Chinese Syllables Research Articles

Foot-shift and disyllabification in the history of Chinese

Abstract This paper argues that the Chinese language has undergone a foot-shift from the Old Chinese monosyllabic foot to a Modern Chinese disyllabic foot. It will be shown that the natural simplification of Old Chinese syllables has caused the foot-shift, resulting in disyllabification. The disappearance of bimoraic feet in Old Chinese has resulted from the loss of consonantal codas, including codas of consonant clusters, which has led to the disappearance of heavy syllables, as well as super-heavy syllables. In other words, this foot-shift can be explained as a compensatory transformation of a heavy Old Chinese dimoraic monosyllable to a pair of light monomoraic disyllables. One way of understanding this evolution is that disyllabification of feet in Modern Chinese is a compensatory mechanism to maintain foot complexity.

Articulatory characteristics and vowel space analysis of Mandarin Chinese non-low vowels in Korean-speaking learners

Vowels are a fundamental component of Mandarin Chinese syllables. Accurate pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese relies on the distinct articulation of different vowels, especially the visually similar “ü” and “u”. Korean-speaking learners of Chinese Mandarin as a second language commonly exhibit non-standard pronunciation or errors in articulating “ü”, leading to confusion, particularly in non-low vowels centered around this sound. Using Praat to analyze the Formant values of non-low vowel sounds from six participants, a comparison between Korean L2 Chinese speakers and native Chinese speakers revealed vowel spaces differentiated through F2 values for /u/ and /o/, while /ɣ/ and /o/ are distinguished by F1 values. The sound similar to Korean “ㅟ” differs from /y/ in that the former is a gliding sound transitioning from low to high. The distinction between /y/ and /u/, /o/, /ɣ/ was found to be unclear, with /y/ often merging into sounds like “iu” and “io”. This aligns with historical vowel changes in Chinese “ü”, noted in previous linguistic studies, showing variations like “iu” and “io” over different periods. Korean L2 Chinese speakers tend to substitute /ɯ/ for /u/ and “ㅟ” (/ɯ/+/i/) for /y/, avoiding rounded lip movements in pronunciation, thus reducing effort and the need for additional phonemes. Furthermore, the F3 value for Korean L2 Chinese /y/ is notably lower, suggesting that the correct articulation should closely resemble the tongue position of /i/, combined with rounded lips.

Phonological planning in Cantonese–English bilingual speech production

Purpose: Findings from previous speech production research suggest that the nature of phonological planning units is language-specific, with phonemes as the planning units in Dutch and English but syllables in Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. However, little is known about how multilingual speakers possessing languages with distinctive phonological planning units plan for their speech. This study was conducted to investigate the roles of syllable and phoneme in Cantonese (L1) and English (L2) production among Cantonese–English bilinguals. Design: A picture version of the form-preparation task was employed, where participants named aloud (in their L1 and L2) small sets of pictures repeatedly. The names of the pictures in a set either shared the same word-initial syllable, word-initial phoneme, or were unrelated. Participants’ L1 and L2 proficiencies were measured. Data and analysis: 53 Cantonese–English bilinguals participated. The naming latency data were submitted for linear mixed effects modeling analyses. Findings: Significant priming effects on naming latency, relative to an unrelated control, were found when the response words shared the same word-initial syllable but null effects were found when they shared merely the same word-initial phoneme in both L1 and L2 production. Critically, in L2 English production, a significant negative association was observed between the size of syllable priming and the participant’s English vocabulary size. Furthermore, significant English phonemic priming was observed among the participants higher in spoken English proficiency but not among the lower proficiency counterparts. Originality: This study provides clear evidence showing the multifaceted effects of L2 proficiency on L2 phonological planning using a picture naming task. Significance: The present findings indicate the significant impact of L1 on L2 phonological planning. Yet, this L1-to-L2 influence would be modulated in different ways by the different aspects of one’s L2 proficiency.

