MAODIAN 毛店 DISYLLABIC TONE SANDHI
This page contains examples of the disyllabic tone sandhi of a speaker from Maodian 毛店, a town in the middle of the Chinese province of Zhejiang. Maodian is at the southern tip of Yiwu 义乌county, about equidistant from the cities of Yiwu 义乌 and Yongkang 永康, in Yongkang county to the south.
The dialects in the Maodian area belong to the largely typologically-defined Wuzhou 婺州 subgroup of the Wu 吳 dialects, itself a first-order subgroup of Sinitic. Wuzhou varieties are spoken in the central part of Zhejiang. Click here to view the location of Maodian in the Wuzhou subgroup. There is a characterisation of Wuzhou Wu, in Chinese, on pages 21 through 24 of Fu Guotong et al’s 1985 monograph Wu dialect subgroups of Zhejiang (傅国通, 方松熹, 蔡勇飞, 鲍士杰,傅佐之: 浙江吴语分区) published by the Zhejiang Linguistics Society. Information on Wuzhou may also be found in Cao Zhiyun’s 2002 book Studies on the phonetics of Southern Wu dialects (曹志耘: 南部吴语语音研究) published by the Commercial Press, Beijing.
To get the most from this page it is probably best to first orient yourself by listening to the data and having a look at their acoustics, here. If you have not yet done so, it might be better to first acquaint yourself with the Maodian speaker's isolation tones, here. After this initial orientation you might read sections on what is interesting about the data. There are several things to look and listen for. The sandhi exemplified appears to be basically of a type known as right-dominant, although it deviates from the prototype in not always preserving the final syllable tone. Read more about right-dominant sandhi here. Read about how the Maodian data deviate from the prototype here. The speaker has both long and short reflexes of the Middle Chinese Ru category in his disyllabic sandhi. Read about that here. Read about the recording here.
RIGHT-DOMINANT TONE SANDHI
Right-dominant, or right-focused is a typological term referring to a kind of tone sandhi common in the sandhi zone of the South-Eastern coastal provinces in China. In right-dominant tone sandhi, it is predominantly the tones on the morphemes on the rightmost syllables of a word or utterance which determine its sandhi shape. The tone on the word-final syllable is said to be preserved, and tonal contrasts on the preceding syllables tend to be neutralised, although not by the spreading typically found in Northern Wu left-dominant systems: the neutralisation groupings are often complicated, and their realisation likewise. These characteristics are things to check out in the Maodian data below.
The distinction between left- and right- dominant systems was, I think, first mentioned by Ballard in his 1984 Cahiers de Lingistique Asie Orientale paper: Wu, Min and a Little Hakka – Tone Sandhi: Right and Left. The typological distinction between left- and right-dominant systems is discussed in detail in Jie ZHANG's 2007 J. East Asian Linguistics paper: A directional asymmetry in Chinese tone sandhi systems. My detailed description of the right dominant tone sandhi in the Oujiang Wu dialect of Wencheng, which is less ambiguously right-dominant, can be found here.
RECORDING
The recording, made by Professor W.L. Ballard in August 1988 at Ehime University in Japan, was part of his survey of tones and tone sandhi in southern Wu varieties. His generosity in making the data available for analysis is gratefully acknowledged. The speaker is a male who was 27 years old when recorded. He was born in Maodian in 1961 and lived there until going to Hangzhou University at 17.
To elicit the data, Ballard chose disyllabic expressions to exemplify all combinations of the eight Middle Chinese tones (Yinping, yangping etc.). There were three different expressions for each tonal combination, each repeated three times after Ballard's numerical prompt. Click the following button to listen to Ballard's elicitation of the three items with the same underlying low level (Yangping Ib) tone on both syllables: 羊毛 wool, 银行 bank, 皮球 rubber ball :
.Morphological structure. Most of the disyllabic expressions Ballard used are compound words with a morphological structure of either synonym e.g. 保持 preserve = {保 protect } + {持 hold}, or attribute-head e.g. 羊毛 wool = {羊 sheep } + {毛 hair}. There are also a few verb-object phrases, e.g. 做饭 cook = {做 make} + {饭 rice}. ('Synonym' and 'attribute-head' are terms from the sections on morphological constructions in Kratochvil's 1968 book The Chinese Language Today).
