上海市区方言后高元音的声学分析--一项正在进行中的合并

A vowel merger in progress: The high back vowels in urban Shanghainese

上海市区方言后高元音在音系记录中有o,u两个音位。文献记录及预调查结果表明,这两类元音处于“正在进行中的合并”状态。本文以21位被试为观察对象,利用多元方差分析方法(MANOVA)所计算得出的Pillai值,就每一位被试共10组最小比较对中的元音在声学层面上的重合程度进行量化分析,考察语音环境(声母条件)与词表顺序(词条随机或成对对比呈现)对元音第一、第二共振峰声学产出的影响,同时将青年被试的声学表现与主观感知上的音位分合进行了简单比较。调查发现,无论是青年还是中老年,在元音声学层面上均表现出相当程度的重合,且呈现“有序异质”的分布。青年被试的声学产出与其主观音位感知层面所表现出的“正在进行中的合并”状态存在一定的相关关系。元音前的不同声母显著影响其声学重合程度,唇音(尤其是双唇鼻音m)后的元音声学重合程度最高。元音声学重合程度最高、主观感知音位合并程度也较高的7位青年被试,词表顺序对其声学产出结果的影响不显著。

In urban Shanghainese, the monophthongs/o/and/u/are observed to be undergoing a process of merging. This paper calculates the individual Pillai scores of 21 subjects in two age groups by means of MANOVA, and provides a quantified measurement of the merging of vowels. Phonological context(the initial consonant preceding the target vowel in the first CV syllable) and word order(in pairs or randomly) are investigated within a controlled word list of 10 minimal pairs concerning their influence on the formants. The acoustic features presented by young subjects and their perception of phonemes are also compared with those of the elders. The results indicate that, regardless of age, an orderly heterogeneous merge of vowels is occurring among individuals. The acoustic output of young subjects are affected by their perception of merging. The preceding initials can also influence the level of merging, among which labials, especially the bilabial/m/,tend to trigger the highest level of merge. For the seven young subjects who get the lowest Pillai scores, word order does not show significant influence on their acoustic outputs.