On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese

Yao, Yao; Chang, Charles B.

doi:10.1353/lan.2016.0031

Cited by 61 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, even when scholars take care to distinguish between near-mergers and complete mergers (Bullock & Nichols, 2017; Di Paolo & Faber, 1990; Faber & Di Paolo, 1995; Nunberg, 1980; Trudgill, 1974), there still seems to be evidence for the split of a complete merger due to dialect contact. Specifically, studies have documented the split of the cot-caught merger among Canadians in NYC (Nycz, 2011, 2013), cot-caught merger among mobile New Englanders (Johnson, 2010), /w/-/v/ merger in lesser-known Englishes (Trudgill et al, 2003), nurse-north merger in Tyneside English (Maguire, 2008; Maguire et al, 2013; Watt, 1998), and /ɛ/ merger into /ɛ/-/e/ in Shanghainese due to language contact with Mandarin (Yao & Chang, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The possibility of the split of a merger is disputed in the literature under the conventions of Garde's Principle, which holds that once a merger has occurred, it will persist, and Herzog's Principle, which states that mergers expand at the expense of distinctions (Labov, 1994). However, a growing number of studies demonstrate that, with adequate dialect contact, a split may occur (Johnson, 2010;Maguire, 2008;Maguire, Clark, & Watson, 2013;Nycz, 2011Nycz, , 2013Trudgill, Schreier, Long, & Williams, 2003;Yao & Chang, 2016). Nevertheless, the variationist literature informing theories on mergers and splits is biased towards the phonology of English, specifically vowels (Gordon, 2013(Gordon, :204, 2015.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The findings that several communities have shifted from ceceo to distinción have led scholars to suggest that the demerger of for the split of a complete merger due to dialect contact. Specifically, studies have documented the split of the COT-CAUGHT merger among Canadians in NYC (Nycz, 2011(Nycz, , 2013, COT-CAUGHT merger among mobile New Englanders (Johnson, 2010), =w=-=v= merger in lesser-known Englishes (Trudgill et al, 2003), NURSE-NORTH merger in Tyneside English (Maguire, 2008;Maguire et al, 2013;Watt, 1998), and =ɛ= merger into =ɛ=-=e= in Shanghainese due to language contact with Mandarin (Yao & Chang, 2016). Maguire et al (2013:234) posited that Labov's claim that no split has occurred at the level of a language is too strong (also Nycz, 2013:328) and that, instead of speaking about languages, one should speak about individual phonological systems, as intra-and interspeaker variability impacts an individual's phonological knowledge.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The split of a fricative merger due to dialect contact and societal changes: A sociophonetic study on Andalusian Spanish read-speech

Regan

2020

Lang Var Change

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In line with a growing body of literature suggesting that mergers are reversible given the adequate dialect contact and social context, the present study examines the phonetic split of the Andalusian Spanish merger of ceceo into the Castilian Spanish feature of distinción. Specifically, the study analyzes 19,420 coronal fricatives produced by 80 Western Andalusian speakers from the city of Huelva and the nearby town of Lepe using a reading passage and wordlist. The analyses find that leaders of this change are younger speakers, women, those with more educational attainment, those of service and professional occupations, and those from Huelva. The implications are that large-scale societal changes have allowed for the split of the ceceo merger into distinción in both speech communities, albeit at different rates of change due to their unique socioeconomic histories, demonstrating that a split is possible given the right social context.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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The split of a fricative merger due to dialect contact and societal changes: A sociophonetic study on Andalusian Spanish read-speech

Regan

2020

Lang Var Change

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“…Indeed, a growing body of literature demonstrates the utility of employing computer modeling in investigating language change (e.g. de Boer, 2001;Wichmann, 2008;Gong et al, 2008;Baxter et al, 2009;Gong, 2010;Gong et al, 2010;Blythe and Croft, 2012;Gong et al, 2012;Gong et al, 2013;Wedel et al, 2013;Chirkova and Gong, 2014;Gong et al, 2014;Jansson et al, 2015;Wang and Minett, 2005;Yao and Chang, 2016;Zhang and Gong, 2014). Simulation provides powerful new methods to explore linguistic data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling change in contact settings

Chirkova

Gong

2019

Lang. Dyn. Change

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Convergence is an oft-used notion in contact linguistics and historical linguistics. Yet it is problematic as an explanatory account for the changes it represents. In this study, we model one specific case of convergence (Duoxu, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language with 9 last speakers) to contribute to a more systematic understanding of the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. The goals are (1) to address the role of some linguistic and social factors assumed to have an effect on the process of convergence, and (2) to test the following explanations of empirical observations related to phonological convergence: (a) the loss of phonological segments in a language that has undergone convergence is correlated with the relative frequency and markedness of these segments in the combined bilingual repertoire, and (b) widespread bilingualism is a prerequisite for convergence. The results of our agent-based simulation affirm the importance of frequency and markedness of phonological segments in the process of convergence. At the same time, they suggest that the explanation related to widespread bilingualism may not be valid. Our study suggests computer simulations as a promising tool for investigation of complex cases of language change in contact settings.Convergence, agent-based modeling, bilingualism, phonology, markedness, social factors 1 Duoxu, Lizu, and Ersu are currently classified as dialects of the same language, Ersu (e.g. Sun, 1983Sun, , 2001, and, for that reason, share the same ISO 639-3 code (ers). Given that Duoxu, Lizu, and Ersu are not mutually intelligible, we regard them as separate languages rather than dialects of one language (cf. Yu, 2012: 1). 2 The phonological history of Mandarin Chinese, including its important regional variety, SWM, is well documented and understood (e.g. Norman, 1999; Yuan, 2001 and references therein). Notably, SWM is the most homogeneous of all Mandarin groups, whose consonant system, as attested synchronically, has not undergone major change since the 18 th century when Duoxu came in contact with SWM.

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“…It is usually taken as the typical example of the Wu dialects of Chinese. It has also been variously referred to as Shanghai , Shanghai dialect and Shanghainese [8,12,14,15,16].…”

Section: Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the Register Contrast in Shanghai Chinese

Tian¹,

Kuang²

2016

5th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2016)

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Earlier studies claimed that the contrastive tonal registers in the Shanghai dialect of Chinese were distinguished by contrastive phonation types, with the lower register showing breathier phonation. However, more recent studies found that younger speakers of Shanghai Chinese did not use phonation cues to contrast the tonal registers. The different results between the studies may indicate an ongoing sound change: phonation contrasts are merging among younger speakers. To better understand the phonetic realization of the tonal registers in Shanghai Chinese and to investigate whether a sound change is underway, speakers from both the older generation and the younger generation were recruited to produce pairs of words in different registers. Simultaneous audio and EGG signals were collected, and extensive acoustic and articulatory measurements were extracted. Significant age difference was found. Older speakers reliably produce contrastive phonation types for different registers, as demonstrated by significant differences in the overall spectral slope and the periodicity in acoustic signals, and the contact quotient in EGG signals. The lower register is breathier. In contrast, younger speakers do not produce breathier phonation for the lower register. This study provides evidence for the suggestion that Shanghai Chinese is gradually losing the breathy voice associated with the lower register.

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On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese

Cited by 61 publications

References 39 publications

The split of a fricative merger due to dialect contact and societal changes: A sociophonetic study on Andalusian Spanish read-speech

The split of a fricative merger due to dialect contact and societal changes: A sociophonetic study on Andalusian Spanish read-speech

Modeling change in contact settings

Revisiting the Register Contrast in Shanghai Chinese

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