Revisiting Mandarin ‘apical vowels’: An articulatory and acoustic study

@article{LeeKim2014RevisitingM,
  title={Revisiting Mandarin ‘apical vowels’: An articulatory and acoustic study},
  author={Sang-Im Lee-Kim},
  journal={Journal of the International Phonetic Association},
  year={2014},
  volume={44},
  pages={261 - 282}
}
  • Sang-Im Lee-Kim
  • Published 25 November 2014
  • Physics
  • Journal of the International Phonetic Association
The present study investigates the articulatory and acoustic properties of the unique apical segments in Mandarin Chinese that occur after dental and retroflex sibilants instead of the high front vowel [i]. An ultrasound study showed that the segments are homorganic with the preceding dental and retroflex sibilants. However, an acoustic study showed that they have a periodic waveform and clear formant structures with no inherent frication noise, indicating that they are not ‘voiced fricatives… 
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Citation Type

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Diphthongization and apicalization are two commonly detected phonetic and/or phonological processes for the development of high vowels, with the process of apicalization being of particular…
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    INTERSPEECH
  • 2020
TLDR
It is argued that the present study has gone some way towards enhancing the understanding of Mandarin segmental phonology in general and has introduced two new opening diphthongs /eɛ ɤʌ/ in the inventory, which have traditionally been described as monophthongs.
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Although burst spectral measures and formant transitions do not consistently differentiate retroflexes from dentals in some vowel contexts, stop release duration, and total stop duration reliably differentiate Punjabi retroflex and dental stops across all word contexts and vocalic environments.
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This study reports two experiments that explore the acoustic cues relevant to the contrast between the Mandarin retroflex series /tʂ/, / tʂ(h)/ and /ʂ/ in continuous speech.
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It is argued that other articulatory adjustments may also limit frication in apical vowels, but that these strategies are implemented variably such that some speakers occasionally exhibit fricative noise.
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Results showed that the [s–ʂ] merger varies across speakers and may also be conditioned by vowel contexts and that articulatory mergers may not be entirely reflected in CoG values, suggesting that auxiliary articulatory gestures may be employed to maintain the acoustic contrast.
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