DATA
In the table below I have set out all the disyllabic combinations elicited by Ballard. They are arranged by the etymological (Middle Chinese) tone of the first-syllable morpheme "T1" down the left-hand column, and by the etymological tone of the word-final morpheme "T2" along the top row. You can also click on the play/pause buttons in the top row to hear examples of the corresponding isolation tone. Ballard's elicitation text is given in the Simplified Chinese characters that he used, together with glosses. The few verb-object constructions in the corpus are marked with [VO] after their Chinese gloss. Normally one would expect them to have different sandhi from the lexical items, but for this speaker this appears not to be the case. Items with anomalous tonal pitch – that is, items with pitch shapes that appear to deviate from the majority behaviour – are shown in blue.
The extraction of the tonal acoustics was a shared job between Dr Shen Ruiqing and myself. I then plotted the tonal acoustics - F0 as a function of absolute duration - of the first of the three replicates of each expression Ballard elicited. Thin dotted lines show the values of the individual expressions; thick lines show their mean value. Dashed lines show the F0 voiced intervocalic consonants (these comprise plain voiced obstruents, voiced implosives and, of course, sonorants and glides). You can expand the figures for closer examination - to see the F0 of the individual tokens for example - by clicking on them. Clicking again will shrink them. You can also listen to the expressions by clicking on the play/pause buttons (should work for Chrome; no guarantees for other browsers, sorry!).
click on individual figures to expand for inspection; click again to contract
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(ETYMOLOGICAL) TONE on WORD-FINAL MORPHEME (T2) → (ETYMOLOGICAL) TONE on 1st SYLLABLE MORPHEME (T1) ↓ |
T2= upper-mid level (Ia/Yinping/陰平) |
T2= lower-mid level (Ib/Yangping/陽平) |
T2= delayed mid rise (IIa/Yinshang/陰上) |
T2= delayed low rise (IIb/Yangshang/陽上) |
T2= high fall (IIIa/Yinqu/陰去) |
T2= depressed high fall (IIIb/Yangqu/陽去) |
T2= delayed lower-mid rise ~ short stopped mid (IVa/Yinru/陰入) |
T2= delayed low rise ~ short stopped low rise (IVb/Yangru/陽入) |
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T1 = upper-mid level (Ia/Yinping 陰平) |
飞机 airplane 松香 rosin 西瓜 cucumber 
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高楼 highrise building 昆明 Kunming 天桥 flyover 
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高考 college entrance exam 辛苦 tough 甘草 liquorice 
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兄弟 brothers 轻重 weight 端午 Dragon Boat (festival) 
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功课 lessons 花布 printed cloth 仓库 granary 
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公事 public matters 方便 convenient 山洞 cave 
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中国China 方法 method 公式 formula 
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蜂蜜 honey 中学 middle school 生活 work 
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T1= lower-mid level (Ib/Yangping 陽平) |
田鸡 frog 长衫 gown 红花 medicinal flower >  |
羊毛 wool 银行 bank 皮球 rubber ball  |
门口 doorway 洪水 flood 长短 length  |
杨柳willow 红马red horse 朋友friend  |
长凳 bench 文化 culture 脾气 mood  |
同事 workmate 蚕豆broad bean 长寿 long life  |
牛骨 oxbone 毛笔 writing brush 头发 hair  |
同学fellow student 牛肉beef 红叶auctumnal leaves  |
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T1= delayed mid rise (IIa/Yinshang 陰上) |
点心 dimsum 普通 ordinary 手心 palm
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保持 preserve 粉红 pink 果园 orchard  |
口齿 enuncitation 小巧 exquisite 保险 insure  |
小米millet 改造 reconstruct 处理 manage  |
考试[vo] take an exam 板凳 stool 打算 intend 宝贝 precious  |
草帽straw hat 子弹 bullet 扁豆hyacinth bean  |
宝塔pagoda 本国 one's own country 首饰 jewelry  |
普及 universal 坦白 frank  |
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T1= delayed low rise (IIb/Yangshang 陽上) |
被窝 quilt 尾巴 tail 坐车[vo] ride  |
