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Key Issues in Chinese as a Second Language Research

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    0476412 - OÚ 2018 RIV US eng M - Monography Chapter
    Třísková, Hana
    De-stress in Mandarin: clitics, cliticoids and phonetic chunks.
    Key Issues in Chinese as a Second Language Research. New York, London: Routledge, 2017 - (Kecskes, I.; Sun, C.), s. 29-56. ISBN 978-1-138-96052-7
    Institutional support: RVO:68378009
    Keywords : Standard Chinese * Mandarin * phonetics and phonology * learning pronunciation * teaching pronunciation
    OECD category: Specific languages

    The paper is concerned with high-frequency items of the Chinese lexicon: tonal monosyllabic function words such as prepositions (e.g. gěi 给 “to”), classifiers (e.g. tiáo 条), personal pronouns (e.g. wǒ 我 “I”), modal verbs, conjunctions etc. They carry lexical tone, thus have a potential to be stressed. Yet, due to their deficiency in lexical meaning, they regularly become unstressed (and phonetically reduced) in connected speech, namely in colloquial putonghua. They receive stress (i.e. full pronunciation) only if carrying emphasis or if uttered in isolation. A new term is coined for this rather coherent group: “the cliticoids”. The author observes that the Chinese cliticoids display similar features as Words with weak forms found in English (such as articles, personal pronouns, prepositions, etc.). The paper begins with explaining phonetic cues of Chinese stress and non-stress, discussing the relationship between stress and tone. The category of Chinese cliticoids is introduced next. Their list is provided, the pitfalls of their pronunciation in connected speech are pointed out. A similar group – English words with weak forms – is introduced then. Finally, the concept of “phonetic chunks” (short 2-3 syllabic chunks of speech which contain the cliticoids) is introduced. Phonetic chunks draw on the concept of formulaic language. They are particularly designed for exercising the unstressed, reduced pronunciation of the cliticoids.
    Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0280458

     
     
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