The Interaction Between Melodies
and Tones of the Lyrics in Mandarin
Folk Songs國語歌曲中旋律與歌詞聲
調的交互作用
指導教授：鍾榮富
研究生：李思恩
報告人:林怡靜
na2c0005
Content of the research (What)
• The thesis investigated the interaction between
melodies and tones of the lyrics in Mandarin folk
songs.
• Chinese language, as tone language, utilize tones to
contrast meanings at lexical level.
• Take Mandarin Chinese as example: A syllable read
with different tones will have different meaning, i.e.
when ma is read as Yin-Ping (a high level tone), it
means “mother”; when ma read as Yang-Ping (a
rising tone), it means “hemp”; when ma read as
Shang-Sheng (a falling-rising tone), it means “horse”;
when ma read as Qu-Sheng (a falling tone), it means
“to scold.”
Content of the research (What)
• However, the tones of the lyrics will be
replaced by the pitches of the notes in songs.
• Therefore, the key to the correct conception
of the lyrics is depending on the conformity
between melody contours and tone contours.
Background and Motivation
1. Chinese language, as tone languages, employ tone to
distinguish meanings at the lexical level, in that an
identical syllable imposed with different tones would
convey different meaning (Wang, 1991; Katamba, 1989;
Roca, 1994).
2. When lyrics are put into melody, the pitches of the
melody prevail and replace the pitches of tones (Pike,
1948).
3. Since pitches of tones are replaced by melody contour,
melody contours will have great influence on affecting
our perception of the sung lyrics (Pike, 1948).
Purpose of the study (Why)
• To investigate whether there is a regulated
interaction between tones and notes.
• To investigate how subjects perceived
disyllable extracted from authentic Mandarin
folk songs.
• To investigate the prolongation of syllables in
folk songs.
Literature Review
• The similarities between language and music are
universally granted. (Du, 1990; Wu, 1988; Wang,
1983, 1984a, 1984b).
• According to Connell (2000), in addition to Tone
Height, there are three other tonal features
accounting for distinction among tones. They are
Tone Contour, Tone Length, and Tone Loudness.
Among these four tonal features, Tone Height is
considered as the primary acoustical correlate of
tone.
Literature Review
• Chao (1948) has promoted a digitalized way to
represent the four tones in a five-level chart, within
which tone height is divided into five different levels
from the lowest to the highest and numbered with 1
to 5, respectively.
Literature Review
• Chao (1972) also proposed that the range
from 1 to 5 differs from people to people.
• The transcriptions of tones in Mandarin
Chinese are as follow:
Research Questions
1. When a Mandarin syllable i is sung with differentpitched level melody contours, what range of the
notes will be perceived as Yin-Ping, Yang-Ping,
Shang-Sheng and Qu-Sheng, respectively?
2. When the Mandarin syllable i is sung with double
length, will the subjects tend to perceive the
stimuli as Yang-Ping or Shang-Sheng, which are
two relative longer tones in Mandarin?
Research Questions
3. When the Mandarin syllable i is sung with rising
melody contours, will the subjects tend to perceive
the stimuli as Yang-Ping (a rising tone) or ShangSheng (ending with a rising tone contour)?
4. When the Mandarin syllable i is sung with falling
melody contours, will the subjects tend to perceive
this stimuli as Qu-Sheng (a falling tone) or ShangSheng (beginning with a falling tone contour)?
Research Questions
5. Since melody and words’ tone are highly mutually interacted,
can we find examples easily to be misunderstood from
Mandarin folk songs? Could we find the generalization among
examples and what it will be?
6. Which subsyllabic segment is prolonged? How are more
complicated syllables, such as CGVC lj n35(lotus) or CGVG
mjaw51(seedling), prolonged? Will they have prolonged
onsets as l-lj n and m-mjaw; or prolonged prevocalic glides as
lj-j nand mj-jaw; or prolonged vowels as lj - n and mja-aw,
or prolonged postvocalic glides as lj n-n and mjaw-w?
Research Questions
7. Based on the prolongation of Mandarin
syllables, we would also turn to examples of
Southern Min to see how will siu33(nest) and
sui51(beautiful) be lengthened, because both i
and u could be medial glide, a nucleus vowel,
or a vocalic ending (Chung 1996).
Research Methods (How)
• Two tests were conducted to investigate the
correlation between music notes and Mandarin
tones.
