The Effect of Focus Position on Downstep in Chinese Non-Interrogative Sentences

This paper examines the effects of questioning intonation, focus position, and their interactions on Mandarin downstep based on previous research. According to the study, (1) Mandarin non-interrogative sentences weaken the downstep in terms of interrogative intonation, which raises the pitch of the level-tone syllables. (2) The downstep was enhanced in terms of focus by register compression, and there was a positive correlation found between the pitch of the downstep level-tone syllable and the relative distance between the focus and the downstep sequence. The downstep persisted even when the focus and downstep sequence overlapped. (3) Regarding the interaction, the questioning intonation, which is weakened in the narrow focus sentence, raises the maximal pitch of the downstep level-tone syllable in both types of sentences when the focus is placed prior to the downstep sequence. The primary factor affecting the downstep level-tone syllable's pitch shifts from the low pitch syllable to the focus when the focus and the downstep sequence overlap. Both questioning intonation and focus, but more questioning intonation than focus, affect the downstep syllable at the end of the sentence.