East Asian Linguistics Workshop: "Position-based and Signal-based Prominence in Prosodic Phonology" by Prof. Zhiqiang Li
We would like to invite you to join us for an upcoming talk entitled "Position-based and Signal-based Prominence in Prosodic Phonology" by Zhiqiang Li (Professor of Chinese and Linguistics at the University of San Francisco) as part of the East Asian Linguistics Workshop series sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The event will be held on Tuesday, November 11, 4:30-6:00PM (Pacific, USA) in the Knight Building Room 102. Dinner will be served to registrants afterward.
If you are interested in this talk, please complete this Google Form or email me at harumi56 [at] stanford.edu (harumi56[at]stanford[dot]edu), to sign up by Monday, November 10 at noon (Pacific, USA).
Below, please find more details of Prof. Li's talk, including the abstract and his bio. Further, please also mark your calendars for our next event, "Student Talks," on Wednesday, December 3, 4:30-6pm, in Knight 102!
"Position-based and Signal-based Prominence in Prosodic Phonology"
Abstract: Prosodic prominence presupposes hierarchically organized prosodic structure and references positions within prosodic constituents. Prominent positions preserve phonological contrasts that are neutralized in non-prominent positions and are associated with phonetic cues signaling prominence in perception. In this talk we identify position-based and signal-based factors contributing to prominence perception and propose an interactional approach to prosodic prominence. Examples from lexical tone sandhi in Zhenhai and Taifeng, along with Mandarin word-prosodic system, demonstrate that prosodic prominence is enhanced when position-based and signal-based factors occur in the same position but weakened when they conflict. Prosodic manipulations like deaccenting, downstepping and lengthening can optimize the prominence perception in a prosodic domain.
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Speaker Bio: Zhiqiang Li is Professor of Chinese and Linguistics at the University of San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from MIT in 2003. His research focuses on phonology, phonetics, Chinese linguistics, and second language acquisition, with particular emphasis on phonological prominence in tone sandhi, tone-intonation interaction in Mandarin, tonal alignment and prosodic prominence, phonetic enhancement of distinctive features, intonation structures, prosodic features of spoken dialogues, and tone production and perception by non-native speakers. His books include Studies in Acquisition and Teaching of Mandarin Chinese Phonology (2019) and Study of Chinese Intonation in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (2020, coauthored).
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The East Asian Linguistics Workshop is sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The workshop's purpose is to promote intra- and inter-departmental communication among faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars who share research and teaching interest in East Asia in the Stanford Community. The EAL Workshop provides a forum for all who are interested in studies of language and linguistics relevant to the languages of East Asia and their users. It welcomes intellectual contributions from researchers, professionals and students (graduate and undergraduate) in the form of research presentations and general discussions during the workshop. There are invited speakers, external and internal to the Stanford/EALC community. In addition, the members of the EALC/EAS/LC communities are strongly encouraged to volunteer to present their completed or in-progress work as part of a collaborative effort to broaden and deepen our knowledge about multifaceted aspects of East Asian languages. This workshop is coordinated by graduate students and supervised by a faculty member. These workshops take place once a month; upcoming workshops can be found on our Events page, beginning with "East Asian Linguistics Workshop: ..." If you might not be able to attend this session but have suggestions you would like to make for future workshop activities, please feel free to email your ideas to our 2025-26 faculty sponsor, Prof. Chao Fen Sun (cfsun [at] stanford.edu (cfsun[at]stanford[dot]edu)), and our graduate student coordinators, Harumi Maeda (harumi56 [at] stanford.edu (harumi56[at]stanford[dot]edu)) and Taiga Ikedo (ikedot [at] stanford.edu (ikedot[at]stanford[dot]edu)).
For those interested, you may also request to join our mailing list so that you are aware of any upcoming events. Link to mailing list for upcoming events.