• The first one is focused on Note-tone correlation
(NTC), expected to figure out the perceptual
interaction between notes and tones.
• The second test, the extracts perception test (EPT),
concerned whether lyrics extracted from Mandarin
folk songs are correctly perceived as they were
expected.
Subjects
• 32 subjects, consisting of 16 males and 16
females, were involved in this study.
• The age of the subjects ranged from 16 to 55,
divided into four stages with every 10 years
as a division.
• According to the diversities of age and
sexuality, all the subjects were divided into
eight subgroups, marked as F1, F2, F3, F4,
M1, M2, M3, M4, respectively.
Subjects
Female
Male
Group
Age
The number
of the
subjects
Group
Age
The number
of the
subjects
F1
16-25
4
M1
16-25
4
F2
26-35
4
M2
26-35
4
F3
36-45
4
M3
36-45
4
F4
46-55
4
M4
46-55
4
Instruments
• Questionnaire
• The questionnaire has two parts, designed to
investigate the perceptual interaction
between notes and tones and whether lyrics
extracted from Mandarin folk songs are
correctly perceived as they were expected.
Stimuli of Test 1
• Mandarin syllable i is used for the test. The subjects
were asked to choose an optimal response
corresponding to the stimulus among i55, i35, i214
and i51. The syllable i is able to form meaningful
characters with any one of the Mandarin tones, in
that i55 refers to 衣(clothes), i35姨(aunt), i214椅
(chair) and i51義(righteousness).
• Four groups of stimuli were designed for NTC tests.
The stimuli used for the test were right-tuned and
produced by a 26-year-old male.
Stimuli of Test 1-1 (Level melody contour test)
• In Research Question One, the correlation between
stimuli with different pitches and Mandarin tones is
investigated. The syllable i was sung with thirteen
notes, from a middle do to an octave ‘do.
• The tempo was maintained at =120, referring to 120
quarter notes in a minute. As a result, a quarter note
had the duration of 0.5 second.
Stimuli of Test 1-2 (Lengthened note test)
• The stimuli in LNT had identical tempo with
that in LMCT, set as 120 quarter notes in a
minute. However, the stimuli in LNT were
sung with two beats and had longer duration
for each stimulus. The duration of each
stimulus in LNT was 1 second.
Stimuli of Test 1-3 (Rising melody contour test)
• In RMCT, all the stimuli consist of two
different-pitched notes, in which all start with
do, but end with different notes. The point of
Research Question Three is the correlation
between rising melody contours and tones.
Stimuli of Test 1-4 (Falling melody contour test)
• The stimuli in FMCT differed from those in
RMCT on the direction of the melody contour.
Each stimulus in FMCT started at ‘do but was
followed by another lower note to form a
falling melody contour.
Procedures of Test 1
1. Mandarin syllable i is used for the test. The subjects
were asked to choose an optimal response
corresponding to the stimulus.
2. The stimuli were played to all the subjects in an
identical sequence, but not according to the order in
a scale.
3. An interval with five seconds was placed between
two stimuli for the subjects to circle what he or she
had perceived among the options. The five-second
interval was used to prevent relative perception.
The sequence of each test
Results discussion of Test 1-1 (LMCT)
• Except that the lowest-pitched note do was
perceived as Yang-Ping, most of the notes
with level melody contour were perceived as
Yin-Ping.
• Only five subjects in the test did notice the
differences in pitches among the notes.
Results discussion of Test 1-2 (LNT)
• It was found that the length of the note was
an influential factor in note perception in LNT.
• Due to the lengthened stimuli, an obvious
transition of the perception results from YinPing to Yang-Ping was provoked.
Results discussion of Test 1-3 (RMCT)
• The subjects preliminarily heeded to the melody
contour and chose either Yang-Ping or Shang-Sheng
as corresponding tone to RMC, for Yang-Ping itself is
a rising tone; Shang-Sheng ended with a rising tone
contour.
• They based on the pitch of the second note in RMC
to decide the corresponding tone between the
alternatives of Yang-Ping and Shang-Sheng.
Results discussion of Test 1-4 (FMCT)
• Though Qu-Sheng was considered a falling
tone, it was not considered most
corresponding with FMC.
• The choice among Yin-Ping, Yang-Ping and
Shang-Sheng also relied on the pitch of the
second note in FMC, similar to the conclusion
in RMC test.
