Is tonal alignment interpretation independent of methodology?

Tonal target detection is a very difficult task, especially in presence of consonantal perturbations. Though different detection methods have been adopted in tonal alignment research, we still do not know which is the most reliable. In our paper, we found that such methodological choices have serious theoretical implications. Interpretation of the data strongly depends on whether tonal targets have been detected by a manual, a semi-automatic or an automatic procedure. Moreover, different segmental classes can affect target placement especially in automatic detection. This suggests the importance of keeping segmental classes separate for the purpose of statistical analysis.