Aspects of Tones in PSC Tests in Zhejiang Province
浙江人在普通话水平测试中的声调问题

The major problems of people in Zhejiang with tones in speaking putonghua or the Standard Mandarin Chinese are an inadequate pitch value in the first tone (yinping), an excessive pitch value in the third tone (shangsheng), and a narrowing of the pitch values of all the four tones that results in a lack of the concept of the allophones. Possible solutions are proposed by way of a practice of relaxing the vocal cord, shifting relative high pitch values to absolute high pitch values, and controlling tone variations. The evaluation criteria for the putonghua tests (PSC) will have to consider the inadequate or excessive pitch values for the monosyllabic words as substandard and those for the disyllabic words and speaking or reading as mere variations in speech flows. Tone shapes are suggested as a necessary evaluation standard, with those of the secondary stress slightly modified.