published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Chen, Hui. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-132). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgments --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.ix / List of Tables --- p.xii / List of Figures --- p.xiii / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Nature of vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Definitions of vowel quantity and vowel length --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Vowel length in relation to language prosody --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Acquisition of vowel length distinction --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Current study on the acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.9 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of thesis --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Vowel length in Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Long and short vowels in t h e Cantonese vowel system --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The syllable template of Cantonese --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- The phonetic inventory of Cantonese vowels and their distributions --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Two competing analyses of Cantonese vowels --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Status of vowel duration in Cantonese vowel length contrasts --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2 --- Vowel length and the prosodic structure of Cantonese syllables --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Durational properties of Cantonese vowel length and syllable structure --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Towards a constant syllable weight/size --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- A prosodic model of Cantonese Syllables --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Acquisition of vowel length in Cantonese --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1 --- Cantonese vowel length: the acquisition task --- p.50 / Chapter 3.2 --- Previous studies relevant to the acquisition of vowel length --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Previous studies on vowel length and prosodic development --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Previous studies on Cantonese vowel development --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Kong (1997) on prosodic development in Cantonese --- p.64 / Chapter 3.3 --- Insights and Inadequacies of previous studies --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research questions --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Vowel length acquisition and prosodic development in Cantonese: A naturalistic case study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1 --- Objectives of the study --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2 --- Method --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Database and subject --- p.71 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Transcription and acoustic measurement --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3 --- Data analysis --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Age of onset of vowel quantity --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Development of vowel length and prosodic structure in Cantonese . --- p.83 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Acquisition of vowel length and its contrastive function: Experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.1 --- Objectives of the experimental studies --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experiment I - Actual Word Test --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Subjects and materials --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Procedure --- p.92 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Results --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2.4 --- Summary of findings of the Actual Word experiment --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experiment II - Novel Word Test --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Experimental design: --- p.97 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Subjects and materials --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Procedure --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Results --- p.103 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- Summary of findings of the Novel Word experiment --- p.104 / Chapter 5.4 --- Overview of the two experiments --- p.105 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions and discussions --- p.106 / Chapter 6.1 --- Vowel length in child Cantonese: Key findings --- p.106 / Chapter 6.2 --- Factors affecting acquisition: the role of vowel quantity in the vowel length contrast --- p.109 / Chapter 6.3 --- Vowel length development viewed as an integral part of the development of prosodic structure --- p.111 / Chapter 6.4 --- Acquiring vowel length as a phonological opposition --- p.113 / Chapter Appendix I --- Results of the complete set of data in the naturalistic longitudinal study --- p.115 / Chapter Appendix II --- The list of words tested in the Actual Word experiment --- p.118 / Chapter Appendix III --- Examples of the test pictures used in Actual Word Test for each of the vowel pairs in various coda environments --- p.119 / Chapter Appendix IV --- "Examples of test pictures used in the Novel Word Test for the Repeat Condition, the Non-contrastive Condition, the Contrastive Condition, and the Control Condition" --- p.122 / References --- p.126