De-stressed words in Mandarin: drawing parallel with English
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Hana Třísková
Abstract
In colloquial Standard Mandarin, monosyllabic tonal function words (such as classifiers, prepositions, personal pronouns, etc.), are regularly pronounced as unstressed and phonetically reduced (e.g. tā 他 [thə]), unless they are emphasized ([thaː]). Their unstressed forms play an important role in speech rhythm. This study investigates this group of words. I open the discussion by addressing the general issue of stress in Mandarin, arguing that de-stress might be an essential notion here. English words with weak forms (articles, prepositions, etc.) are then introduced. I establish a similar group of words in Chinese, coining a new term for them: the cliticoids. The strong resemblance between both groups is pointed out. Finally, pedagogical implications of the findings are proposed: the proper handling of the cliticoids may help L2 learners to improve their oral performance.
Abstract
In colloquial Standard Mandarin, monosyllabic tonal function words (such as classifiers, prepositions, personal pronouns, etc.), are regularly pronounced as unstressed and phonetically reduced (e.g. tā 他 [thə]), unless they are emphasized ([thaː]). Their unstressed forms play an important role in speech rhythm. This study investigates this group of words. I open the discussion by addressing the general issue of stress in Mandarin, arguing that de-stress might be an essential notion here. English words with weak forms (articles, prepositions, etc.) are then introduced. I establish a similar group of words in Chinese, coining a new term for them: the cliticoids. The strong resemblance between both groups is pointed out. Finally, pedagogical implications of the findings are proposed: the proper handling of the cliticoids may help L2 learners to improve their oral performance.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xi
- Integrating Chinese linguistic research and language teaching and learning xiii
- The emergence of verb argument structure in Mandarin Chinese 1
- A corpus linguistics approach to the research and teaching of Chinese as a second language 13
- Facilitating language learning 33
- An ERP study of the processing of Mandarin classifiers 59
- Explicit, implicit and metalinguistic knowledge in L2 Chinese 81
- Metalinguistic awareness and self-repair in Chinese language learning 97
- De-stressed words in Mandarin: drawing parallel with English 121
- Prosody and discourse functions of ranhou 然后 145
- Patterns of plural NP + dou (都) expressions in conversational discourse and their pedagogical implications 169
- Prominence marking in second language Chinese tones 195
- A multi-dimensional corpus study of mixed compounds in Chinese 215
- Index 239
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xi
- Integrating Chinese linguistic research and language teaching and learning xiii
- The emergence of verb argument structure in Mandarin Chinese 1
- A corpus linguistics approach to the research and teaching of Chinese as a second language 13
- Facilitating language learning 33
- An ERP study of the processing of Mandarin classifiers 59
- Explicit, implicit and metalinguistic knowledge in L2 Chinese 81
- Metalinguistic awareness and self-repair in Chinese language learning 97
- De-stressed words in Mandarin: drawing parallel with English 121
- Prosody and discourse functions of ranhou 然后 145
- Patterns of plural NP + dou (都) expressions in conversational discourse and their pedagogical implications 169
- Prominence marking in second language Chinese tones 195
- A multi-dimensional corpus study of mixed compounds in Chinese 215
- Index 239
