The subject matter of this research is the relation between intonational structure, prosodic structure, and focus in Standard Chinese (hereinafter SC).It is an investigation of prosodic effects of various kinds and different numbers of focuses in SC, on the one hand, and of the accent patterns conveyed by the focus, on the other.The research examines three aspects: (i) the acoustic manifestations of the entities bearing focus, that is, wh-elicited focus, syntax-marked focus (lian-marked or shi-marked focus), and interaction of these two kinds of focuses; (ii) the phonological representation of the accents pattern and hierarchical levels of accents induced by the focus in discussion; and (iii) a theoretical explanation of the corresponding relation between focus and accent in SC.To accomplish this aim, this research employs (a version of) the theory of Intonation, as developed by Pierrehumbert and colleagues, Ladd, Grice, Gussenhoven, and others, (a version of) the theory of the Prosodic Hierarchy, as developed in the work of Selkirk, Nespor, and Ladd and (a version of) the theory of Optimality Theory, as developed by Gussenhoven and Yip, among others.The chosen approach here is simultaneously theoretically and empirically based, much along the lines of laboratory phonology research, in which experimentally collected speech data is adopted to investigate questions about the abstract categories of phonological structure.

The sample sentences employed in this research are confined to declarative sentences with one or more (single, double or multiple) focuses.The inclusion of focus in the domain of research is motivated by the fact that the focus affects phrasal prominence, prosodic phrasing, and other aspects in intonation in various languages.It is expected that the present examination of focus may provide important evidences for the prosodic organization of SC.

Fundamental frequency (F₀), together with duration, is an acoustic measure that is adopted to signal the contrast in focus conditions.The underlying tonal target H (High) or L(Low) is employed in dealing with the phonetic realization of focus phenomenon.It is mainly concerned with the following aspects: (i) in the single-focus condition, regardless of the kind of focus; i.e., whether it is wh-operators elicited information focus, lian-marked focus, or shi-marked focus, the accent is correlated with the focus.Taking F₀ into consideration, the syntax-marked focus resembles the phonetic nature of the wh-elicited information induced focus.

Specifically, in the under-focus domain, the F₀ ranges of the focused words are expanded as the H and L tones of the focused syllables are raised.The accent that results from a syntax-marked focus also exerts a compressive effect on the following constituents that can extend to the every end of a sentence.The tonal combinations of the focused constituents contribute greatly to the specific manner in which an accent is manifested, that is, the accent is realized by modifying the original tonal targets H or L.

As for the durational adjustment, the focus can trigger a significant effect on lengthening; (ii) in the syntax unmarked sentence, in double focus condition, what is crucially involved in the acoustic reflection of focus is the hierarchical level of accents.Concerning the F₀ and durational pattern, the observations are threefold: (a) different levels of focus can lead to a different magnitude of pitch register raising and durational lengthening in a sentence; i.e., as between wh-elicited theme focus and rheme focus, the primary role is due to the rheme focus; (b) double rheme focus exhibits similar acoustic manifestations, namely, each of the focused units are characterized by F₀ lifting and durational lengthening; (c) consistent non-lowering of F₀ on the second constituent reveals the fact that the accents have a primary status; (d) the accent of multiple rheme focus displays distinct properties in comparison with the single and double focus condition in that the distribution of the accent exhibits no corresponding relation with the focus.Only the last focused constituent of a sentence serves as the anchor in realizing accent in the surface form; (e) the hierarchical level differences of accents are adequately accounted for by the nuclear accent and pre-nuclear accent distinction in SC.The nuclear accent bears the obligatory and primary characteristics while the pre-nuclear tone is optional and secondary; (f) focus is also assigned the crucial role of determining the phrasing at the intermediate phrase boundary in SC; (iii) with regard to a syntax-marked sentence, the acoustic evidence for the double focus is based on the relation between the syntax-marked focus and the wh-elicited rheme focus: (a) they can combine together to induced a nuclear accent correlated with the larger F₀ excursion and durational lengthening, and a more obvious F₀ drop of the post focus constituents; (b) they may co-exist on different components.When the syntax-marked focus is located in the proceeding position of the rheme focus, these two focuses can be marked by pre-nuclear accent and nuclear accent.These two accents also observe a phonetically degree-based difference, in that the latter is marked by more obvious phonetic features than the former.Crucially, when the syntax-marked focus is preceded by the rheme focus, it is de-accented by the compressive effect of the preceding rheme focus.

Based on empirical investigations, as well as the existing literature on the phonological study of intonation, this study further proposes a phonological representation of the linguistically significant non-lexical configurations in SC.The grammar states that the intonation contour consists of four types of categorical phonological events; i.e., nuclear accent, pre-nuclear accent, onset, and boundary tone.Among these four entities, the nuclear accent and the boundary tone bear an obligatory nature, whereas, the appearance of the pre-nuclear accent and the onset are optional.The intonation patterns are constructed by phonological events in a linear sequence, and are represented by the primitive tonal targets H and L.The phonetic realization of any given H or L tone depends on a variety of factors .……0….(e.g.,status and number of focuses, position in an utterance) that are of essential importance to the identity of those tonal targets.Overall trends of contours (e.g., local range expansion or gradual compression of overall range) mostly reflect the operation of localized linguistic factors.The essential properties of nuclear accent and pre-nuclear accent are distinct from each other; the former is unmarked and bears a unique feature, while the latter is restricted by the focus condition in that it only appears in a double-focus utterance.Thereafter, there is a status difference between these two accents; they exhibit a primary and secondary status distinction.Evidence of ‘focus without accent’ and ‘accent without focus’ in SC further demonstrates that sentence-level accent is not only a matter of where the accent is located, but also involves a ‘strong or weak’ relation in the prosodic structure that in turn determines the distribution of the accent in the surface form.Under a single focus condition, the metrical relation is ‘s-w’ that determines the accenting and de-accenting phenomenon in the surface form.Under a double or multiple focus environment, the metrical structure is captured as ‘w-s’ that determines the distribution of the nuclear accent in the rightmost position elicited by the focus in SC sentences.

Within the framework of Optimality Theory, a ranking of constraints in the generation of accent in the surface form is conducted in three steps: (i) the analysis of accent pattern generation, i.e., H*, L*, LH* or H*L; (ii) the association of the accents; (iii) the location of the prosodic boundary.

Key words: focus, nuclear accent, pre-nuclear accent, Optimality Theory