A New Method of Tonal Determination for Chinese Dialects

Abstract

Values of the basic tones are the key to do research on dialects in China. The traditional method of determining tones by ear and the more popular method used in experimental phonetics are either inaccurate to some degree or difficult to learn. The method provided and discussed in this paper is simple and reliable, requiring the use of only Praat and fundamental frequency value. More examples are given to prove this method's effectiveness.