Boundary-conditioned anticipatory tonal coarticulation in Standard Mandarin

•Mandarin neutral tone can be greatly influenced by anticipatory tonal coarticulation.•Long-distance anticipatory tonal coarticulation can be assimilatory and dissimilatory.•Anticipatory tonal coarticulation is reduced when across a strong boundary.•Boundary-induced coarticulatory variation is not due to boundary-induced lengthening.