Tse, Holman
(2018)
The vowels in 'pig' vs. 'tofu': A contact-induced merger in Toronto Heritage Cantonese?
In: New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 47), Oct. 18-21, 2018, New York University, New York, NY.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Aside from Herold (1997), variationists have described very few cases of contact-induced vowel mergers. In this presentation, I discuss a previously undocumented example involving the two high round tense vowels (/y/ and /u/, ex: [tsy] ‘pig’ vs. [tɐw.fu] ‘tofu’) in Toronto Heritage Cantonese. Second-generation speakers (Canadian raised, English-dominant bilinguals) have decreased the acoustic difference between these two vowels compared to first generation speakers (Hong Kong born, immigrated to Canada as adults, Cantonese- dominant). This leads to partial overlap in the distribution of these two vowels for some speakers, with those who code-mix the most and report English as primary home language leading in the merger. These factors suggest a contact-induced change influenced by linguistic dominance in Toronto English (which has only a fronted /u/). Further supporting contact-induced change is lack of the same change in Hong Kong. These findings contribute towards a better cross-linguistic understanding of vowel system variation and change.
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| Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| Date: |
21 October 2018 |
| Event Title: |
New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 47) |
| Event Dates: |
Oct. 18-21, 2018 |
| Event Type: |
Conference |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Linguistics |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
sound change, vowel mergers, heritage language phonology, Chinese (Yue) - Cantonese, sociophonetics |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Oct 2018 13:09 |
| Last Modified: |
24 Oct 2018 13:09 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/35437 |
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