Yen-Hwei Lin

Tonal Change Induced by Language Attrition and Phonetic Similarity in Hai-lu Hakka

This study examines the potential role of language attrition in the sound change of low-level tone in Hai-lu Hakka, and compares the change with similar tonal changes in Hong Kong Cantonese and Taiwan Southern Min (Taiwanese). The low-level tone changes to low-falling tone largely among young non-daily users, so the effect of language attrition led by a decline in frequency of use is hypothesized to be the main cause for the tonal change. To verify this hypothesis, three perception tasks and one production task were conducted on three groups of Hakka speakers: young non-daily users, young daily users and older daily users. The results show that: (i) non-daily users made significantly more tonal errors than daily users, (ii) the low-level tone was the least accurate category in all tasks and (iii) non-daily users were more likely to confuse low-level tone with low-falling tone in the production task than in the perception ones, indicating the effects of language attrition and phonetic similarity, and an asymmetry between perception and production processes. The findings suggest that the effects of language attrition reinforce the internal dynamics of phonetic similarity between low-level and low-falling tones, and result in sound change from the most confusing category to its counterpart that is similar in pitch height for minimizing articulatory efforts. Therefore, we claim that the ongoing tonal change is less likely to be an inevitable consequence resulting from Mandarin’s tonal influence via language contact, but an unfortunate outcome of Hai-lu Hakka’s attrition processes.

Inconsistent Consonantal Effects on F- in Cantonese and Mandarin

Previous research shows that aspiration and sonorancy can have inconsistent consonantal effects on vowel F0 across languages, and even within the same language in different studies: they are reported to either lower F0, raise F0, or have neutral effects. This paper is interested in such inconsistent consonantal effects on vowel F0 in Cantonese and Mandarin. The results of a series of production experiments show that: (1) consonantal effects on vowel F0 are language-specific; (2) the consonantal effects can be conditioned by lexical tones. The findings also provide insights for puzzles in historical tone change.

OPTIMALITY THEORY IN PHONOLOGY: A READER

OPTIMALITY THEORY IN PHONOLOGY: A READER. John J. McCarthy (Ed.) . Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Pp. xvi + 603.

Chinese Affixal Phonology: Some Analytical and Theoretical Issues

79.95 cloth,

Agreement and Disagreement of Vowel Features: Mid Vowel Assimilation in Yanggu

44.95 paper. Optimality Theory in phonology is a textbook for an advanced-level phonology course that contains excerpts from 33 important articles and manuscripts on Optimality Theory (OT). For each chapter, McCarthy adds brief introductory notes and a list of study and research questions. The introductory notes provide background information and short remarks on the significance of the selected works. The study and research questions help readers to understand the material, and some questions are challenging enough to lead to interesting topics for research. Given the rapid development of OT in the past decade, it is not an easy task to compile such a reader. Overall, McCarthy makes excellent selections, and this book would be a useful textbook for many phonology classes. This text would also be appropriate for independent study, but those who are not familiar with OT may want to read Kagers ( 1999 ) introductory textbook before reading this volume. For an in-depth survey and overview of OT and an extensive list of references, the reader is referred to McCarthy ( 2002 ).