Document Type
Journal Article
Department/Unit
Department of English Language and Literature
Language
English
Abstract
This article provides an argument for Hong Kong English being a tonal language and informs the growing literature on word- and phrase-level prosody interactions. By teasing apart tonal effects that come from intonation and those that come from the word boundary, a clear picture emerges that H tones are assigned in all combinations to HKE di- and trisyllabic words. Tone spreading and blocking across words can also be seen in HKE, but syllables lexically specified for H never give up their tones. Complexity in HKE tone patterns arises when the H tones interact with boundary tones, such as the declarative final L% and the word-initial M.
Keywords
tone, boundary, intonation, Hong Kong, English
Publication Date
6-2016
Source Publication Title
English
Volume
92
Issue
2
Start Page
e67
End Page
e87
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in English following peer review. The version of record Wee, L. "Tone assignment in Hong Kong English." Language, vol. 92 no. 2, 2016, pp. e67-e87. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/lan.2016.0039 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2016.0039.
Funder
The research is supported by Hong Kong Baptist University FRG2/10-11/074, FRG2/11-12/135 and by Hong Kong Research Grant Council GRF250712.
DOI
10.1353/lan.2016.0039
Link to Publisher's Edition
ISSN (print)
00138215
ISSN (electronic)
17561124
Recommended Citation
Wee, Lian-Hee. "Tone assignment in Hong Kong English." English 92.2 (2016): e67-e87.