Pitch production by bilingual Mandarin-Min speakers and monolingual Mandarin speakers in speaking Taiwan Mandarin and Min

In this study, Mandarin produced by bilingual Mandarin-Min speakers and monolingual Mandarin speakers were compared to see whether the presence of Min would pose influence on the pitch range utilized by bilingual Mandarin-Min speakers in speaking Mandarin. The results showed that bilingual Mandarin-Min speakers and monolingual Mandarin speakers did indeed differ in their pitch values when speaking Mandarin. Intriguingly, however, the difference did not go in the same direction for males and females. It is proposed here that the difference found in the male group was due to influence of Min, while the difference found in the female groups was due to social factors. The results of this study indicate that both language experiences and social constraints are important factors that influence a person's use of pitch.