An Acoustic Analysis of the Vowels in Fuzhou Chinese

AN ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF THE VOWELS IN FUZHOU CHINESE

Changhe Chen

Department of Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong [email protected]

ABSTRACT acoustic analysis based on speech samples from speakers (20 speakers for monophthongs and 10 for This study is an acoustic description of the vowels in diphthongs and triphthong) in their fifties in 2011. At Fuzhou Chinese produced by 10 speakers (5 males present, no published article is found for the vowels and 5 females) in their thirties. The vowels include 8 of the younger generation, but some vowel changes monophthongs .h x d 1 ` N n t., 14 diphthongs .ht th are expected. dh dt `h `t nt 1x Nx hd h` xn tn t`., and 1 triphthong This study aims at reinvestigating the vowels in .t`h. in open syllable. Compared with existing Fuzhou Chinese of speakers aged 30-39, younger studies, this study finds (i) that sometimes .d. is than those in [6]. diphthongized; (ii) that diphthong may undergo .xn. 2. METHODOLOGY change to become ZX\; (iii) that diphthong .Nx. seems to have merged with .t`h. and .1x. in open syllable, All test words are (C)V and (C)VS syllables, 2 and .dt. also shows a tendency to merge with .ht.; frequently used in daily life . For each diphthong and (iv) that the acoustic realization of diphthong .nt. can triphthong, two syllables associated with two types of be Zɞt\, ZPt\ and ZNt\ but not Znt\, and diphthong tones are used in order to investigate possible vowel alternation. But due to space limit, only results of the .hd. is ZhH\. Further studies are required to corroborate the potential sound changes. vowels in open syllables and .ht th `h `t t`h. associated with two types of tones are presented. 10 Keywords: Fuzhou Chinese, vowels, acoustic native speakers of Fuzhou Chinese (5 males and 5 realization females in their thirties) without reported speech and hearing difficulties participated in the recordings. 1. INTRODUCTION They were instructed to read the word list at normal speech rate for 5 repetitions. The words were Fuzhou, located in the southeast of China, is the randomized and produced in isolation. Praat [1] was capital of Fujian province. This study investigates the used to obtain measurements of first three formant Chinese variety spoken in the urban area of Fuzhou. frequencies (F1, F2 and F3) which were sampled at one Fuzhou Chinese is known for its tone-dependent point of the steady formant trajectories of the vowel alternation. For example, .h. always occurs monophthongs as well as the elements of the with tones .44., .51., .32. or .4.1 (Type 1 tones), diphthongs and triphthong. Thus, each vowel is while .dh. is always with tones .21., .131., or .13. characterized by one set of formant frequency data, (Type 2 tones), such as in a compound ‘ 字簿’ but the F3 values are not presented here. Some samples are excluded, due to unnatural speech, (‘exercise book’) pronounced as 53 131 . But .srh Atn . mispronunciation, or no reliable measurement when the word ‘字’ (‘word’) is produced without tone obtained. sandhi (e.g. in isolation), it is pronounced as .srdh131.. Other vowel alternations include .x. - .1x., .t. - .nt., 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .n. - .N., .1x. - .Nx. and so on. The latter (diphthongal or lower) will become the former (monophthongal or Vowel ellipses are plotted in Bark-scaled F1/F2 planes higher) during tone sandhi. with F1 on the ordinate, F2 on the abscissa and the In Fuzhou Chinese, there are 8 monophthongs .h x origin at the right top corner. Data points are represented by small IPA symbols. For elements in d 1 ` N n t., 14 diphthongs .ht th dh dt `h `t nt 1x diphthongs and triphthong, such as in .ht., the first is Nx hd h` xn tn t`., and 1 triphthong .t`h. in open symbolized as .h-t. and the second .h-t.. Ellipses of the syllable ((C)V syllable) and one more diphthong .Nt. diphthongs and triphthong (in thick lines) are only in the syllable ended with glottal stop and .>. superimposed on the planes of the monophthongs (in nasal .M. ((C)VS and (C)VN syllable). Most thin lines). descriptions of the vowels in Fuzhou Chinese is impressionistic (e.g. [4], [5], [7]) and [6] contains an

