This dissertation presents three studies that examined issues related to the production and the perception of pitch in a tone language. The first study examined linguistic contexts that may modulate consonant-induced pitch perturbations (CF0) in a tone language. Previous studies have produced mixed findings regarding the role of linguistic contexts in modulating CF0. To address this issue, this study analyzed CF0 effects in Thai monosyllabic words starting with /b/, /p/, /p[superscript h]/, /d/, /t/, /t[superscript h]/, /k/, or /k[superscript h]/, having /a/ or /a[colon]/ as the vowel, and bearing the falling tone, the mid tone, or the low tone, and placed in two sentential contexts or in isolation. The results showed that linguistic contexts including tone context, sentential context, place of articulation, and, to a lesser extent, vowel length modulated CF0 effects. Different pitch perturbation patterns were also observed. The results are discussed in terms of different mechanisms that may underlie the perturbation effects. The findings have implications for previous conflicting findings and for tonogenesis. The second study investigated whether lexical tones can undergo domain-initial strengthening (DIS) like consonants can. If so, this suggests that DIS effects in a tone language extend beyond the first segment of a prosodic domain, suggesting that the domain of DIS is larger than previously thought. However, previous studies have reported conflicting results. This study analyzed Thai monosyllabic words in domain-initial and domain-medial positions. The study analyzed the maximum fundamental frequency of the falling tone, the mid tone, and the low tone, as well as acoustic measures of consonants, including the Voice Onset Times of /b/, /p/, and /p[superscript h]/, the frication duration of /f/, and the CF0 associated with these four consonants produced at the intonational phrase level and the word level. There was no evidence of DIS effects on tones. The findings contribute to the current understanding of the prosody-phonetics interface. The last study investigated the relationship between two versions of a test that assessed the ability to identify pitch patterns and word learning success in a tone language. One version of the test, the mixed-talker Pitch-Contour Perception Test (PCPT), presented stimuli that were not blocked by talker, whereas the other version of the test, the blocked-talker PCPT, presented stimuli that were blocked by talker. Previous studies have suggested that nontonal language speakers' ability to perceive pitch patterns is a good predictor of their success in learning words in a tone language. Previous studies, however, have not adequately assessed the ability to perceive pitch patterns because this ability has often been assessed with the ability to cope with trial-by-trial variability. Native speakers of English with no prior experience with a tone language took the two versions of the PCPT before being trained for six sessions to learn 16 Mandarin words represented by Chinese characters. The results showed that the learners' scores on the mixed-talker PCPT were a slightly better predictor of their success in learning Mandarin words compared to their scores on the blocked-talker PCPT. The results suggested that the ability to cope with trial-by-trial variability is not a strong predictor of word learning success in a tone language. Given that its intended audience is theoretical researchers and applied researchers, this dissertation concludes with a discussion about how the gap between theoretical research and applied research can be bridged. Reasons for why the gap should be bridged are provided, and suggestions for how the gap can be bridged are offered. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]