dialectal differences influence the realization of high tonal targets in Tone 1 and Tone 4 in Taiwan Mandarin and how the focus status interacts with dialectal variations. 32 native speakers of Taiwan Mandarin, balanced in gender, 12 from Taipei, 10 from Taichung, and 10 from Kaohsiung, were recruited to perform reading tasks. Target Tone 1 and Tone 4 syllables occurred in isolation and were also embedded in carrier sentences at the initial, medial, and final positions. For Tone 1, the F0 of the midpoint of the target syllable was measured; for Tone 4, the F0 maximum of the target syllable was examined. Results showed that, for female speakers, the FB0B for target syllables in Tone 1 was the highest for the Taipei dialect, followed by the Kaohsiung dialect, with the Taichung dialect as the lowest among the three dialects. For Tone 4, the Taipei dialect was higher in F0 than the other two dialects. However, female speakers of different dialects set their pitch frame similarly. For male speakers, the FB0B of both target tones in the Taipei dialect and the Kaohsiung dialect were similar. But the Taipei and the Kaohsiung dialects were still higher than the Taichung dialect. As for pitch setting, Kaohsiung male speakers set their pitch frame similarly as Taipei male speakers. Both dialects were higher than Taichung male speakers. In addition, dialectal variations interacted with gender and focus status as well. For male speakers, the trends found for dialectal differences of non-focus items were identical to that of focus items; however, for female speakers, dialectal variations were found for focus items but not for non-focus items. This study found that the dialect formed in Taichung was lower in F0 height than the dialect in Kaohsiung, which could be accounted for by tone sandhi rules and the tonal system of Min dialects in Taichung.