Acoustic and Perceptual Study of Tones in Jin Chinese (Togtoh variety)

Previous research has shown that tone is a complex linguistic concept in terms of speech production and perception. In this study, based on the fieldwork, tones in monosyllabic words from the dialect of Near-field Togtoh County were studied. This paper first extracts the F0 and duration of monosyllabic tones in this dialect and analyzes its pitch pattern. It demonstrates that the Togtoh variety has five tones for monosyllabic words: one level tone, two contour tones, and two falling tones. Secondly, from the perspective of speech perception, this study investigates the native speakers’ distinctions between the two contour tones(Tone 1 and Tone 3) utilizing a discrimination test. It turns out that Tone 1 and Tone 3 cannot be completely distinguished. On this basis, the distinctive feature system of tones in the dialect of Near-field Togtoh County is established. Finally, this paper summarizes the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of monosyllabic tones.