后门 back door 象棋 chess 肚皮 stomach  |
米粉 ground rice 老酒 booze 动手[vo] start work  |
远近 distance 道理 principle 马桶 toilet  |
眼镜 glasses 老货[?sic: 老 usually can only qualify animates] old goods 雨布 waterproof cloth  |
后代posterity 社会society 部队 troops  |
负责 be responsible for 道德 moral 美国 America  |
李白 Li Bai (poet) 断绝 be cut off 眼药 eyedrops 动物 animal  |
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T1= high fall (IIIa/Yinqu 陰去) |
快车 express train 四方 on all sides 背心 waistcoat  |
借条 receipt 太平 peace 桂圆 longan  |
对比 contrast 报纸 newspaper 跳板 springboard  |
靠近 near to 对象 sweetheart 报社 newspaper office  |
靠背back of a chair 快信 express letter 放假[vo] take a holiday  |
笑话joke 半路 in mid journey 做饭[vo]make food
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配角supporting actor 爱国[vo]patriotic 建筑 building  |
快活happy 秘密 secret 势力 influence  |
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T1= depressed high fall (IIIb/Yangqu 陽去) |
面汤 noodle soup 地方 place 树根 root  |
地球 earth 外行 layman 坏人 bad person  |
外省 other provinces 院长 president 字典dictionary  |
代理act as agent for 号码 number 饭后 after-dinner  |
病假 sick leave 电报telegram 旧货 junk  |
命令 order 另外 寿命 lifespan  |
画册 picture album 大雪blizard 字帖 copybook  |
饭盒 lunchbox 大学 university 练习 practice  |
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T1= delayed lower-mid rise ~ short-stopped mid (IVa/Yinru 陰入) |
浙江 Zhejiang province 骨科 orthopedics 北风 north wind  |
足球 football 国旗 national flag 发条 spring  |
脚底 sole 百果 all kinds of fruit 出口 export  |
国语 national language 竹篓 bamboo basket 黑市black market  |
百货 general merchanise 黑布 black cloth 客气 polite  |
革命[vo]revolution 一定 definitely 发病 outbreak of illness  |
赤脚 barefoot 铁塔 pylon 发作 lose temper  |
骨肉 flesh & blood 吃力 tired 复杂 complicated  |
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T1= delayed low rise ~ short stopped low rise (IVb/Yangru 陽入) |
月光 moon 滑车 pulley 学生 student  |
毒蛇 poisonous snake 别人 others 石头 stone  |
袜底 stocking sole 肉体 flesh 白果 ginko  |
白米 polished rice 物理 physics 活动 activity  |
热气 hot air 学费 tuition fees 白布 calico  |
服务 serve 木料timber 十位ten people  |
蜡烛 candle 合作 cooperate 白铁 tin  |
学习 study 白药 medicinal powder 植物 plant  |
Familiar morpheme. Although not it was not in Ballard’s written prompts it is interesting to note that the speaker appears to have said four words with an additional {familiar} morpheme suffix (corresponding to the er 儿 in Modern Standard Chinese). The four words were the nouns 尾巴tail (IIb+Ia), 地方 place (IIIb+Ia), 竹篓 bamboo basket (IVa+IIb)and 饭盒lunchbox (IIIb+IVb), and possibly also 面汤 noodle soup (IIIb+Ia). Click to listen. You can hear that the words end in an alveolar nasal, which is a common allomorph for this morpheme in many Wu dialects. The morpheme does not appear to carry a tone in these examples: its allomorph is simply suffixed as a coda of the word-final syllable. There are two other examples in the data involving the morpheme 药 {medicine} - 眼药 eyedrops (IIb+IVb) and 白药 medicinal powder (IVb+IVb) - which from the overlong duration of its word-final syllable I suspect has the {familiar} morpheme realised as a prolongation of the vowel: . You can read more about the Southern Wu {familiar} morpheme in chapter 5 of Cao Zhiyun’s 2002 book Studies on the phonetics of Southern Wu dialects (曹志耘: 南部吴语语音研究) published by the Commercial Press, Beijing.
Short Ru tones in disyllabic sandhi In the page on Maodian citation tones it was pointed out that the speaker has a few short stopped reflexes of the Middle Chinese Ru tone category. Short Ru tones also appear in the disyllabic examples on both first syllable (where they are just short) and word-final syllable (where they also end in a glottal-stop). Combinations with short first-syllable tones are plotted in green, and their characters are also shown in green. For example, for words with the IVa + Ia combination (row 7, column 1) the speaker said two – Zhejiang (province) 浙江 and orthopaedics 骨科 – with a short tone on the first syllable, and one – north wind 北风 – with a long tone: .
