Addressing Tone Sandhi

Tone sandhi, the alteration of tones in sequences of syllables, is a significant phenomenon in tonal languages impacting speech naturalness and intelligibility. Current research focuses on understanding the interplay of factors influencing tone sandhi realization in spontaneous speech, employing statistical models like Generative Additive Mixed Models to analyze fundamental frequency contours and incorporating contextual information such as word meaning and speaking rate. These studies are improving speech synthesis and recognition systems, particularly for under-resourced languages, and contribute to a deeper understanding of how phonological processes interact with semantics and pragmatics in human language.