Singing Checked Tones: Production and Perception of Linguistic Cues in Music
Funded by Gerry Farrell Awards
Title: Singing Checked Tones: Production and Perception of Linguistic Cues in Music
Recipients: Xi Zhang, Ian Cross, Haodan Zheng
Date Awarded: June 2025
Report Submitted: July 2026
The project Singing Checked Tones: Production and Perception of Linguistic Cues in Music investigated how the phonetic cues associated with checked tones are realised and perceived in Chaozhou, a Southern Chinese tone language, across speech and singing. Checked tones (入声, entering tones) are characterised by a short vowel followed by a final glottal stop (-ʔ) or a stop coda, including unreleased oral stops (/p, t, k/) and, in some languages, a nasal stop (/n/). These final stops restrict the duration of the vowel and the time available for the pitch contour to develop, giving checked tones their characteristic short duration and abrupt quality, and distinguishing them from other lexical tones. The project was designed as a pilot study combining production and perception experiments to generate empirical evidence for future research in music cognition, speech science, and ethnomusicology.
The production experiment involved fieldwork in Chaozhou, China, and the collection of production data from twelve native Chaozhou speakers and singers in February 2026. The resulting corpus comprised recordings of checked-tone syllables produced both in isolation (citation forms) and within connected speech (sandhi contexts), together with corresponding singing materials. The experimental design enabled systematic comparisons of the realisation of checked tones ending in different final stops across a range of linguistic and musical contexts. The recordings formed the basis for detailed acoustic analyses, which in turn informed the design of the subsequent perception experiment.
The perception experiment was conducted in Guangzhou and Chaozhou in June 2026 using a bespoke experimental interface developed for this project. The interface incorporated randomisation procedures and automated data collection, providing a robust platform for future online testing. Although originally designed for online deployment, the pilot study was administered under supervised conditions to ensure consistent testing procedures, evaluate the usability of the interface, and identify any practical issues before larger-scale implementation. A total of 43 participants completed the full experiment, and the resulting data have been analysed.
This project represents one of the first systematic attempts to investigate checked tones experimentally across both speech and singing by integrating complementary production and perception approaches. Conceived as a pilot study, it establishes an empirical and methodological foundation for larger-scale, cross-linguistic investigations into the production and perception of checked tones in speech and singing.
The Gerry Farrell Award provided the essential support needed to undertake this pilot study, enabling the successful completion of both the production and perception components of the project. The funding supported fieldwork and experiments in Chaozhou and Guangzhou by covering travel and fieldwork expenses, participant recruitment and reimbursement, and server hosting for the development and pilot testing of the online perception experiment in preparation for a future large-scale study. Beyond supporting the immediate objectives of the project, the award has established a valuable empirical and methodological foundation for future publications and externally funded research on the relationship between language and music.
We are sincerely grateful to SEMPRE and the Gerry Farrell Award for supporting this initiative, and greatly appreciate SEMPRE’s continued commitment to fostering innovative and interdisciplinary music research. We look forward to sharing the outcomes of this project through future publications and presentations.