36.3877, Books: Versatility of Phonemic Pitch In Affective Iconicity and Perceptual Reorganisation: Zheng (2025)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3877. Wed Dec 17 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3877, Books: Versatility of Phonemic Pitch In Affective Iconicity and Perceptual Reorganisation: Zheng (2025)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Mara Baccaro, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Mara Baccaro <mara at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 16-Dec-2025
From: Jan Martin [lotdissertations-fgw at uva.nl]
Subject: Versatility of Phonemic Pitch In Affective Iconicity and Perceptual Reorganisation: Zheng (2025)


Title: Versatility of Phonemic Pitch In Affective Iconicity and
Perceptual Reorganisation
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0702

Author(s): Tingting Zheng

Paperback
ISBN: 978-94-6093-487-2
Pages: 297
Price: 40,00 euro

Abstract:

This dissertation examines the multifaceted role of pitch by focusing
on two central issues. First, it investigates whether lexical tones in
Standard Chinese exhibit affective iconicity—that is, to what extent
their pitch characteristics (e.g., height, range, slope, and contour
direction) systematically aid to signal human emotional expression
(e.g., arousal and valence). Notably, while arousal appears to be
driven by inherent physiological responses, valence is more influenced
by lexical meaning and cultural conventions. Analyses of bi-syllabic
and monosyllabic words reveal that higher pitch, wider pitch range,
and steeper pitch slopes are linked to higher arousal, whereas lower
pitch and falling contours are associated with negative valence. In
addition, monosyllabic tonemes more strongly predict emotional arousal
ratings than consonants, and emotional valence ratings than vowels.
Furthermore, lexical tones show adaptive significance for both arousal
and valence, suggesting a potential mechanism of affective iconicity.
Second, the dissertation explores the developmental hemispheric
lateralization of pitch processing in infants learning different
languages. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy,
cross-linguistic comparisons between Dutch (a stress-accent language)
and Japanese (a pitch-accent language) infants reveal distinct
lateralization patterns. Japanese infants, whose language uses pitch
to signal lexical contrasts, exhibit early left-hemispheric
specialization for speech stimuli, while Dutch infants exhibit a
bilateral response. Together, these studies suggest that pitch
perception in language and emotion is shaped by an interplay between
the perceptual properties of pitch and linguistic, experiential, and
contextual influences.

Linguistic Field(s): Psycholinguistics

Subject Language(s): Chinese (zho)
                     Dutch (nld)
                     Japanese (jpn)




------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3877
----------------------------------------------------------