6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 579
3. The older speaker produced [44] for tone 5, just a bit higher than the [33] pitch of tone 1. The
younger speaker produced a higher pitch for tone 5, [45] or [55]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘well’ ut33 ut34
‘stool’ s`M33 s`M34
‘cotton’ eD33 eD44
‘pot’ sbn33 sbn44
There are a few instances where the younger speaker produced [44] for the 5
th
tone, such as ‘heart’ [
st`M33]. Sometimes the pitch on the 7
th
tone was rising on one speaker’s word, and level on the other speaker’s word:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘sunlight’ fa=m22 fcs24 fc=s44 sb=t44
‘tiger’ jnj33 jnj34
‘flea’ fcDh33 ls24 l`s34
‘lungs’ e=s33 e=s34
The pitches on the other tone categories had very little variation between the speech of the older and younger speaker. Most of the variation occurs in the initial and nucleus, with the
tonal differences being minimal.
6.1.8. Wangmo Fuxing
In studying the speech of the older and younger speaker of Wangmo Fuxing, we found the following differences:
1. There are a total of seven lexical items where the older and younger speakers used different
words. Most of these are instances of synonyms or near synonyms. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘often’ bh=1 bh=1 jt4 jt4
‘tender grass’ ¯`0
¯h=2 ‘to like’
f`M4i`:M5 lh2 2.
With regard to initials, there is variation of the phonemes p and S with their various allophones between the speech of the older and younger person. Examples:
580 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘to steal’ pj7 y[j7
‘to cut meat’ pt=m4 y[n:m4
‘six’ pnj6 y[nj7
‘root’ y[`5 p`5
‘intestines’ rh0 r[h2
‘lock’ St`2 r[v`2
‘matchmaker’ r[O4 rO4
‘two’ rn:M0 Sn:M0
There is free variation between these phones. In the older person’s speech, [ y[] only occurs
twice ‘root’ [ y[`5] and ‘long’ [y[h1], and [Y] only occurs once ‘owl’ [Ynj7 i`5 GX5]. It
is apparent that the [ p] phone is the central phone and is fairly stable. In the younger person’s
speech [ y[] occurs somewhat more frequently than in the older person’s speech, though [p] is
produced most frequently. We found that
S has the allophones [S], [s], and [r[], with [S] occurring most frequently in the older person’s speech, but [
r[] occurring most frequently in the younger person’s speech. Labialization occurs more frequently in the older person’s speech. For example:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘rain’ [
wv=m0] [wTm0] ‘to work’
[ jv=33wn:M13] [jt=22wnM13]
‘already’ [
jv`4 oh0] [jt`4 ih=4] The younger person is losing this phonetic characteristic.
3. With regard to the nucleus, there is not much variation of vowels in open syllables between the
older and younger person’s speech, but there is a relatively significant amount of variation in the complex vowels and finals. Where the older speaker produced [
X], the younger speaker sometimes produced [
L] or [h=]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘to breathe’ sDt5 bX0 sDt4 bh=0
‘dry’ GX4 wL4
‘when’ bX1 kX1 bh=1 kL1
6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 581
There is much more variation in the vowels of complex nuclei. Variation between [a] and [
] is common:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘stool’ s`M4 sM4
‘tree’ e`h3 eh3
‘leaf’ fa`X0 faL0
‘head’ sb`t2 sbt2
‘back’ k`M0 kM0
‘liver’ s`o6 so6
Within the older speaker’s speech alone there is a fair amount of variation between these two phones. There are also instances where the older speaker produced [
] and the younger speaker produced [a]:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘lightning’ fio6oi`2 fi`o6oi`2
‘liquor’ kt2 k`t2
‘ink’ pl3lj7 p`l3l`j7
‘wash clothes’ S`j7 r`j
‘diligent’ pj6pDM1 p`j6pDM1
Vowel length is not as frequent in the younger person’s speech. Where the older speaker produced [a:], the younger speaker often did not. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘morning’ g`:s6 w`s6
‘chin’ w`:M1 w`M1
‘ghost’ e`:M1 e`M1
‘return’ s`:t4 s`t4
There are also instances where the younger speaker produced [a:] and the older speaker did not:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘goiter’ f`h0 f`:h
‘socks’ l`s7 l`:s7
‘axe’ u`m0 u`:m0
‘this’ j`h4mDh3 j`:h4mDh3
The length on this vowel in both the older and younger person’s speech has a tendency to be weakened.
582 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
There is variation of length in the phones [o] and [ B], and [o:] or [B:]. Examples of items
on which the older speaker had length but the younger speaker did not:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘day’ Mn:m1 MBm1
‘work’ wn:M0 wnM0
‘smoke’ wn:m1 wBm1
‘bow’ jn:M0 jBM0
Examples of items on which the younger speaker had length but the older speaker did not:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘table’ bnM1 bn:M1
‘thorn’ fBm0 fB:m0
‘bird nest’ ptM1 pn:M1
‘error’ knM0 kn:M0
‘to go down’ pnM1 pB:M1
There is no phonemic length distinction on these particular vowels, length seems to be simply a phonetic variation on some nasal final words.
There are instances where the younger speaker produced length on [ D], but the older
speaker did not:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘moon’ pnM5 fchDm0 pnM5 fchD:m0
‘to swim’ khDt5 s`5 kD:t5 s`5
‘one’ fcDt0 fcD:t0
‘some’ on1 fcDt0 on1 fcD:t0
‘crafty’ fDm4 fD:m4
For the nuclei [ th], [tDh] that the older speaker produced, the younger speaker tended to
produce [oi]:
6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 583
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘bowl’ sth3 snh3
‘sugar cane’ fth3 fnh3
‘bear’ lT=h0 lnh0
‘to ride’ jtDh5 jnh5
‘left’ STh3 rnh3
‘garlic’ Snh4 r[n:h4
‘mortar’ stDh5 snh5
In the older person’s speech there are a few occurrences of [ nM] which the younger speaker
produced as [ tM]:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘rainbow’ e`M1bnM1 e`M1btM1
‘belly’ snM3 stM3
‘to fight’ snM3w`:h3 stM3w`:h3
‘crooked, winding’ jnM4jn1 jtM4jn1
In the older person’s speech, i → [H]__C
stop. This rule did not occur in the younger person’s speech. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘broom’ sbHs6¯t1 sbhs6¯t1
‘duck’ oHs6 ohs6
‘claw’ pHo7 pho7
‘knife’ lHs7 lhs7
[ T] occurs in the speech of both the older and younger speaker, generally before a final
nasal:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘wind’ ptl1 pTl1
‘beard’ lTl3 ltl5
‘to holdhug’ fTl3 ftl3
‘bean’ st= sT=5
4. For the 6
th
tone, the older speaker varied between [33] and [44], producing [44] more fre- quently. The younger speaker produced only [33]. This variation in the older person’s speech
also occurred on the 8
th
tone, though [33] occurred more frequently. The younger speaker produced only [33] for this tone value.
584 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
In summary, the older and younger person’s speech is very similar, with differences lying mainly in complex and lengthened vowels.
6.1.9. Zhenning Shitouzhai