Presentation: Hsiang-Yu
Summary: Sarah
Though the merging phenomena of the two nasal codas in
Mandarin have been extensively discussed, previous studies are however
inconsistent with regards to the merging patterns and the final realizations. In
this regard, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of preceding
vowel and dialect on the merging of nasal codas. Specifically, three vowel
contexts were examined, including /i/, /ə/, and /ɑ/. Speakers of two dialects,
Taiwan Mandarin and Mainland Mandarin, were recruited. Results of the reading
task showed that the two nasal codas involve categorical shifts, and acoustic
analyses demonstrated that the nasal codas are not deleted while nasalizing
preceding vowels. In addition, the effect of vowel context is salient, in which
no merging occurs when the nasal codas follow /ɑ/. Finally, a dialectal split
was reported. While Taiwan Mandarin speakers consistently substitute dental
nasals for velar nasals in the /i/ and /ə/ vowel contexts, Mainland Mandarin
speakers only do this sporadically. Moreover, Mainland Mandarin speaker
incorporate one additional substitution rule, i.e., replacing velar nasals with
dental ones in the /i/ vowel context.
