A Study on Mandarin Chinese “Bu” Tone Sandhi Followed by English Words

This paper focuses on tone sandhi of the Chinese word “Bu” followed by English words. In Mandarin Chinese, the tone of the word “Bu” is tone 4 (the high-falling tone), and its tone sandhi rule is that it becomes tone 2 (the mid-rising tone) when followed by another tone 4 syllable. However, few researchers have paid attention to the tone sandhi rules of “Bu” when followed by English words. In this study, the tone sandhi rule of “Bu” when followed by English words is explored by a perceptual experiment and a pitch contour analysis. Results show that the Mandarin Chinese “Bu” tone sandhi also applies when “Bu” is followed by an English word. When followed by a high-falling monosyllabic English word, “Bu” will become tone 2. Furthermore, the pitch contour of English words embedded in Mandarin sentences is predictable according to their syllabic structure and lexical stress. This paper further proves that native Chinese speakers perceive English words inserted into Chinese speech as tonal-like language. The tonal patterns of English words summarized in this study can provide theoretical support for improving the naturalness of mixed-language speech synthesis.