The Neutralization of Tone-related Duration Differences in Sung Cantonese

Cantonese compositional processes reflect register information about lexical tone and Cantonese singers add in contour information about tome while singing. This paper examines whether the singers also carry over durational differences associated with tone into sung Cantonese. 11 native speakers were recorded singing a specially composed song in Cantonese which included a six way minimal set by tone on the syllable [si]. Analysis of the mean durations of these tokens suggest that the durational differences of various tones found in spoken Cantonese are neutralized in sung Cantonese.