Singers’ Realizations of Linguistic Tone in Chaozhou Song

Abstract This article explores singers’ realization of linguistic tones of Chaozhou, a Southern Chinese tone language, in song performance. Analysis of a folk song sung by five singers reveals consistent realization of falling tones with a descending pitch within individual notes. The result suggests that Chaozhou singers may incorporate their spoken language experience into the notes they sing, irrespective of the different routes of learning to sing the song. Additionally, the realization of the phonetic distinctions of the language may also reflect an effort to delineate cultural boundaries and assert a cultural identity of Chaozhou.