Acquisition of English liaison among Chinese EFL learners from the perspective of language transfer

This study aimed to investigate the acquisition of liaison in English by Chinese-speaking learners. Ten second-year postgraduate students of non-English majors in Tongji University, China, were invited to take part in an experiment. They were asked to prepare recordings of a set of English materials, including phrases, dialogues, and a talking topic, before and after a self-study training on liaison. To examine every type of liaison in their speech, the study analysed the recordings using the speech analysis software Praat. The results showed that before the training, the students negatively transferred the native language (L1) pattern to the target second language (L2). This kind of negative transfer of L1 Chinese to the acquisition of liaison in L2 English could be explained by the differences between English and Chinese syllables. After the training, the students showed substantial improvement in phrase and dialogue reading. The findings are expected to help both teachers and students gain a better understanding of liaison and the differences between English and Chinese syllables, thus contributing to English teaching and learning.

Korean-speaking Learners’ Production of Mandarin Non-low Back Vowels

Vowels are the main components of Chinese syllables, and in order to produce standard Chinese pronunciation, it is essential to accurately distinguish the pronunciation of vowel variants under different conditions. Korean-speaking learners often struggle with differentiating Chinese non-low back vowels, leading to pronunciation errors. Through Praat speech analysis of formant values for the pronunciation of Chinese non-low back vowels by six participants, Korean L2 Chinese speakers and L1 Chinese speakers’ vowel spaces were compared. It was found that the distinction between /ʅ / and /ɿ / was not very clear, with both vowels overall shifting closer to /i /. In terms of /u / and /o / pronunciation, Korean L2 Chinese speakers differentiated these two vowels mainly based on the value of F2, whereas L1 Chinese speakers primarily distinguished them by the difference in F1 values, indicating variations in tongue height. Furthermore, the F1 and F3 values for /ɣ / were higher for Korean L2 Chinese speakers, suggesting an incorrect interpretation of /ɣ / as a front vowel with slightly higher tongue position, whereas it should align closely with /o / in terms of height.

The perceptual center in Mandarin Chinese syllables

This study explores the location of the p-center in Mandarin Chinese and factors that influence it. Previous research has suggested that p-center behavior in languages that lack obstruent clusters, such as Cantonese and Mandarin, will differ from that found in Indo-European languages and others that are typologically different from Chinese languages. The purposes of the current paper are to investigate (1) whether Chinese languages systematically have a different p-center location from that found in previous studies of Indo-European languages, (2) whether vowel onglides are included as part of the syllable rime as claimed in the assumed analysis of Mandarin, and (3) how the alignment of the p-center is influenced by different features of the initial consonant, different features of rime, as well as the speech rates. Six native Mandarin speakers from Taiwan participated in a syllable repetition task with two different speech rates: 60 bpm and 120 bpm. The results indicate that the p-center in Mandarin Chinese is roughly aligned with the acoustic vowel onset, when the syllable does not have an onglide, and the onglide onset, when the syllable has an onglide. The initial consonant manner did not significantly influence onglide or vowel onsets, but the initial consonant acoustic duration, rimes, and speech rates all significantly influenced the vowel onsets as previous p-center studies have found. This appears to differ markedly from the p-center found in a recent study of Cantonese. Various causes for this mismatch are discussed.

Duration Patterns of Chinese Syllables in Commercial and Social Oral Advertisements

Information structure of an utterance is one of the key factors determining phonological unit realization patterns including the duration which is manifested differently in males and females. This article examines the influence of information load and gender on the Chinese syllable duration in commercial and social advertising discourse. The material was taken from the texts of commercial and social oral advertising produced by 6 professional speakers (3 males, 3 females). The measurements were performed in Praat on the syllables with identical phonemics and the same lexical tones occurring both on informative (previously classified as such by a minimum of 6 out of 10 listeners) and uninformative (the remaining) utterance parts. The results show that duration is one of the most important markers of a syllable information load. In both commercial and social advertisements, in over 50 % of cases informative syllables’ duration was longer than that of uninformative ones. The difference was not large but rather consistent. It means that not only duration is involved in manifesting the utterance information structure but other prosodic parameters as well. Another finding was gender difference: 1) on the whole, syllables in female speech have longer duration than in male; 2) males use the duration technique more effectively than females: the contrast between loaded and unloaded syllables is higher

