In this paper we investigate the behaviour of the lexical rising tone (SAC) in disyllabic sequences in the Northern variety of Vietnamese. Results from task-oriented dialogues show that this rising tone (SAC), when occurring before the lexical high-level tone (NGANG), can be realised as low level or falling, resembling a different tone in the language (HUYEN). This is the case word-internally and within noun phrases. Two further observations give us an indication that a sandhi process could be developing: (a) this variation is not found in sequences across a larger juncture, and (b) the SAC tone does not undergo this change before other tones.
Cite as: Ha, K.P., Grice, M., Brunelle, M. (2014) Tonal allophony in Vietnamese: Evidence from task-oriented dialogues. Proc. Speech Prosody 2014, 800-803, doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2014-149
@inproceedings{ha14_speechprosody,
author={Kieu Phuong Ha and Martine Grice and Marc Brunelle},
title={{Tonal allophony in Vietnamese: Evidence from task-oriented dialogues}},
year=2014,
booktitle={Proc. Speech Prosody 2014},
pages={800--803},
doi={10.21437/SpeechProsody.2014-149}
}