Articulatory characteristics of the coronal stop, affricate, and fricative in Cantonese
广州话舌前塞音、塞擦音及擦音的颚位和舌位研究
Wai-Sum Lee 李蕙心; Eric Zee 徐云扬
Abstract 摘要
The present study is a palatographic and linguographic investigation of the articulatory characteristics of the coronal obstruents [t ts s] in Cantonese. The
main findings are as follows. (i) Data on linguopalatal contact show Cantonese stop [t] is an apico-laminal denti-postalveolar articulation, with the tip and
blade of the tongue making simultaneous contact on the upper central incisors, alveolar ridge, and postalveolar region. The broad linguopalatal constriction
in the sagittal plane may be considered as an articulatory gesture characteristic of Cantonese stop [t]. (ii) Both Cantonese fricative [s] and affricate [ts]
are articulated with the blade of the tongue making contact on the alveolar ridge. The affricate [ts] has a close affinity in articulation with the fricative
[s] rather than the stop [t]. (iii) Data on the width of lateral contact on each side of the palatal region during [t ts s] show that the coronal obstruents
are palatalized before [i] and [y], and a larger degree of palatalization before [i] than [y] is observed. (iv) The post-consonantal high front vowels [i y]
affect the width of lateral contact on each side of the palatal region during [t ts s], but not the length of central constriction on the palate in the
sagittal plane. (v) There is no gender variation in degree of palatalization and length of central constriction on the palate in the sagittal plane during [t
ts s]. And, (vi) the articulatory data obtained in the present study in general do not confirm the quality descriptions of the articulatory characteristics
of the coronal obstruents in the past studies of Cantonese, in particular, the claims with respect to change of articulatory target region in different vowel
environments.
Keywords 关键词
Cantonese coronal obstruents 广州话舌前阻塞音 Place of articulation 发音部位 Articulatory target region 发音目标区 Constriction on the tongue 舌上收窄位置 Palatogram and linguogram 颚位图和舌位图 Linguopalatal contact pattern 舌颚接触模式
Journal of Chinese Linguistics volume 38 (ISSN 0091-3723)
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