“Монголчуудын өчигдрийн мөр” эрт эдүгээгийн газрын нэрийн харьцуулал хэмээх газрын нэрийн хэлхээсийн галигийн тухайд болон “Хятад хэлний үеийн галиглах журам”-ын тухайд

This present article consists of two sections. In the first section, the wrong transliterations of the geographical names in China among the names of an index of Mongolian geographical names which were transliterated into the Cyrillic script in a publication called “Yesterday’s Traces of the Mongols”- a Comparison of Ancient and Contemporary Geographical Names by Inner Mongolian researcher Altanshaa were identified and corrected. In the second section, some wrong transliterations of Chinese syllables into the Cyrillic script in the “Rules for Transliterating Chinese Syllables” approved in 2016 were also corrected and the reasons for such mistakes were discussed.

On the Progress of Phonemic Analysis of Chinese Word Syllables

The process of the sound notation of sinographs arose in China to address problems in pronunciations. Attention to this process is almost as old as the use of the sinographs, and thus has marked historical relevance. Throughout this extended period of time, there was no strong appropriate method to convey the pronunciation of sinographs to the learners of the language, despite several attempts. With the design of different methods of sinograph sound notation, that is, direct notation, the fan-qie method, the national sound notation alphabet, and the scheme of the Chinese phonemic alphabet, the analysis of the Chinese word syllable has progressed developmentally, with an increasingly delicate view of segmentation of the Chinese syllable. The latter three methods, which divided the Chinese word syllable in two, three, and even four parts respectively, have been designed under influences of foreign linguistic methods, and for which, the communications between China, and India and European countries have offered an impetus for the progress in Chinese syllabic analysis. This paper thus addresses the development of these models for articulating the phonology of the Chinese word or syllable, by presenting the above models, and by describing their application and appropriacy to the field of Chinese linguistics through an ethnography of language and text.

Pitch Variation for Chinese Syllables of Different Information Load (Based on Commercial and Social Radio Ads)

F0 is an important cue present in all vocalic segments, a parameter to differentiate between voiced and voiceless consonants, a relative phonological feature of syllable in tonal languages and a crucial feature of intonation. This paper aims to investigate pitch variation patterns in Mandarin Chinese depending on the syllable information load (Factor 1) in one type of discourse – advertising with the subdivision into social and commercial ads (Factor 2) considering gender differences (Factor 3). 1249 syllable tokens were selected for acoustic measurements, each syllable occurring twice – in the informative and uninformative utterance parts. The information load was determined perceptually: the syllable was considered informative when agreed by the minimum of 60% of listeners, other syllables were considered uninformative. Depending on lexical tone (T1 – T4 and T0), the measurements included average pitch values, declination/inclination starting and ending points (mean values). These parameters were used to judge about relevant pitch features – average height and declination/inclination slope. As a result, a consistent parameter increase in commercial ads vs. social ads and on informative syllables vs. uninformative ones was observed for all tones except T0 that showed the opposite trend in expressing information-based partition. Another finding was tone substitution that marked both informative and uninformative parts but was more frequent in the latter. Substitute tone frequency ranks did not depend on any of the three factors except for T0. High predictability of pitch variation patterns make them applicable in teaching Chinese as L2 in terms of speaking and listening for general and specific purposes.

