Indexical meaning of Mandarin full tone in the construction of femininity: Evidence from social perceptual data

This paper examines the indexical association between Mandarin full tone and a newly emergent cute feminine style. Prior work has identified full tone as a component of cosmopolitanism in mainland China, but we argue that the influence of Taiwanese pop culture and social media phenomena has resulted in expanded indexical boundaries for this variable. A matched guise task was conducted to examine the connection between Mandarin full tone and social meanings, traits, and other symbolic resources for mainland Chinese listeners. The full tone stimuli were perceived as feminine and youthful, explicitly linked to Taiwan, influencer, and stereotypical “cute-coded” behaviors that typify a stylized femininity. We argue that both speaker traits and the more abstract social meanings are attached to full tone and can be activated during social perception.