Acoustic Analysis of the Monosyllabic Tone of Ya Dialect in Qingping, Lianjiang

Abstract

This study investigates the monosyllabic tone of the Ya dialect in Qingping, Lianjiang through the use of acoustic experimentation. The Praat software is employed to obtain objective tone values and tone duration data from a sample. The results indicate that the Ya dialect in Qingping, Lianjiang comprises six tone categories, namely Yinping, Yangping, Shangsheng, Qusheng, Yinru, and Yangru, with corresponding tone values of 55, 35, 41, 44, 31, and 5. The order of tone duration, ranked from longest to shortest, is as follows: Yinping＞Shangsheng＞Qusheng＞Yangping＞Yinru＞Yangru. Although the tone types align with traditional descriptions, the experimental values for most tone types slightly exceed the traditional values. This phonetic experiment provides a more precise documentation of the phonetic characteristics of the Ya dialect in Qingping, Lianjiang, contributing to the field of Chinese dialect research.