On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese

Click here to view record
Main author: Yao, Y.
Other authors: Chang, C. B.
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-20245
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic P Philology. Linguistics
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
description This study investigated the source and status of a recent sound change in Shanghainese (Wu, Sinitic) that has been attributed to language contact with Mandarin. The change involves two vowels, /e/ and /ɛ/, reported to be merged three decades ago but produced distinctly in contemporary Shanghainese. Results of two production experiments showed that speaker age, language mode (monolingual Shanghainese vs. bilingual Shanghainese-Mandarin), and crosslinguistic phonological similarity all influenced the production of these vowels. These findings provide evidence for language contact as a linguistic means of merger reversal and are consistent with the view that contact phenomena originate from cross-language interaction within the bilingual mind.
format Journal Article
author Yao, Y.
author_facet Yao, Y.
Chang, C. B.
authorStr Yao, Y.
author_letter Yao, Y.
author2 Chang, C. B.
author2Str Chang, C. B.
title On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese
publisher Linguistic Society of America
publishDate 2015
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/20245/

Similar items