Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry

dialectometry
dataset

In this paper, we explore the phonetic and phonological variations in Yue, a lesser-studied tonal language spoken by around 80 million people in Southern China. Using a newly devised tone representation (modified Onset–Contour–Offset) combined with the Levenshtein distance, we explore the patterns of dialectal variation on the tonal level, as well as to what extent tonal variation correlates with segmental variation. Our results show that tones behave rather differently from segments, and thus, we illustrate that studying lesser-studied and tonal languages can contribute immensely to the study of dialect variation in general.

Authors
Affiliation

Leiden University

Published

December 18, 2024

Abstract

Most research on dialectometry so far primarily focuses on European languages. Within these studies, analyses on the phonetic level predominantly focus on segments. A lack of studies on languages outside of Europe means that the variation in many lesser-studied languages, including tonal languages, is largely unknown. Tonal languages are languages which pitch is used as an indication in the lexical realisations in (at least some) morphemes, and over half of the world’s languages include lexical tones. Despite tones being the inseparable and unneglectable part of the majority of the world’s languages, there is only a handful of quantitative dialectometric studies on the dialectal variation in tonal languages. In this paper, we explore the phonetic and phonological variations in Yue, a lesser-studied tonal language spoken by around 80 million people in Southern China. Using a newly devised tone representation (modified Onset–Contour–Offset) combined with the Levenshtein distance, we explore the patterns of dialectal variation on the tonal level, as well as to what extent tonal variation correlates with segmental variation. Our results show that tones behave rather differently from segments, and thus, we illustrate that studying lesser-studied and tonal languages can contribute immensely to the study of dialect variation in general.chan

Localities and their respective sources

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{sung2024,
  author = {Sung, Ho Wang Matthew and Prokic, Jelena},
  title = {Exploring {Tonal} {Variation} {Using} {Dialect} {Tonometry}},
  journal = {Languages},
  date = {2024-12-18},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/12/378},
  langid = {en}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Sung, Ho Wang Matthew, and Jelena Prokic. “Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry.” Languages, December 18, 2024. https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/12/378.