ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002

Focus effects on Cantonese tones: an acoustic study

Vicky C. H. Man

This paper discusses how the prosodic marking of sentential focus influences the acoustical pattern of F0 in Cantonese monosyllabic words. Results indicate that tone identities are maintained regardless of the focus conditions, and that a substantial pitch range expansion is associated with narrow focus. Pitch range is affected by the tone-focus interaction. The pitch range differences between the broad focus and narrow focus readings of each target word are insignificant.