Chapter One Introduction

• 1.1 Introduction

• 1.2 Literature review

• 1.3 Significance of the research

• 1.4 Basic concepts in this study

• 1.5 Outline of this research

Chapter Two Methodology

• 2.1 Background and claims

• 2.2 Design of acoustic experiment

• 2.3 Recording procedure

• 2.4 Data processing

• 2.5 Measurement of parameters

• 2.6 Perceptual experiment

Chapter Three Phonetic Realization of Accent Patterns in Unmarked Structure

• 3.1 Introduction

• 3.2 Phonetic realization of constituents in four information categories in unmarked structure

• 3.3 Phonetic realization of double rheme focuses

• 3.4 Phonetic realization of multiple rheme focuses

• 3.5 Accent and phrasing

• 3.6 Discussion

Chapter Four Accent Patterns in ‘lian…dou’ and ‘shi…de’ Constructions

• 4.1 Introduction

• 4.2 Co-existences and conflicts of syntax-marked focus and information induced focus in ‘lian+S+dou+V+O+Le’ and ‘Shi+S+V+O+De’ constructions

• 4.3 Co-existence and conflict of syntax-marked focus and information induced focus in ‘S+lian+O+dou+V+le’ constructions

• 4.4 Discussion

Chapter Five Phonological Representation of Accent Patterns in SC

• 5.1 Introduction

• 5.2 Phonological structure of intonation

• 5.3 Intonation structure of SC

• 5.4 Discussion

Chapter Six OT Analysis of Tonal Structure

• 6.1 Introduction

• 6.2 Grammatical model of OT

• 6.3 Constraints in the analysis

• 6.4 OT analysis of accent patterns

• 6.5 OT analysis of accent distributions

• 6.6 OT analysis of prosodic phrasing

Chapter Seven Concluding Remarks

• 7.1 Major findings

• 7.2 The cross-linguistic perspective

• 7.3 Suggestions for future research

Bibliography

Appendix Sample Sentences