Suoyuan Library -- On the Tones of the Chinese Language

Author: Liu Li Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-08
Features: This book is divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of 6 chapters, is the "Retrospective" section, while the second part, with 5 chapters, is the "Research" section, respectively forming the "history" and "theory" of tonal studies. The first part reviews research from the 20th century, with the collected literature spanning from the first publication of tonal studies in 1916 to 2002, totaling 1,146 papers. It statistically analyzes the research over nearly a century year by year using tabular data. Based on the four stages and 12 categories of research, it conducts a cross-sectional and longitudinal examination to determine the content of the 6 chapters in the first part. The second part constructs the fundamental theory of Chinese tones based on materials from over a thousand modern Chinese dialects, examining three aspects: the internal structure of tones, the systemic organization, and the operational principles. It proposes the hierarchical theory of individual tone formation and the theory of high-low intervals in tone combination. The theoretical foundation is the duality of pitch theory, which is similar to musical pitch theory, both involving the regulation of relative vocal pitch.