Mid vowel convergence in modern Mandarin (in Chinese)
现代汉语中元音收敛 （中文文章）

Ik-sang Eom 严翼相

Abstract 摘要
The goals of this article are to demonstrate the tendency for high and low vowels to often converge to mid vowels in modern Mandarin and to suggest a reason for such changes. Much attention has been paid to vowel assimilation in modern Mandarin in Cheng (1973), Duanmu (2000, 2007), Lin (2007), and Eom (2012), among many others. The assimilation of non-high vowels, in fact, is the most dynamic and apparent phenomenon of modern Mandarin phonology, so it has been a focal topic of research. Unlike assimilation, mid vowel convergence has been comparatively neglected by linguists. Modern Mandarin vowels tend to converge to mid vowels. For instance, the low front vowel /ɑ/ in syllables such as yan and yuan is raised and changed to a mid vowel [ε] as in Yan Mian 严棉 ‘a personal name’ and yuanchuan 原泉 ‘the original spring.’ The high back vowel /u/ in ao 澳 ‘Australia’ and dong 东 ‘east’ tends to change to a mid back vowel [o]. Additional examples can be found in some words with the neutral tone. For instance, the vowel /ɑ/ of the neutral tone in the second syllables of xiaohua 笑话 ‘ joke,’ mianhua 棉花 ‘cotton’ and many other words can be pronounced as schwa or another mid vowel, such as [o] and [e]. This article concludes that convergence to mid vowels has a physiological cause. The pronunciation of mid vowels is easier compared to that of high or low vowels. Since the main cause of assimilation is also economy, this convergence can be said to share the same basic causal mechanism as assimilation.

本论文主要分析了现代汉语高元音和低元音向中元音收敛的趋势并讨论了出现这种变化的原因。郑锦全(Cheng1969，1973),端木三(Duanmu 2000/2007),林燕慧(Lin 2007),严翼相(Eom 2012)等很多学者对于现代汉语中的元音同化现象给予了很大的关注。事实上，作为现代汉语音韵学中的一个最突出的音变现象，非高元音的同化一直是一个学术研究的焦点。但除了同化现象以外，在现代汉语中，还存在着中元音收敛现象。比如，例(3) ‘严棉’和(5)‘原泉’中的音节yan和yuan 的前低元音/ɑ/都上升为中元音[ε]。例(8)中‘澳’ao和‘东’dong 的后高元音/u/变成后中元音[o]。在轻声音节中也同样可以找到类似的例子：比如，‘笑话’xiaohua、‘棉花’mianhua 等词的第二个音节的元音都变成了中央元音。以上例举的几个音节中的/ɑ/可以发成中央元音或者其他的中元音（比如：[o]或者[e]）。这些 都是中元音收敛的现象。但与同化现象相比，这一音变现象一直都没有得到充分的研究。本论文就这一问题进行了分析研究并总结出了中元音收敛规则及图示。在其原因的探究上，本论文认为中元音收敛现象归因于心理因素。也就是说现代汉语话者在讲话中趋向于使用更加简便的发音。因为与高元音或者低元音相比，中元音要更加简便一些。因此，在现代汉语中，中元音收敛与同化现象相同，都是在语言经济性的要求下发生的音变现象。

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