臺灣華語鼻音及元音鼻化的氣流研究

An Aerodynamic Study of the Nasals and Nasalization in Taiwanese Mandarin

本研究藉由口鼻氣流的數據來探討臺灣華語鼻音及元音鼻化的構音特性。主要的發現為：(1) 順向鼻化程度大於逆向鼻化，(2) 高元音的鼻化程度顯著地大於非高元音，(3)帶音或送氣聲母較能引發元音鼻化，(4) 舌根鼻韻尾 [ŋ] 引發前接元音產生較高比例的鼻氣流量，而舌尖鼻韻尾 [n] 本身的鼻氣流量比反而較大（但都不達顯著標準），(5)就鼻韻尾合流的相關議題而言，實驗結果顯示「被合併」的鼻韻尾（本文記做 [N]）音長短於 [n] 與 [ŋ]，鼻氣流量比則大於 [n] 與 [ŋ]（不達顯著標準），可視為不完全的對立消失 (incomplete neutralization)。最後，本文也就實驗所得發現進行語音類型及音韻理論的相關討論。

This work is an aerodynamic study of the nasals and nasalization in Taiwanese Mandarin. Our principal findings are: (a) the magnitude of carryover nasalization is greater than that of anticipatory nasalization, (b) the degree of nasalization in the high vowels are significantly larger than that in the non-high vowels, (c) voicing and aspiration induce more nasalization in the vowels, (d) the velar nasal coda induces more nasal airflow in the preceding vowels, while the coronal nasal is produced with larger nasal airflow (albeit both insignificant), (e) regarding the contextual place neutralization of the nasal codas [n] and [ŋ], our results show that durationally speaking, the ＂neutralized＂ nasal coda (represented as [N] here) is shorter than [n] and [ŋ] in duration, while [N] is produced with more nasal airflow than [n] and [ŋ] (which is not statistically significant, though), suggesting that [N] is an incompletely neutralized allophonic variation. Finally, the experimental results are discussed in terms of the typology of phonetic implementation.