On the four grades / four calls of Chinese rime tables

Summary The present paper seeks to discuss and clarify the notions of ‘Grades’ and ‘Calls’ of traditional Chinese rime tables, which are commonly related to the presence or absence of glides, and continue to be taken as a basis for reconstructing vocalic and semi-vocalic portions of the post-initial elements in medieval and pre-medieval Chinese syllables. It is argued that, based on the discussions of Grades/Calls by Chinese scholars of the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, they were probably conceived as degrees of stricture of the phonatory apparatus, with progressive narrowing of the articulatory aperture, from wide and open to narrow and close. It is concluded that the linguistic perspective underpinning the classification of “sounds” in the linguistic tradition of China appears to be remarkably close to concepts long held in other linguistic traditions.

Second language experience influences salience of phonological units in spoken word production in the first language

Research question: Previous research suggests that the grain size of primary phonological units (PUs) in spoken word production is language-specific (e.g., phonemic segments in Germanic languages, and atonal syllables in Chinese). When the two languages of bilingual speakers have different primary PUs in their native speakers, will first language (L1) phonological processing be influenced by second language (L2) experience? Methodology: In a picture–word interference task, native Chinese speakers who spoke English as L2 were required to say aloud the predesignated L1 name of a picture while ignoring a written L1 character superimposed on the picture. The picture name shared a certain phonological component (i.e., rhyme or atonal syllable) with the distractor in the related condition but not in the unrelated condition. Data and analysis: Data of 186 participants from eight originally independent experiments were pooled. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on subject means to investigate whether the effects of rhyme relatedness and syllable relatedness on L1 naming latency were influenced by L2 self-rated proficiency, age of acquisition (AoA), and/or years of use. Trial-by-trial data were then analyzed with linear mixed-effects modeling. Findings: Both the rhyme effect and the syllable effect increased with years of L2 use, indicating that the salience of PUs in L1 spoken word production can be influenced by L2 experience. Originality: The current study adopted a chronometric approach to investigate the influence of L2 experience on phonological processing during L1 spoken word production. Importantly, multiple aspects of L2 experience (i.e., self-rated proficiency, AoA, and years of use) were examined at the same time in a relatively large sample. Implications: The current findings provide evidence for backward transfer of primary PUs in spoken word production, which demonstrates the plasticity of the phonological encoding process in bilingual speakers. These findings are discussed and compared with cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in the discussion.

The contributions of separate pinyin skills and oral vocabulary to Chinese word reading of U.S. Mandarin immersion third graders

The present study aimed to examine the contributions of two separate Pinyin skills and oral vocabulary to Chinese word reading of 70 third graders in a U.S. Mandarin Immersion program where Pinyin was introduced at Grade 3. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that Pinyin initial-final spelling—the skill to spell Chinese syllables using Pinyin letters—and oral vocabulary were uniquely associated with Chinese word reading, after accounting for the effects of phonological awareness and the other Pinyin skill of tone identification. The variance in Chinese word reading explained by tone identification was fully accounted for by oral vocabulary, Pinyin initial–final spelling, and phonological awareness, suggesting that tone identification might involve both phonology- and meaning-related processes. Oral vocabulary and tone identification explained more shared variance in Chinese word reading than the two code-related skills of phonological awareness and Pinyin initial-final spelling. The importance of meaning-related skills in learning the deep orthography of Chinese characters for Chinese L2 young learners is discussed.

RETRACTED: Research on automatic evaluation method of Mandarin Chinese pronunciation based on 5G network and FPGA

In the automatic evaluation system, need to learn the standard mandarin of scoring method for teaching in native Chinese pronunciation. The most pronounced goal protocols focus on the context in which native speakers are unnatural. The new Hidden Markov Model (HMM) algorithm based on the traditional algorithm likely algorithm for Chinese syllables, whose final initial period is found in the area where evidence for the measurement of weight control has been found. Experiments have also shown that this algorithm is more effective than the traditional posterior recording algorithm of the Mandarin learning method. Force Hidden Markov Model- HMM Align alignment identification for each syllable and associated recording probability for speech evaluation via race-based reliability system applications. These processes could then be formalized as a linear combination after the overall assessment functions: phonics, tone, intensity, and rhythm. Because both linear and non-linear parameters are involved in the overall evaluation functions. Incorporates variation in pronunciation to generate structure through a novel approach that incorporates tons of sub-tones that represent the missing automatic sound models. The word level assessment achieved through the pronunciation is similar to that which in the future showed the singing ability being realized by the evaluation system in full-length pronunciation as a method.