Stimuli of Test 2
• The extracts of song used for the test were not
directly duplicated from the original album. They
were re-recorded in order to prevent the inaccuracy
of the results of the test, for the subjects would be
likely to recognize the singers’ voices and recall what
the lyrics were if they had heard those songs before.
• According to the melody contours, the stimuli were
divided into five types, namely Level Melody Contour
(LMC), Rising Melody Contour (RMC), Slightly Rising
Melody Contour (SRMC), Falling Melody Contour
(FMC), and Slightly Falling Melody Contour (SFMC)
respectively.
Stimuli of Test 2--Level Melody Contour (LMC)
Stimuli of Test 2-- Rising Melody Contour (RMC)
Stimuli of Test 2-- Slightly Rising Melody Contour
(SRMC)
Stimuli of Test 2-- Falling Melody Contour (FMC)
Stimuli of Test2-- Slightly Falling Melody Contour
(SFMC)
Stimuli of Test 2
• Among 34 stimuli in EPT, 27 are the authentic
extracts from Mandarin songs. The other 7 are
designed to complement certain melody types, hard
to find in authentic extracts.
• The authentic extracts from Mandarin songs were
presented in shadowed form, while those
unshadowed were added as distracters, sharing
identical segments with the authentic extracts but
differing in tones.
• TiTj was used to manifest the tone of the all the
options in the EPT, i.e. T1 refers to Yin-Ping, T2 YangPing, T3 Shang-Sheng, T4 Qu-Sheng and T5 Neutral
tone.
Procedures of Test 2
1. The extracts of song used for the test were not directly
duplicated from the original album. They were rerecorded in order to prevent the inaccuracy of the
results of the test, for the subjects would be likely to
recognize the singers’ voices and recall what the lyrics
were if they had heard those songs before.
2. The stimuli were played sequentially. Subjects were
asked to scan all the options in each question before
the melody contours were played to them.
3. After they heard the melody contour, they chose an
option they regarded as the most related to the played
melody contour.
Results discussion of Test 2
• In the following table, TC most correlated with
certain types of melody contours is listed below.
The number in the bracket refers to the times being
chosen.
Results discussion of Test 2
• T1T1, a combination of two level tones, is certainly
has the closest relationship with LMC than any other
TC does. T1T2 and T1T3 are TC suitable for FMC.
• T2T2 is suitable for RMC. T2T3 not only has
correlation with RMC but also with FMC. T2T4 can fit
well with HSF and LSF.
• T3T4 is mainly correlated with RMC.
• Most of the TC beginning with a T4 has a good fit
with the FMC.
Results discussion of Test 2
• A following T1 generally fit well with a high-pitched
notes.
• A following T2 is regarded as a rising tone; however,
as a lower tone when T1 and T4 are preceding.
• A following T3 is mostly regarded as a low tone, and
hence makes TiT3 suitable for FMC.
• A following T4 is apt to be mapped with melody
contour having contrastive direction from its
preceding one. Therefore, T2T4 is suitable for FMC,
but T3T4 is suitable for RMC.
Results discussion of the third investigation-1
• Through the examination of authentic folk
songs, a unanimous result was obtained that
the prolonged segment is exclusively vowel.
Results discussion of the third investigation-1
• It was the vowel that could function as a
carrier of notes and, thus, got prolonged.
Results discussion of the third investigation-2
• In the Southern Min syllables, only a Southern
Min vowel was prolonged.
Results discussion of the third investigation-3
• Most of the Ciu syllables were prolonged as
Ciu-u; Cui syllables as Cui-i.
Results discussion of the third investigation-4
• When a trisyllabic adjective is contracted to a
disyllabic one, the first and the second would
merge into one syllable, in which the vowel is
prolonged.
Findings of the study-1
• Most of the subjects perceived i with level melody
contours as Yin-Ping, for the subjects focused on the
shape of the melodies but not exactly on their
pitches.
• The lengthening increased the number of the
subjects choosing Yang-Ping and Shang-Sheng as
corresponding tones to the lengthened notes.
• The subjects tended to perceive i with rising melody
contours as Yang-Ping and Shang-Sheng.
• The subjects did not perceive the falling melody
contour as Qu-Sheng, but perceived according to
the end note of the falling melody contours.
Findings of the study-2
• When the first tone in the disyllable is Yin-Ping or
Qu-Sheng, it is suitable for higher-pitched notes.
