556 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
4. The occurrence of palatalization is also less than in the 1950s, with [j] changing to [i] in the
secondary onset position. For example, ‘vegetable’ [ oi`j6] has changed to [oh`j6], ‘at’
[ fit4] has changed to [fht4], etc.
5. Of the areas where [w] and [v] are sometimes interchangeably used, areas that have a high
amount of Han contact tend to produce [w] more often than [v]. For example, in Qinglong Zitang the older speakers produced [w] about 75 percent of the time, and the younger speaker
about 88 percent of the time. In Zhenning Shitouzhai, however, the older speaker was a retired school teacher and produced mainly [w], but the younger speaker produced mainly [v].
6. With regard to long vowels, many places tend toward “lighter” syllables less length, and a
certain few places have virtually lost vowel length distinction, especially on syllables closed with [p], [t], or [k]. For example, in Wangmo about 20 percent of the words with historically
long vowels are no longer than the short vowels. In that place, for the words the older speakers produced [o:], the younger speaker produced short [o] or [
B] about 45 percent of the time. Of the words that the older speakers produced [
B:] or [o:], the younger speaker produced short vowels 68.7 percent of the time. These variations are not systematic across lects, however.
Also, in many places, for the [e][ D] vowels, younger speakers produced long vowels on a few
words, but older speakers never produced an [e] or [ D] with significant length.
7. Older speakers in general produced the [H] allophone of i more often than younger speakers.
8. Phonemes with the most frequent occurrence of allophones were generally vowels. In addition
to points 6 and 7 mentioned above
•
a often has allophones [ ], [C], and [?] in the 3
rd
lect area
•
D has the allophone [e]
•
o varies with [ua] or [ t], and
•
u often varies with [ T] or [t=].
With respect to the various data points, each has its own characteristic differences between the speech of older and younger people. In some places, there is difference in the production of final
stops and in the production of tones as well.
6.1. Differences of the speech of older speakers versus younger speakers in specific data points
6.1.1. Ceheng Huarong
In studying the speech of the older and younger speaker of Ceheng Huarong, we found the following differences:
1. On some lexical items, the younger speaker borrowed Chinese but not the older, and on a few
items the older speaker borrowed but not the younger. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘paternal grandfather’ ot4 ihD20 Chinese
‘again’ it13 Chinese
ln4
6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 557
2. With regard to the initials, there are relatively few allophones. Older speakers had 12 instances
of labialized initials, whereas younger speakers had labialization on only five of these. Labialization in younger speaker’s speech in this area is probably disappearing.
3. With regard to the nucleus, the simple vowels in open syllables are relatively stable in the older
speaker’s speech. In the younger speaker’s speech, o often varies with [ T], [Tn], and [ou].
Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘well’ fan4 faT4
‘mountain’ on0 oT
‘pig sty’ Gn5lt0 wT5lt0
‘knee’ l`1wn4 l`1wnT0
‘new’ ln4 lTn4
The variations on complex vowels or syllables with finals are more significant in both younger and older speech. The length on [a:] in the younger speaker’s speech was generally
shortened in multisyllable words, and there was also some variation between [a] and [ ].
Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘dust’ m`:l5lnm4 m`M5lt`m4
‘roof’ mDM1p`:m1 mDM1p`m1
‘scissors’ s`t0 s`:t0
‘ghost’ e`:M1 e`M1
‘lightning’ fi`o6oi`2 fio6oi`2
‘mistfog’ ko7ln4 k`o7ln4
D infrequently has an [e] allophone in both the speech of the older and younger speaker. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘to hang’ udm0 uD:m0
‘to be’ sDM0 sd:M0
‘to hurt’ sbDs6 sbd:M0
‘expensive’ odM1 oDM1
558 6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers
About half the occurrences of [ nM] in the older speaker’s speech were produced as [tM] in
the younger person’s speech. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘moon’ pnM5fchDm0 ptM5fchDm0
‘rainbow’ bnM1 btM1
‘to boil’ pnM0 ptM0
‘lock’ knM2 ktM2
‘to continue’ snM3s`l0 stM3s`l0
‘to fight’ snM3w`:h3 stM3w`:h3
‘drum’ sbnM0 sbTM0
In addition, there were a very few occurrences of [ t`M] ‘weaving machine’ [bt`M1], and
[ n:M] ‘two’ [Sn:M0] and ‘to work’ [jt=5 wn:M0].
In both older and younger speaker’s speech, u sometimes had the allophone [ T], or [t=]:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘glutinous rice’ bTs7 bts7
‘to stand’ fct=m0 fcTm0
‘to forget’ kTl1 ktl1
‘rabbit’ ¯ts7sn4
¯t=s7sn4 On a few lexical items that the older speaker produced an [o] nucleus, the younger speaker
produced [ T] or [u], similar to [nM] versus [tM]. Examples:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘person’ wnm1 wTm1
‘beard’ lnl5 lTl5
‘fat’ fnm4 fT=m4
‘dust’ m`:l5 lnm4 m`M5 lt`m4
Regarding the complex vowels with [i], [u], or [ X] in the initial vowel position and either
[ ], [=], or [D] in the secondary position, there is infrequent variation in the secondary position
when comparing younger and older speech. Examples:
6. Comparison of speech between younger and older speakers 559
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘mosquito net’ pho6 ph=o6
‘umbrella’ khM2 khM2
‘to mend’ uX=M2 uXM0
‘goat’ itM1 it=M1
‘to borrow’ bhD4 bh=4
‘blood’ khDs7 kh=s7
There are a few other examples of allophonic differences:
English Older speaker
Younger speaker
‘to carry with hand’ pht2 phDt2
‘quick’ pht1 ph=t1
‘quickly’ phDt1mth5 pht1mnh5
‘gold’ sbHl0 sbhl0
‘money’ bdm1 bhm1
‘bird’ pBj7 pnj7
‘mosquito’ mhM1 md:M1
‘sick’ ohM5 oHM5
‘narrow’ bM1 bhm1
There is very little difference in production of tone in the younger person’s and older person’s speech, though random variations such as [33] versus [44] or [35] versus [24] do occur.
In summary, variation occurs mainly in the nucleus. There is a tendency for younger speakers to produce [
tM], whereas older speakers produce [nM], and o in the older person’s speech often tends to u [
T] in the younger person’s speech.
6.1.2. Duyun Fuxi
