Cues to the perception of Taiwanese tones

A labeling test with synthetic speech stimuli was carried out to determine to what extent the two dimensions of fundamental frequency (F0), height and movement, and syllable duration provide cues to tonal distinctions in Taiwanese. The data show that the high level vs. mid level tones and the high falling vs. mid falling tones can be reliably distinguished by F0 height alone, whereas the distinction between tones with dissimilar contours, such as the high falling and low rising tones, is predominantly cued by F0 movement. However, the other dimension of F0 may collaborate with the dominant one in cueing a tonal contrast, depending on the extent to which the two tones differ along that dimension. Syllable duration has a small additional effect on the perception of the distinction between falling and nonfalling tones. These results are consistent with previous findings in tone languages other than Taiwanese in that they suggest that tones are mainly cued by F0. While the primacy of F0 dimensions as cues to tonal contrasts depends on the contrast to be distinguished, the present findings show that tones which nominally differ only in register (e.g., high falling vs. mid falling) may exhibit perceptually relevant contour differences, and vice versa.