• When the second tone in the disyllable is Qu-Sheng,
the melody contour of it has opposite direction with
its preceding one.
• When the disyllable ends with Shang-Sheng, the
Shang-Sheng is suitable for a lower-pitched note in
order to form a falling melody contour.
Findings of the study-3
• In a syllable, the vowel is the only segment that can
bearing pitched of the notes.
• No matter in Mandarin or Southern Min folk songs, a
syllable is prolonged because two (or more)
different-pitched notes are mapped to the vowel.
• According to the prolongation of Ciu and Cui syllables
in Southern Min folk songs, we found that the i in Cui
is the vowel and so is u in Ciu.
• Through the investigation of yelling response and
syllable contraction, we also proved that the i in Ciu
and u in Cui are the vowels.
Limitation of the study
• Though we have based on the collected results to
make some statements, it is till improper to claim the
validity of our perception results completely
incontestable. There are still some possibilities that
would influence the perception of informants.
• For example, we cannot assure each informant has
identical sensitivity on pitch of notes. Also in EPT,
some informants might subjectively exclude some
distracters as corresponding TC, for they have judged
some TC as infeasible choice according to their
experience on listening to authentic folk songs.
Limitation of the study
• As a result, the author is not willing to suggest
utilizing the proposed results to be standard
principles for composition. For this thesis is
only a premiere of experimental note-tone
correlation test, we need more involvement in
this field before we make more assertive
proposal.
Suggestions for further studying-1
• Adoption of other vowels as tested stimuli--In the
note-tone perceptual test, only the vowel i was used
as the tested stimuli. It is suggested that more
vowels can be used in the perception tests, for
different vowels differ not only in their formant
frequencies but also in fundamental frequencies.
Therefore, we can try to explore whether i, u, and a
mapped with identical note would be perceived as
different tones.
Suggestions for further studying-2
• Qu-Sheng and Tone sandhi--In note-tone correlation
test, Qu-Sheng is seldom chosen as the optimal
corresponding tone, for compared with the other
three tones, Qu-Sheng is more stress-like but less
tone-like. The rising and falling of pitch in Qu-Sheng
are the concomitant effects of the sudden release of
air stream. As a result, Qu-Sheng is featured with
greater intensity and shortness than the other three
tones. Based on this, we can design a set of stimuli
with different intensities to investigate the relation
between Qu-Sheng and intensity.
Suggestions for further studying-2
• Shang-Sheng tone sandhi is a common phonological
phenomenon in Mandarin, in which a Shang-Sheng will
become Yang-Ping when followed by another Shang-Sheng. It
would be also intriguing to test whether T2T3and T3T3 have
different corresponding melody contours, i.e. may35ma214(
埋馬) and may214ma214(買馬). If there is, can we make a
generalization about their relationship? Similarly, the tone of
一(i55), 七(t i55), 八(pa55) and 不(pu51) will all become
Yang-Ping when followed by a Qu-Sheng. Thus, we can also
investigate whether T1(一)T4(Sj), T1(七)T4(Sk), T1(八)T4(Sl),
and T4(不)T4(Sm)have identical corresponding melody
contours with and T2(i)T4(Sj), T2(t i)T4(Sk), T2(pa)T4(Sl), and
T2(pu)T4(Sm).
Suggestions for further studying-3
• Function word—English function words, i.e. a and
the (articles); on, in, at and for (prepositions), are
usually relative shorter than content words, i.e.
computer, university, and thesis (nouns), to calculate,
to speculate, and to apologize (verbs). In English
songs, due to the less semantic salience, function
words are apt to be mapped with relative short beat.
However, since each character in Chinese language
has identical word length, whether function words
should differ from content words in composition?
Suggestions for further studying-3
• In the example below, the question marker 嗎(ma55)
is mapped with relative higher note than its
preceding content word 你(ni214,you) and hence is
very likely to be perceived as 媽(ma55, mother).
• Therefore, a further study can focus on whether a
function word highlighted by a strong beat or a
higher-pitched note is perceived correctly?
Suggestions for further studying-4
• Segment peculiarity in lyrics--In a song, it is
very common for t 33(的) and l 33(了) to be
sung as ti33and ljaw214, respectively. We
may wonder what is responsible for this
transition, the neutral tone, the vowel , or
their being grammatical words?
The end