Abstract

Research on tonal assignment in Standard Chinese loanwords usually confronts extreme complexity and variety. However, we show that Chinese lettered words display a very clear stress-to-tone match pattern in Beijing Mandarin. Beyond this usual pattern, a default rule and a rule of phonetic contrast maximization also function in tonal assignment. The emergence of these secondary patterns is found to be associated with the specialization degree of words in their meaning and usage. Based on the findings on tonal adaptation patterns of Chinese lettered words, we argue that the complex patterns previously reported from the observations of ordinary Chinese loanwords are in fact results of noise from external factors related to Chinese writing system.

Keywords

Loanword adaptation, Lettered word, Beijing Mandarin, Salience