Whalen D H, Xu Y
Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Conn 06511.
Phonetica. 1992;49(1):25-47. doi: 10.1159/000261901.
While the tones of Mandarin are conveyed mainly by the F0 contour, they also differ consistently in duration and in amplitude contour. The contribution of these factors was examined by using signal-correlated noise stimuli, in which natural speech is manipulated so that it has no F0 or formant structure but retains its original amplitude contour and duration. Tones 2, 3 and 4 were perceptible from just the amplitude contour, even when duration was not also a cue. In two further experiments, the location of the critical information for the tones during the course of the syllable was examined by extracting small segments from each part of the original syllable. Tones 2 and 3 were often confused with each other, and segments which did not have much F0 change were most often heard as Tone 1. There were, though, also cases in which a low, unchanging pitch was heard as Tone 3, indicating a partial effect of register even in Mandarin. F0 was positively correlated with amplitude, even when both were computed on a pitch period basis. Taken together, the results show that Mandarin tones are realized in more than just the F0 pattern, that amplitude contours can be used by listeners as cues for tone identification, and that not every portion of the F0 pattern unambiguously indicates the original tone.
虽然汉语声调主要通过基频轮廓来传达，但它们在时长和振幅轮廓上也始终存在差异。通过使用与信号相关的噪声刺激来研究这些因素的作用，在这种刺激中，自然语音被处理得没有基频或共振峰结构，但保留了其原始的振幅轮廓和时长。即使时长不是线索，第二声、第三声和第四声仅从振幅轮廓就能被感知到。在另外两个实验中，通过从原始音节的每个部分提取小片段，研究了音节过程中声调关键信息的位置。第二声和第三声经常相互混淆，没有太多基频变化的片段最常被听成第一声。不过，也有一些情况是，一个低的、不变的音高被听成第三声，这表明即使在汉语中，音域也有部分影响。即使基频和振幅都是在基音周期的基础上计算的，它们之间也呈正相关。综合来看，结果表明汉语声调不仅仅通过基频模式来实现，听众可以将振幅轮廓用作声调识别的线索，而且基频模式的每个部分都不能明确无误地指示原始声调。
