Is [ɤ] in Mandarin a transitional vowel? —Evidence from tongue movement by ultrasound imaging
汉语普通话中的[ɤ]是游移元音吗?——基于超声波成像的发音舌体运动证据
Yu Chen 陈彧; Ju Zhang 张句; Jonathan Sieg; Yanting Chen 陈彦婷
Abstract 摘要
This study investigates tongue configuration and its changes during the pro-duction of [ɤ] using ultrasound imaging. By collecting data from four native Mandarin speakers, this paper compares the tongue movement of [ɤ], [i] and [a] in Mandarin Chinese, and finds that [ɤ] has clearly higher variations than the other two monophthongs in tongue intrinsic length, tongue intrinsic height and accelerations in both horizontal and vertical directions. By analyzing the tongue shape of [ɤ] between the 30% and 80% time points of articulation, this research found that the tongue underwent the following movements in the process of producing [ɤ]: the tongue first humped at the front of the dor-sum. It then pivoted around the uvular region in small, continuous steps, namely, the tongue front lowered while tongue back rose. Simultaneously, the whole tongue underwent a de-arching movement, during which tongue dorsum lowered and the tongue stretched in the front-back direction. Under the mutual influence of the two movements, the whole tongue moved slight-ly backwards and declined in height. Finally, the tongue back and the rear of the tongue dorsum moved closer to the pharynx and uvula, while the tongue front lowered. Thus, the present paper partially validates Shi’s (2002b) view-point that [ɤ] is a transitional monophthong in Mandarin Chinese.
Subject Keywords 主题词
Ultrasound 超声波 Mandarin 普通话 Transitional vowel 游移元音 Tongue movement 舌体运动 Accelera-tion 加速度
Journal of Chinese Linguistics vol.47, no.2 (June 2019): 371-405
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