LENITION IN TAIWANESE SOUTHERN MIN AT THE SYNTAX-PHONOLOGY INTERFACE

• Published in: Journal of Chinese Linguistics Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 308 - 337
• Main Author: Hsieh, Feng-fan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Journal of Chinese Linguistics Publication Office 01.04.2025; The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
• Subjects: 元音间浊化; Lenition; 句法与音系介面; 台湾闽南语; Electroglottography; 电子声门仪; Intervocalic voicing; 弱化; Syntax-Phonology Interface; Taiwanese Southern Min
• ISSN: 0091-3723; 2411-3484
• DOI: 10.1353/jcl.2025.a963399

This paper examines the phonetics and phonology of lenition in Taiwanese Southern Min, focusing on intervocalic voicing as a crucial manifestation. To systematically explore the phonetic realizations of intervocalic voicing, recognized widely as a typical instantiation of lenition, an electroglottography (EGG) study was conducted. This study manipulated (i) morphosyntactic junctures (word-internal, phrase-internal, and cross-phrasal), (ii) places of articulation (labial, coronal, and dorsal), and (iii) speaking rates (slow and fast) to derive insights into the phenomenon in question. Our findings reveal a robust lexical-functional asymmetry: Intervocalic voicing predominantly occurs in functional elements while being systematically suppressed in lexical words. In comparison, other factors, such as junctures and speaking rates, have a relatively insignificant influence on intervocalic voicing, which contradicts the previous impressionistic results that indicated otherwise. The disparity between lexical and functional elements is attributable to the less stringent faithfulness requirements on functional elements. To elaborate, within a stress-driven analysis of lenition, the unstressed status of functional elements compared to lexical words may contribute to increased gestural overlap between adjacent vowels. This overlap, in turn, could facilitate the exclusive emergence of intervocalic voicing in functional elements.