The role of phonation cues in Mandarin tonal perception

This study investigates the role of phonation cues in perceiving Mandarin tones in isolated syllables. Mandarin tones have been previously reported to be sufficiently identified by F0 contour, while phonation cues are redundant. This study provides evidence to show that native Mandarin speakers are sensitive to phonation cues in identifying the four mandarin tones in isolated syllables. Moreover, Mandarin Tone 3 more strongly relies on phonation cues in its identification than the other three tones, which probably derives from the usual accompanying non-modal voice (creaky voice) in Tone 3 production. These results thus indicate the need to define language tones in a finer model that incorporates detailed phonation parameters.