3768 3.1. Monophthongs This may result from different tones or a change in terms of temporal structure. Tonal effects on Figure 1: Ellipses of the 8 monophthongs .h x d 1 durations are conspicuous in .th `h `t t`h.. For .t`h., of males and females. t- -h ` N n t. the duration of . ` . is rather steady but the first and F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 last elements are lengthened or shortened as the tone 100 changes, same to the elements in .`h `t.. 200 Figure 2: Temporal structures of the diphthongs i yy i ii iiii yyyyy iii yyyyyy u uuuu 300 and triphthong of males (left) and females (right). i iiiiii yyy uuu uuuu uuu i y u uu 0% 20% 40% 60%0% 80%20% 100%40% 60%0% 80%20% 100%40% 60%0% 80%20% 100%40% 60% 80% 100% i uu u 400 32 32 e e ee ø ø ooo F .ht . .ht . e eeeee øøø øøø o ooooo 1 ee øø øø ooo o 500 21 ee e ø ø øø øø ooo ( i n 21 .ht . e ee ɛ øøø ɔɔɔo o .ht . ɛ ɛɛ ɔɔɔɔɔ 600 44 ɛɛɛ ɛɛ ɔ ɔɔ H z ) 44 ɛɛ ɛ ɔɔɔɔɔ .th . .th . ɛ ɔ ɔ 700 21 aaa aa ɔ ɔ 21 .th . a aaaa 800 .th . a aa a a a aa .dh. aaa 900 .dh. 1000 .dt. .dt. 1100 32 1200 .`h32. .`h . 1300 131 .`h131. .`h . 1400 32 32 .`t . .`t . 131 131 .`t . F (in Hz) .`t . 2 .nt. 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 .nt. 100 .1x. .1x. .hd. 200 .hd. .h`. 300 .h`. i y y .xn. iiii i y uuuu i i iii yy y y 400 .xn. iii y yy yyyyy uuuu u .tn. y F ii i ii yy yyy y uu ii ɪ ɪ ø ououuuuu 1 .tn. i i i ø o uuu 500 ɪ ɪ øø o ouou ( i n .t`. ɪ e eɪ øø oooo oo ɪɪ ɪ e ø oo ooooo 600 .t`. e ø ø ø ɔ o H z ) e eee ø ø ø øø First element Transition Second element eee e e eø ɔɔ ɔɔɔ First element Transition Second element eee ɔ ɔɔɔ 700 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% eee ø øø ɔɔ 0% First element20% 40%Transition60% Second80% element100% 0% First 20%element 40%Transition60% Second80% element100% e e ø øø ɔɔɔɔɔ 44 800 44 .t`h . e ø ɔɔɔ .t`h . ɔ 131 ɔ 900 131 .t`h . a .t`h . aa 1000 First element Transition Second element Transition Third element a aaaa First element Transition Second element Transition Third element aa 1100 First element Transition Second element Transition Third element First element Transition Second element Transition Third element aa aaa 1200 a a 1300 3.2.2. Formant patterns 1400

Most vowel ellipses occupy distinct positions, For diphthongs .ht. and .th. (Figure 3-5), generally except that there are slight overlaps between and .n. there is only slight or no overlap between the of two groups of speakers as well as and of - .N. .n. .t. elements and vowels .h. and .t., except female .t h.. females. Generally speaking, four vowel heights can Figure 3: Ellipses of .ht32. (top) and .ht21. (bottom) be identified, namely high .h x t., mid-high .d 1 n., of males (left) and females (right). F (in Hz) mid-low .N. and low .`.. Regarding backness, .h x d 2 F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 1. are front vowels, .`. is a central vowel and .N n t. x 200 200 ii iiiiiii 300 h ii iiiiii i u uuuu u i i i 300 u uuuu uuuuu uu t i iiiii uuu ii u u 400 i i uu uu uuuu are back vowels. And can also be a central vowel. iii u u u iii iii u u uuu 400 .1. F u i x u F 1 h i i u t 1 500 ( i n n i u 500 d 1 uu ( i n 600 u u H z ) n 600 N H z ) Lip rounding contrasts in front vowels but not in the 700 1 d N 700 ` 800 800 central vowel and back vowels. Some speakers 900 900 1000 1000 1100 ` 1100 1200 1200 produced a diphthongized .d. (in test word 鞋 ‘shoe’ 1300 1300 1400 1400 51 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 .d .) as indicated by dashed lines. This may result 100 100 x 200 200 from speakers’ attempt to produce the high falling ii iiiii 300 300 h iiiii u i iiii u uu u u t i iiii ii i u u i uu u u u u 400 iiiiii i iiii u u uu u uu i uu u u u 400 u F u u i x u uuu F

1 u t tone and needs further investigation. According to u u 1

500 h 500 ( i n d 1 n uuu ( i n 600 u uu 600 H z ) N 1 H z ) their relative positions, they are transcribed as ZDd\ 700 d n 700 800 N 800 ` 900 900 for males and ZdH\ for females, but it does not indicate 1000 1000 1100 ` 1100 1200 1200 1300 1300 a general gender difference. 1400 1400

Figure 4: Ellipses of .th44. of males (left) and 3.2. Diphthongs and Triphthong females (right).

