Modelling the interaction of intonation and lexical tone in Vietnamese

Abstract

Analysis of telephone conversations within the framework of Conversation Analysis reveals that Vietnamese makes pragmatic use of intonational tones. Pitch contours on one-word utterances in backchannels, requests for information, turn exits and repair initiations are compared. Target words bear one of two lexical tones: the low-level tone thanh huyn or the high-level tone thanh ngang. Results shed light on the interaction between these tones and those used for signalling communicative functions (intonation). An autosegmental analysis of this interaction is provided.