ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the pronunciation of a particular subgroup of Chinese function words, arguing that they display similar properties as English words with weak forms. It also deals with the phonetic/acoustic cues for stress and non-stress in Mandarin and describes the relationship between stress and tone. Mandarin Chinese is a tone language. In Mandarin, the occurrence of reduced forms is less stabilized and more limited. Is Mandarin speech rhythm syllable-timed or stress-timed? A group of words whose properties and behaviors are similar to English 'words with weak forms' may be identified in colloquial Mandarin. The chapter suggests that everyday colloquial Mandarin delivered in natural tempo displays a tendency to 'stress-timed rhythm', thus obeying the same general principles as English. The observed tendency to 'stress-timed rhythm' in some varieties of Chinese may foreshadow future trends in language change.