F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 3.2.1. Temporal structures 200 200 i h i i iii i 300 i 300 i iiii iiiii x u i iiiiii i u uu uuutu ii i i uuuuu uu 400 i i u t uu u i i uu u u 400 F ii u uu h iiiii x u u F 1 u ii i u 1 u 500 u u 500 ( i n i i i u uu ( i n In [6], is associated with tones 44 and 131 , and d 1 n ii u uuuu .ht. . . . . 600 600 H z ) N 1 H z ) - 700 n 700 t d N accounts for around 20% and 40% respectively. 800 800 .h . ` 900 900 1000 1000 1100 ` 1100 But this contrast is less noticeable in current study. 1200 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 200 200 x 300 300 h i i i t i i uu u i i u u i ii ii iii ii uuu uuuu 400 i i i uu u u 400 iii ii uu u u iiii i i i x u u u ii u uu u F h i ii i uuuu u F u 1 i uu uuu t 1 500 i uu 500 3769 d 1 n ( i n iii u ( i n 600 i 600 H z ) i n H z ) N 700 i 1 700 800 d N 800 ` 900 900 1000 1000 1100 1100 1200 ` 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 200 200 i h iiii ii i i x 300 300 i iiiiiiiiii u i iii u uuu uuuutu ii i i uuu u 400 i i uu t uu u i i uu u u 400 F ii u uu h iiiii x u u F 1 u ii i u 1 u 500 u u 500 ( i n i i i u uu ( i n d 1 n ii u uuuu 600 600 H z ) N 1 H z ) 700 d n 700 800 N 800 ` 900 21 900 32 131 Figure 5: Ellipses of1000 .th . of males (left) and1000 Figure 9: Ellipses of .`h . (top) and .`h . (bottom) 1100 ` 1100 1200 1200 1300 1300 females (right). 1400 1400 of males (left) and females (right). F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 100 100 200 200 200 200 h x x 300 300 i i 300 300 h i i i t i i i x i uu i i u u i iii i h i ii ii iii ii uuu uuuuu 400 i i i uu u u 400 ii i t i iii ii uu u u iiii i i i x u u u i i 400 i ii 400 i u u u F i i uu F i i u h i i u u u i F i i F u 1 i uu uu t 1 i i t u i i 1 i 1 500 i uu 500 i i

( i n u ( i n i i i 500 i i 500 d 1 n iii 1 n ( i n ii i ii i i ( i n 600 i 600 i i i H z ) n H z ) 600 n 600 i H z ) i H z ) N 700 i 1 700 d a N 1 aa 700 700 800 N 800 aa d N ` d aaaaa 800 800 900 900 aaaa 900 a 900 aaa ` a 1000 1000 a 1000 a 1000 aaaaaaa a 1100 1100 1100 aaaaaa 1100 1200 ` 1200 aaa 1200 a 1200 1300 1300 1300 ` 1300 1400 1400 1400 1400

F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) -h 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 As shown in Figure 6, male .d . is lower than the 100 100 h 200 200 x 300 300 vowel .d. without overlap. But for females, many data t x i i 400 i i i i h 400 i i i i F i i t F - ii 1 i 1 h i 500

i ( i n 500 ( i n ii i i 1 n i points of .d . are at the same level of .d. and i 600 i 1 n H z ) i 600 H d i i i i i a N i i i i z ) aa a 700 i d iii i 700 a i i N i aaaaa 800 i 800 centralized. i aaaa ` i a 900 900 i a a a a 1000 a a 1000 a aa aa 1100 a a aaaa 1100 a aa aa a Figure 6: Ellipses of of males (left) and females 1200 aa 1200 .dh. 1300 a ` 1300 1400 1400

