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Title:
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A Diachronically-Motivated Segmental Phonology of Mandarin Chinese
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Author:
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Wen-chao Li
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Homepage:
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http://online.sfsu.edu/~wenchao
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Oxford
, Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics
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Degree Date:
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1997
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Phonology
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Subject Language(s):
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Chinese, Mandarin
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Director(s):
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John Coleman
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Abstract:
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In this dissertation, I draw upon diachronic structures to explain the distributional irregularities of Modern Beijing Mandarin, demonstrating in the process the hybrid nature of what has by and large been analysed by phonologists as a homogenous sound system. I argue that much of Mandarin segmental distribution cannot be treated at the synchronic level alone; rather, it is to forces of diachronic change that the language owes its present shape.
I incorporate historical insights into a diachronically-motivated phonology which improves upon traditional synchronic accounts of Mandarin in many ways. The Mandarin vowel system, as a whole, is reorganised using harmony principles normally associated with Altaic and other vowel harmony languages, the result of which is a restructuring of the Mandarin vowel space that not only gives a more accurate portrayal of surface vowel variation, but also provides a more elegant account of the morphophonemic process of diminutive suffixation: under the proposed analysis no additional vowel change is needed to alter the quality of the syllable nucleus in the suffixation process, all changes to the nuclear vowel come about as the consequence of rules and constraints operating on the basic syllable. With regard to initial consonants, the apparent complementary distribution between the alveopalatals and the three series alveolar sibilant, retroflex and velar is fully accounted for by tracing the alveopalatal sibilants to their earliest historical development from the velar initials, and the retroflex sibilants to their Early Middle Chinese alveolar sibilant origins. In addition, variants of the initials /w/, /r/ and zero initial /N/ are accommodated by allowing approximant/fricative variation in the grammar, and the irregular distribution of medial [y] is attributed to a development in the transition from Late Middle Chinese to Early Mandarin, in which medial [y] was lost in all but syllables with coronal codas.
It will become clear that the speakers synchronic grammar and the diachronically-grounded structure capable of explaining the irregular distribution are two different systems. I conclude that, in the case of Mandarin, historical residue accounts for the greater part of gaps in the distribution of segments, and that the expurgation of such distributional gaps need not and should not be taken as a prerequisite for a cognitively-relevant synchronic grammar, although it is possible to construct a diachronically-based non-cognitive grammar for the purpose of accounting for distribution alone.
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