보통화 음절말 비자음의 변이 양상

A Study on the variation of syllable-final nasals in Putonghua

The purpose of this paper is to claim that considering syllable-final nasals in Putonghua, region-based variations are observed among young Chinese speakers of different dialects. By reviewing previous studies on various regional differences on Putonghua, we first discuss that in terms of language contact, Putonghua varies along with dialectical regions, and especially, the variations reflect each dialect’s own specific and systematic properties. In this line, to buttress the existence of Putonghua’s regional varieties on syllable-final nasals, we conduct several production and perception tests to young speakers of Xiangtan dialect and Taixing dialect since unlike Putonghua, these dialects allow only one nasal in the syllable-final position. From these experiment results, we find that generally, the speakers of these dialects show difficulties in realizing syllable-final nasals in Putonghua, which we can trace back on the influence of each dialect syllable structure. During the interview of Taixing dialect informants, based on some auditory cues, it is also observed that in this region, the syllable-final nasal in Putonghua cannot be categorized as an alveolar or velar nasal consonant.