(right). 32 131 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) Figure 10: Ellipses of (top) and 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 .`t . .`t . 100 100 (bottom) of males (left) and females (right). h 200 200 i F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) iiiii i x 300 h 300 iiii iiii t i 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 ii ii iiii i i i 400 ii iii i x 400 100 100 F i F ii i iiii i t 1 1 ii i

500 500 ( i n n ( i n 200 200 d e 1 e ee 600 n 600 H z ) eee H z ) ee eeeeee e eeee e 1 300 300 eeee e N e e e e h x ee 700 eeee eee e 700 u u t t e e e e e N 400 400 800 e 800 u u u u u ` uu n u F h x F 900 900 uu uu 1 1 d uu 500 u 500 ( i n uuu uu ( i n 1000 1000 d 1 uuuu u u uuuuu u 600 u uu 600

u H z ) H z ) 1100 ` 1100 u u 1200 1200 N 700 d 1 u n 700 1300 1300 aaaaa a 1400 aaaaa aa 800 N 800 1400 `a a 900 a 900 a aa aaa a 1000 aaaaa 1000 a a aaaa 1100 a a a 1100 Some speakers produced as (Figure 7). 1200 a 1200 .dt. Zht\ 1300 ` 1300 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) This may imply a tendency to merge these two 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 200 200 diphthongs. t h x 300 300 u u uuu 400 400 Figure 7: Ellipses of of males (left) and u F h x t F .dt. uu u 1 1 u 500 500 u ( i n ( i n d 1 u u u u u uu n 600 u un 600 H z ) u u H z ) u uu u females (right). u au 700 1 u u 700 aaa d uu uuu uu F (in Hz) F (in Hz) u aa N u 2 2 ` auaaaa a 800 uu N 800 aa a u u 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 aa 900 uuu 900 100 100 a a aaa a a 1000 a aa a 1000 a aaaa aaa 1100 ` aa a 1100 x 200 200 1200 a a 1200 1300 1300 e ee u uu u u 300 300 eeee ee u u 1400 1400 h u u u uuuuu u u u u u u e uu u uu uu uu 400 e x uuu u 400 F e u t h e e u uu t F 44 131 1 eeeee e e e u uuuu 1

ee 500 e e u 500 ( i n e ( i n eeee 1 n eeeeee u uu Figure 11: Ellipses of (top) and 600 n 600 .t`h . .t`h . H z ) e H z ) d e e N 700 1 700 e e 800 d e N 800 (bottom) of males (left) and females (right). ` 900 e 900 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 1000 1000 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 1100 1100 100 100 1200 ` 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 h x 200 200

ii i 300 300 i ii i i ii i t i i t h ii iii 400 i u 400 i i i i i u uu F i u F Although it is transcribed as in impressionistic i i i uu uuu i ii i x u u u uu .nt. i i uuuu u 1 i i iii uuu uuu 1 uu 500 i i uu uu 500 u uuu ( i n uu ( i n 1 u u iiii i u uu u d u n 600 i 600 a a a H z ) H z ) a aa aa N 1 n studies (e.g. [4], [5], [7]), the first element (in Figure aaaaaaa 700 d 700 a a a aa a 800 a N 800 a a aaaa a ` 900 aaaaa 900 aaaaa 8) is centralized and lower than .n.. The acoustic 1000 a 1000 1100 a 1100 1200 a ` 1200 1300 1300 realization of this diphthong can be Zɞt\, ZPt\ and 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 ZNt\, but not Znt\. 100 100 200 200 h x 300 300 Figure 8: Ellipses of of males (left) and i t .nt. i 400 400

u F F ii uu uuu h i x u uu t i i u uuu u 1 uuu uu 1 i u uu 500 u 500 i i u u uuu ( i n i u uu uu ( i n ii i 1 uu u u u u females (right). i i u 600 i i i u 600 n H z ) 1 H z ) d i i uu u n F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) ii i i i a aa ii i i i u ii aaa a a N 700 i d 700 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 i aaa aa i ii aaa a a 800 i i ii N 800 100 100 a a iii i i a 900 i i aaaa 900 a aaaaaa aa 200 200 ` 1000 a aaa a 1000 1100 a a 1100 300 300 1200 a 1200 x uuuu ` h u uuuuu 1300 1300 u uuuuuuut 400 u u 400 u uuuu uuu 1400 1400 F u u F h x u u t 1 u u 1

