Contact-Induced Phonological Change in Taiwanese THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alexander Takenobu Ratte Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2011 Master's Examination Committee: Marjorie K. M. Chan, Advisor Donald Winford Copyright by Alexander Takenobu Ratte 2011 Abstract This thesis is a study of language contact in Taiwan. Previous research (Ratte, 2009) has shown that voiced obstruents /g/ /b/ /dz/ are not being articulated by bilingual speakers of Taiwanese Southern Min and Mandarin, and suggests that these sound changes could be due to influence from Mandarin. This study investigates contact between the two languages in the framework of imposition proposed by Van Coetsem (1988). Recordings were collected of 15 young Taiwanese adults reading a word list, and their pronunciations were examined for evidence of contact-induced shift. The study finds that bilinguals from all over Taiwan are exhibiting the same shift, and that virtually all sound changes can be attributed to the imposition of Mandarin phonology, followed by analogy to Mandarin cognates for the choice of strategy. Mandarin agentivity on the part of bilinguals implies Mandarin dominance in Van Coetsem’s framework, leading to the conclusion that bilinguals in this study were less proficient in Taiwanese. Close scrutiny of Taiwanese society in the context of language contact also offers evidence contradicting a linguistic revival of Taiwanese, and suggests that there is little motivation for bilinguals to maintain Taiwanese. The study concludes that bilinguals are shifting towards Mandarin dominance, and concludes that both the continued social dominance of Mandarin and the emergence of a “New Taiwanese” identity may be responsible for these shifts. ii Acknowledgments First and foremost, many thanks to Marjorie Chan for her guidance over these past two years and for her limitless patience. “Ma Laoshi” has been a nurturing and selfless advisor, and it is without a doubt that this thesis would not be what it is now without her advice, her prodding and her passion for the field. I would also like to express my gratitude to Donald Winford, whose course sparked my interest in the field of language contact and whose clarity of thought has been a guide and an inspiration in writing this thesis. The very beginnings of this thesis go back several years, for which I have Neil Kubler to thank. I am always grateful to “Gu Laoshi” for first introducing me to the world of Chinese Linguistics, for teaching me Taiwanese, and for his overall guidance during my time as an undergraduate. Thanks also to Nathan Sanders, who oversaw my first foray into the study of linguistics. I am also grateful to my classmates Seth Weiner, Rongbin Zheng, Litong Chen and Yutian Tan, not only for their input throughout the stages of this thesis and for lending me their ears, but also for providing an academic community from which I have learned a great deal. I would also like to thank Ju-yin Wang, Fu-ju Wu, Yi-zhen Chen, Ying-hua Hsiao, Carly Peselnick, Ren-Horng Wang, Ya-ting Shih, Yun Lee and Evelyn Huang for helping me find participants for my study. And finally, thanks to Joshua Francis, for holding my hand and giving me the strength to finish. iii Vita 2001 - 2004 ...................................................Iolani School 2009................................................................B.A. Linguistics, Williams College 2009 - 2010 ....................................................University Fellowship 2010 - 2011 ....................................................Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship 2009 to present ..............................................Graduate Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii Vita ..................................................................................................................................... iv Fields of Study ................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Taiwan ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.2 Motivations for this Thesis ................................................................................. 2 1.1.3 Goals and Research Questions ........................................................................... 4 1.1.4 Some Limitations ................................................................................................ 6 1.1.5 Romanization, Abbreviations and Terminology ................................................ 7 1.1.6 Organization of Chapters .................................................................................... 8 1.2 Background on Taiwan and Taiwanese .................................................................... 9 v 1.2.1. Benshengren vs. Waishengren ......................................................................... 10 1.3 Taiwan Pre-1987 ..................................................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Review of Literature Pre-1987 ......................................................................... 17 1.4 Taiwan Post-1987 .................................................................................................... 18 1.4.1 Taiwanese Post-1987 ........................................................................................ 19 1.4.2 Mandarin Post-1987 ......................................................................................... 20 1.4.3 Review of Literature Post-1987 ........................................................................ 21 1.4.4 Is Taiwanese really gaining prestige? ............................................................... 25 1.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 2: Theoretical Background .................................................................................. 29 2.1.1 Lexical vs. Structural Transfer ......................................................................... 31 2.2 Van Coetsem’s Framework ..................................................................................... 34 2.2.1 Linguistic vs. Social Dominance ...................................................................... 35 2.2.2 Source language vs. Recipient language .......................................................... 35 2.2.3 Rationale for Employing Van Coetsem’s Framework ..................................... 38 2.3 Affinity .................................................................................................................... 39 2.4 Analogy in Language Contact ................................................................................. 41 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3: Research Methodology.................................................................................... 43 vi 3.1 Affinity as applied to Taiwanese and Mandarin ..................................................... 43 3.2 Analogy as applied to Taiwanese and Mandarin .................................................... 47 3.3 Comparison of Taiwanese and Mandarin Phonology ............................................. 47 3.3.1 Taiwanese Consonant Inventory ...................................................................... 48 3.3.2 Taiwanese Mandarin Consonant Inventory ...................................................... 50 3.4 Analogy Between Cognates .................................................................................... 54 3.4.1 Taiwanese [b] ~ Mandarin [m] ......................................................................... 55 3.4.2 Taiwanese [m] ~ Mandarin [m] ........................................................................ 57 3.4.3 Taiwanese [b] ~ Mandarin [w] ......................................................................... 58 3.4.4 Conclusion: Taiwanese /b/ ................................................................................ 60 3.4.5 Taiwanese [g] ~ Mandarin null onset (Proto *ŋ-) ............................................ 60 3.4.6 Do “Syllabic Finals” Have Onsets? .................................................................. 63 3.4.7 Taiwanese [g]