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Abstract
Qingsheng and qingyin have long been a set of confusing concepts in Chinese linguistic studies. In literature scholars usually agree on the use of qingsheng to refer to the neutral tone in Mandarin. However, some scholars believe that qingsheng is the same as qingyin and use them interchangeably. Furthermore, the term qingyin is used to prove that Mandarin has word stress, since word stress, or zhongyin in Chinese is the counterpart of qingyin. Therefore, it is important to clarify the relationship between the two concepts, namely qingsheng and qingyin to determine the linguistic and typological nature of Mandarin. This study tried to differentiate these two concepts both phonetically and phonologically and proved that qingsheng is a result of a set of tonal processes, such as tone sandhi, tone neutralization, tone spreading, while qingyin is a result of a series of metrical process, such as clash and lapse. It also compared qingsheng and qingyin on their functions, classifications, origins, and did a quantitative study on the distribution of the qingsheng words in Mandarin to further prove that qingsheng and qingyin are two completely different concepts, and hence proved that it is invalid to claim Mandarin has word stress because of the existence of qingsheng.
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