500 u u 500

( i n u u u ( i n d 1 n uu ooooo 600 600 H z ) o oo o H z ) ooooo o N 1 o oo ooo 700 d oo n 700 Regarding diphthong , many data points of the o o oooooooo .xn. o 800 oo o 800 ` oo oo 900 ooo N 900 1000 1000 two elements are located between vowels .x. and .1. 1100 1100 1200 ` 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 (Figure 12), a formant pattern inconsistent with the

As shown in Figure 9-11, when .`h., .`t. and .t`h. transcription. But in [6], such great inconsistency is are produced with tone 131 , the last elements show not found, though we used the same test word (橋 . . 51 large variation. But when these vowels are produced ‘bridge’ .jxn .). Two speakers in this study with tone .32. or .44., the last elements are generally produced .xn. as a monophthong ZX\ (Figure 13). located around vowel .h. and .d. (for .`-h. and .t`-h.) This may indicate a sound change and the emergence and .n. (for .`-t.). Also, it can be observed that the of a new monophthong in Fuzhou Chinese. More researches are needed to corroborate it. triphthong is usually starts from .n., though it is transcribed as . .t`h.

3770 Figure 12: Ellipses of .xn. of males (left) and 袋 (‘bag’) ZsNx131\ Zst`h131\ females (right). 晬 21 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 21 Zsrt`h \ 100 100 (‘one year old’) 200 200 ZsrNx \ x 21 h yyy y 300 x 300 yyyy y t y 最 yyyyyy y y (‘most’) Zsr1x \ o 400 yyy yyy o 400 F o o F y y oo oo h yy y y yo t 1 oo o 1 y y o o

o o oo o ( i n o o 500 ( i n o oo 500 21 d o 1 n oo o o o o n H 600 H 600 剉 (‘to chop’) Zsrç1x \ z ) N z ) 1 700 d N 700 ` 800 800 21 21 900 900 or 1000 1000 ZsrçNx \ Zsrç1x \ 1100 ` 1100 碎 (‘fragmentary’) 21 1200 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 Zsrçt`h \ 131 131 Figure 13: Formant trajectories and ellipses of .xn. 坐 (‘to sit’) ZrNx \ Zrt`h \ 21 21 (realized as ZX\) of one male (left) and one female 欲 (‘to like’) ZNx \ Z1x \ (right). 5000 5000 Figure 15 presents the vowel ellipses of diphthongs

4000 4000 z ) z ) .1x hd h` tn t`.. It shows that .hd. is generally ( H ( H t- 3000 3000 realized as ZhH\. And . `. has large variation, though e q u n c y e q u n c y f r f r 2000 2000 a n t a n t

m this second element accounts for more than 40% as m o r o r F 1000 F 1000 shown in the temporal structure. It seems that no

0 0 t- 0 0.5016 0 0.5164 specific target is required for . Time (s) Time (s) . `.

F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 Figure 15: Ellipses of .1x hd h` tn t`. of males (left) 200 200 300 300 and females (right). h x t 400 x 400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) F X F h 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 1 1 t

n 500 500 100 100 ( i n

1 ( i n d n N 600 X 600 H z ) H z ) x 200 200 N 700 700 y yyyy d 1 y y yyy 300 300 800 800 y yyyyyy x h y t yy y y 900 900 y 400 y yyyy yyy yy y 400 y y y yyy yyy y F 1000 1000 1 F h y t 1 ` ø 1 y

ø ø 500 500 ( i n 1100 1100 øøøøøø n ( i n ø d ø ø øøø øøø øø øøø 1200 1200 ø ø 600 øøø n 600 H z ) ` H z ) ø ø ø 1300 1300 N ø ø ø 1400 1400 700 d øø ø 700 800 1 N 800 ` 900 900 1000 1000 The author also recorded speeches from 6 speakers 1100 ` 1100 1200 1200 1300 1300 aged above 60 (their data not included in this study) 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 and did not found a similar inconsistency. Figure 14 100 100 200 200 h ii i i i iiii i displays two samples of formant trajectory from them. iiiiiiii i x 300 300 i ee t h ii i i i e i ii e eee 400 iiii ii i x 400 e F i ii F e eee e iii i i e 51 e 1 i e e t 1 e 500 ( i n eee e e e 500 ( i n Figure 14: Formant trajectories of in 1 n eeeeee ee .xn. .jxn . d e eeee n 600 H 600 H

