570 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
6.1.5. Guiding Gonggu
In studying the speech of the older and younger speaker of Guiding Gonggu, we found the following differences:
1. On some lexical items the younger speaker used Chinese, whereas the older speaker used
Bouyei. 2.
With regard to initials, the older speaker produced the phone [c] sometimes [cj] on some words. On these words, the younger speaker produced [
sb]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘morning’ c
M22Fs24 sb`M22Gs24
‘evening meal’ c
t02 sb`t102
‘table’ co
13 sbn13
‘egg’ c
h22 sbh23
‘three-legged stand’ c
hM02 sbh=M103
‘bamboo hat’ c
o24 sbo24
‘scissors’ cj
t02 sbh`t13
There were only two instances where the older speaker produced [ sb] ‘seedling’ [sb`13] and
‘3 p. plural’ [ sbnM22 sh24]. The initial transcribed for these words in BYDCBG is [sb].
On a few words, the younger speaker produced [ G] instead of [F], as in ‘morning’
[ Gs24].
With regard to palatalized and labialized initials, on some words the younger speaker produced, the secondary consonant was weakened to a vowel. For example, ‘vegetable’
[ ohj24] versus [oif24] in the older person’s speech, ‘to pass over’ [jt`22] versus
[ jv`22], and ‘wide’ [jt`M22] versus [jv`M22]. For the two words ‘seven’ and ‘ten’, the
younger speaker produced the initial [ sb], whereas the older speaker produced [sr]. In
addition, there were just a few examples of other differences in initials e.g., ‘work’ [ FnM24]
versus [ vM24].
3. With regard to the nucleus, there is very little difference in the simple vowels on open
syllables. The younger speaker sometimes produced [ L] for the phoneme X. There is greater
difference in the complex nucleus, and in vowels in closed syllables.
6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 571
Whenever the older speaker produced [ B], the younger speaker produced [t`]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘moon’ YBM42fc=m24 Yt`M31fc=m24
‘bank river’ jBm22 jt`M22
‘tail’ jBM13YX=M24 jt`M13Y=:M24
‘bird’ YBf02 yt`j23
‘to fall’ sBf24 st`f24
Where the older speaker produced [o], the younger speaker produced [ t] or [ua] there is
only one item on which the younger speaker produced [o], ‘weaving machine’ [ srnM103].
Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘late’ kns24 kts24
‘to go down’ YnM02 YtM103
‘forest’ fcnM24 fctM24
‘to stand’ rnM02 rtM13
For most of the instances where the older speaker produced [ tM], the younger speaker
produced [ nM]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘rainbow’ stM02 snM13
‘tiger’ jtf24 jnf24
‘brain’ ftf24 fnf24
‘belly’ stM20 snM20
‘intestines’ stM20fcX24 snM20fc`L24
On some of the words where the older speaker produced [ ], the younger speaker produced
[a] instead:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘evening meal’ c
t02 sb`t102
‘silver’ M`m02 M`m201
‘rice’ F`t20 F`t20
‘tree’ uh20 u`h20
Most likely, the younger speakers do not distinguish between [a] and [ ].
572 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
There are other slight differences in the complex vowels and in closed syllables. The younger speaker at times produced a diphthong with [
=] as secondary vowel on words, where the older speaker produced only a simple vowel as in ‘wind’ [
yt=l113]. In addition, there is infrequent variation between [
=] and [], [=:] and [X=], and [i] and [H]. These variations are simply allophonic.
4. Tonal differences involve pitch difference only, and occur mainly on the 2
nd
tone. For the 2
nd
tone, the older speaker produced [13], whereas the younger speaker produced a dipping tone [213][214], or a kind of extended tone [223][224]. For the 6
th
tone the older speaker produced a higher pitch overall [53] versus [42] that the younger speaker produced.
6.1.6. Luodian Poqiu
