Nasal coda neutralization in Shanghai Mandarin: Articulatory and perceptual evidence

Faytak, Matthew; Liu, Suyuan; Sundara, Megha

doi:10.5334/labphon.269

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The LD values were normalized to numbers between 0 and 1, with 0 set to be Baseline [k] and 1 to be Baseline [q]. By doing so, we can visualize the similarities of tongue contours using density plots (see Strycharczuk & Sebregts (2018) and Faytak et al (2020) for a similar approach).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dorsal harmony in Squliq Atayal: An Acoustic and Ultrasound Study

Lai

Chiu²

2022

AMP

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Dorsal harmony, understood as a process of changing from /*k/ into /q/ when followed by a uvular /q/ or a pharyngeal /ħ/, has been reported as a historical sound change in Atayal dialects, such as Squliq and Skikun. However, it is unattested if the observed dorsal harmony also occurs in those Atayal dialects as a synchronic morpho-phonological process. In the present study, we examined dorsal harmony in Squliq Atayal through ultrasonography and acoustic measurement (onset F3 – F2). Generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs), principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were applied to fit the tongue contours and compare the similarities of tongue images across different conditions. One participant showed that all variants of [k] were deviated from Baseline [k], and the linear discriminant (LD) values of all variants of [k] fell between Baseline [k] and [q]. The other participant exhibited consistent tongue postures in Short distance [k] and Cross-boundary [q]-[k]. The observed results suggest that dorsal harmony occurs in Squliq Atayal as a morpho-phonological process. Moreover, dorsal harmony is physiologically driven and best accounted for by coarticulatory aggressiveness, though with some individual variations. These variations nevertheless may support a coarticulatory path to sound change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dorsal harmony in Squliq Atayal: An Acoustic and Ultrasound Study

Lai

Chiu²

2022

AMP

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“…The production and perception of nasalization have been investigated in many other branches of Mandarin and some southern dialects in China through acoustic analysis [3], nasometric measurements [4], perception studies [5], and ultrasound imaging [6]. Except for ultrasound imaging, all methods use indirect indicators and measurements (formants of nasal and oral vowel, the energy ratio of nasal to nasal plus oral, human behavioral experiment results, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nasal Coda Loss in the Chengdu Dialect of Mandarin: Evidence from RT-MRI

Liao¹,

Hoole²,

Cunha³

et al. 2022

Interspeech 2022

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In the Chengdu Dialect of Mandarin, the /(V)an/ rime words have been described to have undergone a nasal loss process in the last decades. However, no acoustical or physiological evidence has been provided so far. In this study, we investigate this sound change process by directly looking at the velum gesture in the target segments from 4 Chengdu speakers. By means of real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rt-MRI), the velum opening signal was captured along with synchronized and noise suppressed audio. The maximum degree of velum opening was compared between tautosyllabic and heterosyllabic VN sequences for different vowels (N = /n, ŋ/). Nasal consonant loss was most evident for tautosyllabic /(V)an/ rime words. This sound change, together with the observed diachronic vowel raising in /(V)an/ rimes, is compatible with other research showing a preference for low vowel raising before nasal consonants. This phonetically motivated oral vowel, which is a consequence of nasal coda loss and vowel raising, would form a new phonological contrast in this dialect e.g., from /pa, pan/ to /pa, pɛ/.

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“…Faytak et al (2020) measured the formant values at the vowel endpoint preceding a nasal coda in Standard Mandarin. They found that between /n/ and /ŋ/ codas, there is approximately a 300Hz difference in F2.…”

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confidence: 99%

Contrast Preservation in Mandarin R-suffixation: A comparative study of Beijing and Liaoning dialects

2022

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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Two dialects of Mandarin Chinese, Beijing and Liaoning, display different patterns in r-suffixation, a morphophonological process. This paper investigates the low vowel rhymes: /an/, /a/, /aŋ/ in the two dialects. In Beijing, /an/ and /a/ undergo neutralization with the addition of the diminutive /-r/ suffix (Zhang 2000). But in Liaoning, the two rhymes maintain their contrast in the suffixed forms by each employing a different /r/ allophone for the suffix. /an/ selects for the retroflex rhotic [ɻ], while /a/ opts for the non-retroflex, or bunched, [ɹ] in Liaoning. I present a contrast preservation analysis to account for the difference between the two dialects. The analysis is set in the framework of Flemming’s (1995) Dispersion Theory. It employs MinDist constraints and PreserveContrasts-BD, which is a modified version of Flemming’s MaximizeContrasts, adapted to refer to output-output mapping. I argue that the overarching objective for both dialects is to maintain salient contrasts between the suffixed forms, but they differ in whether they prioritize preserving the three-way contrasts of low vowel rhymes or maintaining enough auditory distance between the suffixed rhymes. Liaoning prioritizes preserving the three-way contrasts, ranking PreserveContrasts-BD alongside MinDist, whereas Beijing is less preoccupied with keeping three suffixed forms, ranking PreserveContrasts-BD below MinDist. This is why the contrast between /an/ and /a/ is preserved in Liaoning via /r/ allophony, but neutralized in Beijing. Acoustic evidence for the two allophones of the r-suffix is provided. Segmental processes involving the low vowel and the nasal coda are also discussed.

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Nasal coda neutralization in Shanghai Mandarin: Articulatory and perceptual evidence

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

Dorsal harmony in Squliq Atayal: An Acoustic and Ultrasound Study

Dorsal harmony in Squliq Atayal: An Acoustic and Ultrasound Study

Nasal Coda Loss in the Chengdu Dialect of Mandarin: Evidence from RT-MRI

Contrast Preservation in Mandarin R-suffixation: A comparative study of Beijing and Liaoning dialects

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