N z ) 1 z ) 700 e N 700 of one male (left) and one female (right) aged above ` 800 d 800 900 900 1000 1000 60. 1100 ` 1100 5000 5000 1200 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 4000 4000 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) z ) z ) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 ( H ( H 100 100 3000 3000 h 200 200 e q u n c y e q u n c y i i i i i x 300 300 f r f r iii iii ii ii t i iii i ii i 2000 2000 iii i i i i a n t a n t 400 i iiii i i 400

F iii x F m m i i t 1 1

n 500 ( i n h 500 ( i n F o r F o r d 1 1000 1000 n

600 H 600 H

N z ) 1 z ) a a a 700 d 700 a a aaaa N 0 0 aa a a aaa ` 800 800 a aa aa 0 0.6034 0 0.3456 900 aaaa 900 a aaaaa Time (s) 1000 a aaaa 1000 Time (s) aa aa a 1100 a 1100 1200 a a 1200 1300 ` 1300 All participants produced the test word for .Nx. (袋 1400 1400 F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 131 131 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 ‘bag’ ) as , which is identical to the 100 100 .sNx . Zst`h \ 200 200

x u 300 300 h t uuu test word for triphthong . Based on the uuu u uuu .t`h. uuuuuuu 400 t u 400

o F F ooooo u uu x u u ooooo 1 h uuuuu 1 o oo uuuuuu oo 500 ( i n ooo o uu 500 ( i n d 1 o o ooooo o n ooo o pronunciations of one native speaker, who is in her 600 H o 600 H

N z ) 1 o n z ) 700 d o o 700 ` 800 N 800 forties and not included in the analysis above, a 900 900 1000 1000 1100 ` 1100 comparison between past and current pronunciations 1200 1200 1300 1300 1400 1400 is made as presented in Table 1. The differences may F2 (in Hz) F2 (in Hz) 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 35003000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 400 100 100 imply that .Nx. has merged with .t`h. and .1x. in 200 200 x 300 300 h t open syllable, and further investigation is required. 400 400 F n u F h x t 1 uuu uu u 1

u u ( i n u u 500 ( i n u uu 500 d 1 uuuuuuuuu uu uuuu uu N uuu u uu uuuu H a u 600 H 600 a aa u u z ) Table 1: A comparison between past and current a a z ) 1 u u a a a 700 d a n 700 aaaaaaaaa a aa aa a 800 a N 800 aa a a pronunciations of . ` 900 aa a 900 .Nx. a a aa 1000 a aa a 1000 1100 aaa a a 1100 1200 1200 Words Past Current 1300 ` 1300 1400 1400

塊 21 Zst`h \ (‘a monetary unit’) 21 5. CONCLUSION ZsNx \ 21 對 Zs1x \ or (‘opposite side’) Zst`h21\ This study provides an acoustic description of the 131 vowels in Fuzhou Chinese and reveals some potential 代 (‘generation’) Zst`h \ ZsNx131\ sound changes. Further studies are needed for 兌 131 (‘to cash’) Zs1x \ corroboration.

3771 6. REFERENCES

[1] Boersma, P., Weenink, D. 2017. Praat: doing phonetics by computer version 6.0.35. [2] Chao, Y. R. 1930. A system of tone letters. Le Maître phonétique, 45, 24-27. [3] Chen, Z. P. 1996. Analysis of Urban and Suburban Pronunciations of Fuzhou Chinese (福州话城乡异读字音分析). Journal of Fujian Normal University 1, 80- 83. (In Chinese.) [4] Chen, Z. P. 1998. A Study of Fuzhou Chinese (福州方言研究). Fujian: Fujian Renmin Chubanshe. (In Chinese.) [5] Feng, A. Z. 1993. The Checked Tones in Fuzhou Chinese (福州方言的入声). Fangyan (Dialect) 2, 101- 118. (In Chinese.) [6] Peng, G. G. 2011. A Phonetic Study of Fuzhou Chinese. Doctoral dissertation. City University of Hong Kong. [7] Yuan, J. H. 1960. A Survey of Chinese Dialects (汉语方言概要). Beijing: Wenzi Gaige Chubanshe. (In Chinese.)

______1 This study employs the tone letters described in [2], where the tones are numbered from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). And this study uses the values determined in [6] by acoustic analysis. 2 Since there is no corpus for Fuzhou Chinese, this is based on the experience of the author (who was born and raised in Fuzhou).

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