The cognitive processing of tone sandhi in different information structural status during dialogue comprehension. Issue 10 (26th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zheng, Zilong; Chien, Yu-Fu; Wang, Wenjing; Zhang, Zhenghua; Li, Weijun
• Is Part Of: Language, cognition and neuroscience. Volume 37:Issue 10(2022)
• Page Start: 1207
• Page End: 1219
• Publication Date: 2022-11-26
• Subjects: Tone sandhi -- focus -- background -- event-related potentials -- wh-question–answer pair; Psycholinguistics -- Periodicals; Linguistics -- Periodicals; Neurosciences -- Periodicals; Psycholinguïstiek; Cognitieve processen; Linguistics; Neurosciences; Psycholinguistics; Periodicals; 401.9
• DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2022.2030482
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2327-3798

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Mandarin tone 3 (T3) sandhi is a phonological alternation where a T3 changes to a rising tone when followed by another T3. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined how sandhi words are processed during dialogue comprehension. Following different wh-questions, the answers embedded a sandhi word in which the first syllable was either pronounced as post-sandhi T3, pre-sandhi T3, or mispronounced T4 at the focus or background position. The results showed that the naturalness rating decreased as the amplitude of a late positivity (LPC) increased in the order of post-sandhi, pre-sandhi, and mispronunciation conditions, reflecting a reanalysis process after encountering the unexpected tone. At the background (vs. focus) position, the effect was more posterior for the mispronunciation condition, and disappeared for the pre-sandhi condition. Our data suggest that the processing of sandhi words is not only influenced by their tonal realisation, but also moderated by their information structural status.