schnaz wrote:If so called neutral tones are not really neutral but are influenced by the proceeding syllable then how do you determine how you are going to pronounce a so called neutral tone?
I think the easiest way to approach the neutral tone is by thinking off it as what happens when a tone "bleeds" over two syllables. If you've read up a bit about contour tones, then you know that they can be transcribed numerically. So that fourth tone, for instance, is 51 (starting at the highest level and dropping to the lowest). After fourth tone, the neutral tone is 2, the next level up from 1. Third tone is rendered 214, representing a fall and a rise. When a neutral tone follows, the 4 "bleeds over", leaving the first syllable with a tone contour of 21. (This is actually the usual realisation of third tone except when final or in isolation.) First (high level) and second (mid-rising) both end on 5, the highest level. After them, the tone level "resets" to (respectively) 2 and 3 (or dead centre on the scale).
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons