Two New Third Tone Sandhi Rules in Tianjin Dialect: A Critical Re-analysis

Wee et al.propose that tone 3 changes to tone 1 before tone 2 or tone 4 in Tianjin dialect.With regards to these two third tone sandhi rules,the present paper conducts two experiments: an acoustic experiment and a perception experiment.In the acoustic experiment we find that the tone contours for disyllabic sequences of tone 3 and tone 1 can't be displayed clearly by the five-scale tonal system,but from the specific tone pitch values the differences are obvious.The results drawn from the following perception experiment we conducted reveal that the fine distinction between these two tones in dysyllabic phrases can be discerned by the native Tianjin speakers,and thus clearly shows that tone 3 does not undergo a categorical change to tone 1 when it precedes tone 2 or tone 4.