CSNN: Password guessing method based on Chinese syllables and neural network

Password guessing attack is the most direct way to gain access to information systems. Using appropriate methods to generate password dictionary can effectively improve the hit rate of password guessing attacks. A Chinese syllables and Neural Network-based password generation method CSNN is proposed for Chinese password sets. This method treats Chinese Syllables as integral elements and uses them to parse and process passwords. The processed passwords are trained in Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network, and the trained model is used to generate password dictionaries (guessing sets). Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network is a kind of Recurrent Neural Network. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of CSNN, the hit rates of guessing sets generated by CSNN on target password sets (test sets) are compared with Probability Context-Free Grammar (PCFG) and 5th-order Markov Chain Model. In hit rate experiment, guessing sets of different scales were selected; the results show that the comprehensive performance of guessing sets generated by CSNN is better than PCFG and 5th-order Markov Chain Model. Compared with PCFG, different scales of CSNN guessing sets can improve up to 9% in hit rate on some test sets; compared with 5th-order Markov Chain Model, the best performance range of CSNN guessing sets is 105 to 106 guesses, and their hit rate increases range from 2.6% to 12.03%.

The Acoustic Effect of Speaking Rate, Focus and Prosodic Position on Syllables in Chinese

The Acoustic Effect of Speaking Rate, Focus and Prosodic Position on Syllables in Chinese

중국 역사언어학의 ‘화석’ 성어에 대한 한·중 대비 연구 - 신체 관련 사자성어를 중심으로

중국 역사언어학의 ‘화석’ 성어에 대한 한·중 대비 연구 - 신체 관련 사자성어를 중심으로

A Study on the Correlation between the Modern Korean-Chinese Syllables with [h] Onset and the Modern Chinese Syllables

A Study on the Correlation between the Modern Korean-Chinese Syllables with [h] Onset and the Modern Chinese Syllables

The Acoustic Effect of Speaking Rate, Focus And Prosodic Position on Syllables in Chinese

In this experiment the effects of speaking rate, focus and prosodic position on duration, F0, intensity and vowel quality are analyzed. The test syllables are /p‘i, p‘a, p‘u/, which are designed to be in disyllabic words. It is found that there is an effect of rate on the formants of the vowels of the key syllable, with vowels more fully realized in slow speaking rate, and there is a tendency for pitch range to be expanded in slow rate. Intensity may be affected by focus, and vowels under focused condition may be maximally realized to highlight the phonemic contrasts. There is no effect of prosodic position on voice onset time, while its effect on fundamental frequency (F0) is obvious. The influence of prosodic position on intensity is similar to that on F0. Its effect on vowel quality is weak, and the effect is in line with enhancement of the place feature rather than with sonority expansion.

Measurement of phonetic differences in Guangxi dialects

The study of dialect differences plays an important role in the research of linguistics. In the recent years there has been a trend to measure dialect differences with computational models. From the perspective of phonology, a syllables of a Chinese character can be divided into three parts: The Initials, the Finals and the Tone. The Initials are usually composed of consonants, and the Finals are composed of vowels or vowels and consonants. Therefore, as long as the quantitative characteristic of vowels and consonants are described, and the Five-Degree markings method of tones are used, the differences between Chinese syllables can be calculated. We developed a model and applied it to the measure and analysis the differences of dialects in Guangxi. The analysis results accord with empirical data of Guangxi province dialectal subdivisions and this shows the validity of the model.