• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.136-141
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• 1996

This paper is an acoustic study of neutralization of short tones in Taiwanese. The results show that the two short tones were completely neutralized in juncture position. Since long tones in Taiwanese show complete neutralization in context position, the bidirectionality of tone alternation in Taiwanese Tone Sandhi poses a problem far rule-based approaches, while it is consistent with the hypothesis that both juncture and context tones are listed in the lexicon, instead of one being derived from the other. Moreover, in order to account for the difference between Taiwanese Tone Sandhi and Mandarin Tone Sandhi (which has been proven acoustically to be incomplete neutralization), the Naturalness Hypothesis is proposed, which claims that if the neutralization is phonetically unnatural, then the neutralization is more likely to be lexicalized and show complete neutralization.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.25-51
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• 2017

This study aimed to identify the differences in pitch perception between tonal and non-tonal language listeners. A total of 60 Korean and Chinese listeners participated in the perception test. A two-syllable nonsense word /paba/ was manipulated in five steps. The pitch height or contour on the second syllable was raised or lowered. Both groups were asked to select which of the two syllables had the higher pitch. The findings showed that the majority of Korean listeners (GK) perceived decreased pitch as each peak of the syllable was lowered and perceived increased pitch as it was raised, which means the pitch height is a primary perceptual cue for GK. However, Chinese listeners (GC) perceived sensitive pitch movements as the pitch contour changed. GC's perception may presumably be affected by the L1's tone sandhi. We found it reasonable to assume that language experience has a significant effect on the cross-linguistic perceptual differences between tone and non-tonal language listeners.

• 중국학논총
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• no.67
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• pp.61-80
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• 2020

This paper analyzes the formation of Tianjin dialect by investigating the immigration situation in Tianjin in history, analyzing the rhyme phenomenon of Tianjin dialect and comparing Tianjin dialect with surrounding dialects. First of all, with the need of transferring grain from the south to the north after the Ming Dynasty, the canal-centered grain transportation industry developed, and the immigrants in Tianjin naturally began to increase. In the Qing Dynasty, a large number of commercial immigrants flowed into various areas of Tianjin with the expansion of Tianjin's urban scale. This way of immigration makes Tianjin dialect preserve some dialectal features of other regions. By comparing with other Mandarin dialects, it is found that this is not only a feature of Tianjin dialect, but also a common feature in other Mandarin dialects. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that the opinion of considering the dialect of one region is the mother dialect of Tianjin dialect because a certain phonological feature of Tianjin dialect is the same as that of other specific area is not appropriate. On the other hand, these immigrant dialects, which well reflects the characteristics of Tianjin, just show that these dialects have formed the present Tianjin dialect in the form of integration after the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

• Journal of Sinology and China Studies
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• v.80
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• pp.117-150
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to observe and analyze the Beijing dialect from the perspective of the lexicon. It sought to determine the lexical differences between the Beijing dialect and Putonghua. In the first part, it introduces the connection between the Beijing dialect and Putonghua and describes in details their individual developments in different historical stages. These imprints of the evolution of language in history have made distinctions between the Beijing dialect and Putonghua. The second part of this paper analyzes the lexical features of the Beijing dialect based on four aspects: the characteristic of word-formation, variant pronunciations of mono-syllabic words, usage of Measure words, and loanword from the Mongolian and Manchu language. First, in the basic Chinese vocabulary, there are about 47.11% of words that are different between the Beijing dialect and Putonghua. The differences between these words are mainly due to differences in partial morphemes, differences in the number of syllables, and the presence or absence of retroflex ending. Second, for the pronunciation of mono-syllabic words, the differences mainly occurs in tone sandhi, changes in finals or initials and dissimilation of the phoneme. Third, the characteristics of Measure words in the Beijing dialect use nouns indicating body parts. Fourth, most loanwords from the Mongolian or Manchu language are written in the way of phonetic loan characters. Some of the phonetic loan characters are associated with the meaning of the borrowing words, but some are not. The third part of this paper expounds on the direction of development of the Beijing dialect and Mandarin from the aspects of urban population structure; the people's attitudes toward language and the language environment in the Beijing dialect and Putonghua; and government policy intervention. In general, the vocabulary of the Beijing dialect is gradually losing its characteristics and becoming more and more like Putonghua.