표준 중국어 모음 체계의 음운학적 고찰

Abstract

This study is about the Mandarin phonological vowel inventory. There are different opinions on how many vowels exist in Mandarin, since their standards are different according to approaches. All the surface representations are treated in phonetic approach, while phonological approach considers underlying representations as phonemes. This study focuses on the underlying representations of Mandarin vowel system, and is divided into 5 chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction, and Chapter 2 is literature review. Researchers usually show 22 Mandarin consonants, but their suggestions on the number of Mandarin vowels are various. They show as few as 5 vowels and as many as 14 vowels. Usually researchers, who analyze with phonetic approach, suggest more vowels, while researchers, using phonological perspective, suggest fewer vowels. In Chapter 3, in order to state Mandarin speakers’ intuition, this study conducted a survey, which asked Mandarin speakers’ self-cognition on the several tricky vowels. Based on the results of the survey, this study suggests 8 Mandarin vowel phonemes such as /i/, /y/, /e/, /ɨ/, /a/, /u/, /ɤ/ and /o/ in Chapter 4. High mid vowel /ɨ/ appears as [ɿ], when it comes with [ts, tsʰ, s] in a syllable, and appears as [ʅ], when it comes with [tʂ, tʂʰ, ʂ]. Mid front vowel /e/ is realized as [ɛ] behind medial vowels, and mid back vowel /ɤ/ is realized as [ə] before nasal consonants. Low vowel /a/ has [+back] before [u] and [ŋ], which has [+back]. Thus, this study shows 12 Mandarin vowels such as [i], [y], [e], [ɛ], [ɿ], [ʅ], [ə], [a], [ɑ], [u], [ɤ], and [o] as surface representations, and also provides rational analyses on the allophones with phonological rules. Lastly, Chapter 5 is the conclusion.