華語三聲變調的運作範疇(domain)一直以來皆是漢語音韻學家激烈探討的主題，不同研究對於運作範疇的定義皆不同，而過去研究也留下了一些尚待解決的問題，例如分類詞(Classifier)以及介係詞(Preposition)如何與其他音節形成三聲變調的運作範疇。本篇論文藉由觀察語料庫中324句最短為6音節，最長為24音節且由數個三聲音節所組成的中文句子，來檢視台灣華語三聲變調若以Nespor & Vogel (1986)所提出之韻律階層(Prosodic hierarchy)為範疇來運作是否能得出自然且多樣的聲調組合。以下分析主要根據韻律階層的順序分成以下四部分：音韻詞(Phonological word)、附著詞組(Clitic group)、音韻詞組(Phonological phrase)、語調詞組(Intonational phrase)。而作者假設三聲變調有兩種運作方式，一種為循環(Cyclic)，一種為同時(Simultaneous)。循環運作時，三聲變調可先以音韻詞邊界為範疇，再以附著詞組邊界為範疇，再以音韻詞組邊界為範疇，最後再以語調詞組邊界為範疇。同時運作時，三聲變調則只以語調詞組邊界為範疇。語料庫分析結果顯示，中心語(Head)之非遞歸邊(Nonrecursive side)的分支性(Branchingness)需被納入音韻詞組的定義中以得出正確的聲調組合。再者，語調詞組的定義也需將語意(Semantic)以及韻律(Metric)的因素納入考量，以限制語調詞組邊界的形成。經過修正，韻律階層理論不僅能成功描述分類詞以及介係詞之三聲變調現象更可預測華語三聲變調的多樣性。 / Mandarin tone sandhi has been argued by different scholars to apply to different phonological domains such as the foot, the phonological phrase etc. This thesis tackles three main issues left by Shih (1986) and Hsiao (1991): the classifier, the preposition and the under-generation problem. In revising the framework of Nespor & Vogel (1986)’s Prosodic Hierarchy, this thesis proposes a possible explanation of the problems. This thesis constructed a corpus of 324 sentence tokens consisting of 6 to 24 third tone syllables. The tokens were recorded from four Taiwan Mandarin native speakers at a speech rate of at least 200 beats per minute. Through the observation of the tone patterns collected, it is found that the original definitions of the phonological phrase and the intonational phrase given by Nespor & Vogel (1986) are not able to describe the Taiwan Mandarin data. This thesis provides a revision of the prosodic hierarchy by taking into account the branchingness of the nonrecursive side on the phonological phrase level and by incorporating Selkirk (1984)’s Sense Unit Condition on the intonational phrase level. Finally, a foot formation condition is also proposed in order to restrict the minimal length of a phonological phrase or an intonational phrase.

本文以優選理論的觀點分析美濃客語的陰平變調。討論可分為兩部分，首先，針對於變調的範疇，文章從句法與音韻的介面關係探討陰平變調的範疇，結果顯示陰平變調是以語調詞組(Intonational Phrase)作為變調的範疇，而這也為韻律結構的存在提供了證據。語調詞組的形成與感知單位(Sense Unit Condition)和重組(Restructuring)有密切的關係。另外，也探討了語調詞組中的特殊結構，發現語料支持Nespor & Vogel (1986)的假設，即特殊結構可以先形成一個獨立的語調詞組。 探討完變調範疇之後，將以優選理論進行分析。本文提出兩組制約:聲調制約和韻律制約。聲調制約著重在解釋變調的運作，而韻律制約則負責解釋變調範疇的劃分，這兩組制約不僅能解釋一般句子的變調，亦能對特殊結構的變調現象予以充分的說明。針對於變讀的情形，本文以並存音韻理論(Cophonology Theory)來作解釋，藉由*IP和ALIGN-R (Non-adjunct XP, IP)兩個制約的重新排序，得到變調與不變調兩種讀法的範疇的劃分。 / This thesis is aimed at analyzing Yinping tone sandhi in Meinong Hakka from the perspective of Optimality Theory. The discussion is divided into two parts. First, this thesis explores the tonal domain in terms of the interface of syntax and phonology. The analysis indicates that the tonal domain is founded on an intonational phrase. The formation of an intonational phrase is based on the Sense Unit Condition (Selkirk, 1984) and is closely related to restructuring (Nespor and Vogel, 1986). The special constructions of IPs are also investigated. The data supports the hypothesis proposed by Nespor and Vogel (1986), namely, that these special constructions have the privilege to form an isolated intonational phrase. Secondly, Optimality Theory is adopted to analyze the data after exploring the tonal domain. Two set of constraints are proposed in this thesis. One is that of tonal constraints, which are mainly concerned with the processing of tone sandhi. The other is that of prosodic constraints, which are responsible for explaining the delimitation of the tonal domains of the data. The two sets of constraints can be used to account for the operation of the sandhi phenomena in ordinary sentences and also in special constructions. The alternative readings are explained by means of the re-ranking of *IP and ALIGN-R (Non-adjunct XP, IP) from the perspective of Cophonology Theory.