Whamit!

The Weekly Newsletter of MIT Linguistics

Phonology Circle 4/9 - Yunjing Li (Tianjin\MIT)

Speaker: Yunjing Li (Tianjin Foreign Studies University & MIT)
Title:  Rule Interaction in Mandarin Tonal Phonology
Date and time: Monday, April 9th, 5:00-6:30pm
Location: 32-D831
Abstract:

In Mandarin Chinese, there are some rules governing tone sandhi changes. In some cases, more than one rule may be applicable, hence rule interaction occurs.

This talk will introduce some basic facts about Mandarin tonesand their representation, followed by a description of the interaction between the Third Tone Sandhi Rule and the Neutral Tone Rule in disyllabic words. The ordering of these two rules causes phonological opacity. An analysis in the framework of Harmonic Serialism is proposed.