The 27th International Conference on Yue Dialects. Keynote Speaker 3
Date: December 2nd, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Venue: Virtual event via Zoom, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Professor Holman Tse
St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minnesota
https://holmantse.github.io/index.html
Title of Talk: “Why study Cantonese vowel variation?”
Abstract: Studies of variation and change in Guangfu (or Standard) Cantonese have long focused on consonantal mergers such as /n/ > /l/ or the loss of the initial velar nasal. In recent years, several tonal mergers have also been documented and described. What has generally been lacking, however, are studies of vowels. In contrast, variationist studies of English dialects have long focused on vowels and have included discussion of chain shifts, mergers, and splits and their decreased level of speaker awareness compared to consonantal variation. English has also been described as having a typologically large vowel system. Yet, Cantonese also has a typologically large vowel inventory with 11 (or 12) phonetically distinct monophthongs and 10 phonetically distinct diphthongs. Is the lack of research on Cantonese vowel variation due to the stability of the vowel system or have vowels simply escaped the radar of Cantonese sociolinguistics research because of low levels of conscious awareness? In this talk, I will show that the vowel system is far from being a stable one. To support this position, I will highlight both published studies and ongoing research addressing variation and change in Cantonese vowels. This will include studies based on data from the Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto Project (Nagy, 2011). The data from this project includes sociolinguistic interviews (spontaneous speech recordings) from both Toronto and Hong Kong Cantonese speakers. The discussion will place special focus on the -ik/-ing, -uk/-ung and -am/-ap rime groups. I will show how the first two sets are involved with vowel chain shifts while the third group is involved with an ongoing merger that has previously been described as completed. Ultimately, I will argue that recognition of a system in flux can illuminate issues that have been controversial in phonological descriptions of Cantonese. Furthermore, addressing the sociolinguistic patterning and the social meaning tied to these variable vowel production patterns can open up many new opportunities for research.
Short Bio: Holman Tse is Assistant Professor of Language Studies in the Department of Literature, Language, and Writing at St. Catherine University. He is a linguist specializing in heritage language phonetics and phonology and more broadly on sociophonetic variation and sound change in language contact settings. His educational background includes a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh. Since 2014, he has been working with data from the Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto Corpus, which includes sociolinguistic interview recordings of speakers of multiple heritage languages including Cantonese. His research has focused largely on vowel production patterns among Hong Kong and Toronto Cantonese speakers.
第二十七屆國際粵方言研討會。主講嘉賓三
日起：2023年12月2日
時間：08:00 HKT
地點：線上形式, 經由俄亥俄州立大學的Zoom視像舉行。
謝浩明教授
聖凱瑟琳大學
標題：為何研究粵語元音變體？
摘要：長久以來，對廣府話（或標準）粵語變異和變化的研究一直集中在輔音合併，例如 /n/ > /l/ 或聲母軟顎鼻音的消失。在近年，一些研究也對聲調合併現象作出記錄和描述。然而，仍然缺乏的是對元音的研究。相較之下，英語方言的變異論研究長期以來一直集中在元音上，並包括對鏈變、合併和分裂，以及與輔音變異相比，説話者對元音變異意識較低的討論。研究也描述英語為具有類型學上較大的元音系統。 然而，粵語也有一個類型學上很大的元音庫存，其中有 11 個（或 12 個）具有音韻差異的單元音和 10 個具有音韻差異的雙元音。粵語元音變異研究的缺乏是因為元音系統的穩定性，還是因為說話者的低意識程度,從而逃避了粵語社會語言學對其的關注？在本演講中，我將展示粵語元音系統遠非穩定的系統。 為支持此立場，我將重點討論針對粵語元音變異和變化的已發表的和正在進行的研究。這將包括根據多倫多遺產語言變異和變化計畫（Nagy，2011）的數據研究。此計畫的數據包括多倫多和香港粵語使用者的社會語言學的採訪（自發性語言錄音）。本次討論將特別關注-ik/-ing、-uk/-ung 和 -am/-ap 詞組。我將展示前兩組如何涉及元音鏈變，第三組如何涉及持續進行中的合併，但卻在先前研究中被描述為已完成的合併。最後，我認為，認識不斷變化的系統可以闡明對粵語語音描述中一直在爭議的問題。此外，解釋這些可變元音發音模式與社會語言學模式和社會意義的關聯可以為研究開闢許多新的方向。
講者簡介：謝浩明是聖凱瑟琳大學文學、語言和寫作系的助理教授。他是一位語言學家，專門研究傳承語言語音學和音系學，更廣泛地研究語言接觸環境中的社會語音變異和聲音變化。 他於加州大學聖克魯斯分校主修人類學並獲得學士學位。其後主修語言學，於芝加哥大學獲得碩士學位，匹茲堡大學獲得博士學位 。自2014 年以來，他一直研究多倫多傳承語言變異與變化語料庫，當中包含多種傳承語言（包括粵語）的社會語言學採訪記錄。他目前重點研究多倫多和香港粵語語言者元音發音模式。