Combinations with short stopped second-syllable tones are plotted and marked in cyan. One example can be heard in the word universal 普及 in the IIa + IVb combination in row 3 column 8. Note he said the other word with this etymological combination – frank 坦白 – with a long final tone:
Apart from these occasional short tones, although there are (8 first-syllable etymological tones * 8 word-final etymological tones = ) 64 etymological combinations in the table, it is clear even from a cursory listening that not all combinations are different. One reduction in the number of different shapes results from the fact that combinations with second syllable etymological tones IIb and IVb are the same (apart from those IVb reflexes which are said short). This is not surprising, since the speaker does not distinguish these two reflexes in his citation tones, showing a merger of IVb with his delayed low rising reflex of IIb. Whether the IVa and IIa reflexes show a parallel merger in the second syllable of disyllabic combinations remains to be seen – the speaker kept the corresponding citation tones separate, but very similar. The nice pair 字典 dictionary (IIIb + IIa) and 字帖 copybook (IIIb + IVa) suggests that a word-final contrast between delayed mid-rising (IIa) and delayed lower-mid rising (IVa) persists: . Note that the second-syllable Onset /n/ in the first example regularly derives from Proto Wu *t before a *nasal coda. The /n/ onset in the second syllable is irregular, however, as cognates have a voiceless aspirated tʰ Onset and only voiceless unaspirated *t and *p nasalised; and also there was no nasal coda to trigger nasalistion of the Onset in the first place.
One thing which is clear from the table is that, for many combinations, the realisations of the first syllable are fairly simple and belong to just two basic targets: level and falling. The realisation of these shapes is determined by two factors: coarticulation with the following syllable (which is both assimilatory and dissimilatory), and whether the underlying tone is upper or lower register. Upper register level shapes are realised as mid or high level, and lower register shapes are realised by a variety of low rising contours. Upper register falling shapes are realised as falling, usually from a value in the middle of the pitch range, lower register shapes are realised with a slighlty lower fall. A very nice minimal pair differing in upper and lower register fall on the first syllable is 百果 all kinds of fruits and 白果 ginko. Listen to it here: . Note how the register difference is also signalled by the different onset consonants - imploded [ɓ] vs plain voice onset lead [b]. Register is discussed in the Maodian citation tones page.
Sandhi Typology The Maodian data are interesting from the point of view of tone sandhi typology as they appear to exemplify both RIGHT- and LEFT-DOMINANT properties (and also some properties that are difficult to interpret in these terms). Here are a couple of right-dominant characteristics to listen for and check out in the acoustics.
Compare the isolation tone (buttons in top row of table) with the corresponding word-final realisations DOWN THE COLUMNS. Try the delayed low rising tone first (in columns 4 and 8). You can hear that its word-final realisations have a similar pitch contour to the delayed low rising citation tone, but that its height varies depending on the tone of preceding syllable. You can also see this in the F0 traces. So in these cases the pitch of the word-final tone is similar to that of the isolation tone, once assimilatory influence from the preceding tone is allowed for. The delayed mid rising tone IIa is also preserved in this way on the word-final syllable (column 3).
One case where word-final preservation does not happen is when the underlying second syllable tone is lower-mid level Ib (column 2). Most of the word-final realisations of this underlying tone are clearly falling and some actually high falling. This also applies to some combinations with an underlying word-final upper-mid level tone Ia(column 1), although there are clear instances of word-final preservation of this tone (in combinations IIa + Ia, IIb + Ia, IIIa + Ia and IIIb + Ia for example).
A far more interesting case of non-preservation occurs in combinations where the overall pitch of the word is convex, for example combination IIIb + IIIb (row 6 column 6) or combination IVb + IIIa (row 8 column 5). The pitch shape of the word in these combinations is reminiscent of the kind of left-to-right spread of first syllable tone that occurs in left-dominant systems. Since the underlying tone of the first syllable in some of these combinations is indeed convex (the depressed high falling tone IIIb) a possible explanation of these disyllabic convex pitches is standard deletion of the second syllable tone followed by spread of the first syllable tone. Extension of the pattern to other combinations, like IVb + IIIa, which do not have the underlying IIIb tone would also have to be assumed. This behavour looks to be paralleled in combinations with an overall falling pitch, for example IIa + Ib, IIa + IIIa, IIa + IIIb, IVa + IIIa, although in these cases it is not possible to motivate a left-to-right spread from an underlying high falling tone on the first syllable!
Complex neutralisation of first-syllable tones typically found in right-dominant sandhi may be seen in the first-syllable shapes before the delayed low rising tone in columns 4 and 8. It can be heard and seen that the upper-mid level (Ia) and high falling (IIIa) tones are realised as mid level; the delayed low rising (IIb/IVb) and depressed high falling (IIIb) tones are realised as lower register falling; and the delayed mid rising (IIa) and lower-mid rising (IVa) tones are realised as upper-register falling.
Combinations like Ia + Ia or Ia + Ib do not seem to fit either the right- or left dominant model. The mid-falling second-syllable tone is clearly not preserved, but neither is it plausibly spread from an underlying first-syllable Ia tone, which is upper-mid level.
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