ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024

The Adaptive Value of Mandarin Tones for Affective Iconicity

Tingting Zheng, Clara C. Levelt, Yiya Chen

Affective iconicity is an important mechanism for signaling emotions due to its adaptive significance. However, existing evidence predominantly focuses on emotional valence in Indo-European languages, leaving the more adaptation-related dimension, emotional arousal, relatively underexplored. Our study examined the adaptive significance of Mandarin tones in affective iconicity. We analyzed two Mandarin Chinese corpora datasets with arousal and valence ratings of bi-syllabic words. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to explore whether individual lexical tones associated with the first and second syllables of a disyllabic word predict arousal and valence ratings of the word. Results indicated that the valence of a word is predicted by the first tone, with negative words more likely to carry a falling tone than a rising tone. Lexical tones of both syllables predict the arousal rating of the word, with high-arousing words more likely to have a falling tone than a rising or low-dipping tone. These findings emphasize the importance of lexical tone pitch contour in predicting the affective iconicity of tone-carrying words. Our study extends the literature by showing that affective iconicity signals both dimensions of emotion-related adaptation (i.e., emotional arousal and valence) with evidence from a Sinitic lexical tone language.