Speech reception threshold (SRT) tools have been developed to assist in the evaluation of hearing. This study was performed to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Taiwan Mandarin trisyllabic words which can be used to measure the SRT. Eighty-nine commonly used trisyllabic words were chosen and digitally recorded by native male and female speakers. The words were then presented to 20 normally hearing subjects at 14 intensity levels (-10 to 16 dB HL) with 2 dB increments. Psychometric function slopes were calculated using logistic regression. Twenty-eight words with steep psychometric function were selected and digitally adjusted to match the mean subject pure-tone average (5.0 dB HL). A list of 28 trisyllabic words which were relatively homogeneous in audibility and slope were developed. The mean slopes for the 28 selected male and female trisyllabic Taiwan Madarin words were 11.3 %/dB (male talker) and 11.7 %/dB (female talker), respectively. Digital recordings of the psychometrically equivalent trisyllabic words are available on compact disc.

The aim of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Taiwan Mandarin bisyllabic word lists to be used for word recognition testing. Frequently used bisyllabic words were selected and digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Taiwan Mandarin. Twenty normally hearing subjects were presented each word to find the percentage of words which they could correctly recognize. Each word was measured at 10 intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB. Logistic regression was used to include 200 words with the steepest logistic regression slopes in four psychometrically equivalent word lists of 50 words each with eight half-lists of 25 words each. Digital recordings of the psychometrically equivalent bisyllabic word recognition lists are available on compact disc.

This study investigated the possibility of pitch and tone register differences between native speakers of Taiwan and Beijing Mandarin by means of an acoustic analysis of three speech styles. Speech styles included spontaneous interview, spontaneous descriptive, and controlled read sentential speech. Data analysis included long segments of recorded speech in order to discern any statistically significant pitch register differences between the two dialects. Speech style and read tones were also analyzed. Results suggest that tones produced in Taiwan Mandarin are in a slightly lower register than those produced in Beijing Mandarin. Surprisingly, speech style was not a significant predictor of pitch register in long segments of recorded speech. Despite a limited sample size, this research effectively promotes the inclusion of sociolinguistic variables such as dialect in the field of tone research.

本篇論文檢視台灣華語為母語之正常幼童以及構音異常幼童之滑音[j],[w], [ɥ]發展與產製表現，採長期觀察之方式，詳細描述正常幼兒滑音產製之出現及穩定年齡、頻率、正確率和發展順序，並且比較此三滑音於各音節位置之產製表現，進而比較兩組幼童之台灣華語滑音產製及音韻歷程之使用行為。本研究以標記理論及位置層級理論來檢驗幼兒滑音之發展與表現。 本研究總共觀察了四位幼童，將其分為兩組，第一組為兩位正常幼童，年齡在九個月至二十八個月和十個月至二十九個月，為期十九個月的觀察，另一組為兩位構音異常幼童，年齡在三歲十個月至四歲三個月和四歲三個月至四歲九個月，為期六個月的觀察。每兩週收錄一次長達一小時之語料，並利用錄製之高規格影音檔做譯寫及分析。 研究結果顯示，正常幼兒之滑音出現順序和穩定順序皆符合標記理論之預測，無標音早於有標音，其滑音產製之穩定度與音節位置相關，音節首位之滑音表現較音節中與音節末之滑音表現來的穩定，這與位置層級理論之推測相符合。構音異常幼童組中發現了有別於正常幼童之特殊取代模式，由較晚習得語音取代較早習得語音，其所產製的語音中會違反華語的音法限制。音韻歷程之表現在兩組幼童中皆偵測到刪除、換位、取代三種模式，其中皆以刪除為主要策略。 / The purpose of the present study is to report the developmental process of three Mandarin glides [w, j, ɥ] in terms of three word positions by examining the age of emergence and stabilization, the order of stabilization, and accuracy rate of thechildren’s production, and further compare the normative data with phonological disorder data in order to explore the possible phonological processes. This study alsoaccounts for the developmental process of glides on the basis of markedness theory and positional prominence hierarchy. A longitudinal study was carried out for the investigation of two normally-developing children, aged between 0;9-2;4 and 0;10-2;4, and two phonologically-disordered children, one of whom is between 4;3 and 4;9, and the other between 3;10 and 4;3. The data were collected at two-week intervals. The results showed that the order of glide emergence and stabilization of the normally-developing group is in accordance with the markedness theory. The unmarked [j], [w] precede marked [ɥ]. Moreover, the stabilization order of the three glides in terms of the three syllable positions was found to reflect the interaction between markedness constraint and positional prominence hierarchy. The unmarked glide in the initial position is the first to stabilize and the marked glide in the non-initial position is the last to stabilize. On the other hand, the children in the phonologically-disordered group were found to consistently replace the presumably earlier-developing glide with a presumably later-developing one, which differs from the process used in the normally-developing group. Furthermore, this group of children produced the combination that violates the phonotactic constraints of Taiwan Mandarin. In addition, there are three phonological processes, including deletion, metathesis, and substitution detected in children’s data. The most commonly used process is deletion in both groups of children.

華語三聲變調的運作範疇(domain)一直以來皆是漢語音韻學家激烈探討的主題，不同研究對於運作範疇的定義皆不同，而過去研究也留下了一些尚待解決的問題，例如分類詞(Classifier)以及介係詞(Preposition)如何與其他音節形成三聲變調的運作範疇。本篇論文藉由觀察語料庫中324句最短為6音節，最長為24音節且由數個三聲音節所組成的中文句子，來檢視台灣華語三聲變調若以Nespor & Vogel (1986)所提出之韻律階層(Prosodic hierarchy)為範疇來運作是否能得出自然且多樣的聲調組合。以下分析主要根據韻律階層的順序分成以下四部分：音韻詞(Phonological word)、附著詞組(Clitic group)、音韻詞組(Phonological phrase)、語調詞組(Intonational phrase)。而作者假設三聲變調有兩種運作方式，一種為循環(Cyclic)，一種為同時(Simultaneous)。循環運作時，三聲變調可先以音韻詞邊界為範疇，再以附著詞組邊界為範疇，再以音韻詞組邊界為範疇，最後再以語調詞組邊界為範疇。同時運作時，三聲變調則只以語調詞組邊界為範疇。語料庫分析結果顯示，中心語(Head)之非遞歸邊(Nonrecursive side)的分支性(Branchingness)需被納入音韻詞組的定義中以得出正確的聲調組合。再者，語調詞組的定義也需將語意(Semantic)以及韻律(Metric)的因素納入考量，以限制語調詞組邊界的形成。經過修正，韻律階層理論不僅能成功描述分類詞以及介係詞之三聲變調現象更可預測華語三聲變調的多樣性。 / Mandarin tone sandhi has been argued by different scholars to apply to different phonological domains such as the foot, the phonological phrase etc. This thesis tackles three main issues left by Shih (1986) and Hsiao (1991): the classifier, the preposition and the under-generation problem. In revising the framework of Nespor & Vogel (1986)’s Prosodic Hierarchy, this thesis proposes a possible explanation of the problems. This thesis constructed a corpus of 324 sentence tokens consisting of 6 to 24 third tone syllables. The tokens were recorded from four Taiwan Mandarin native speakers at a speech rate of at least 200 beats per minute. Through the observation of the tone patterns collected, it is found that the original definitions of the phonological phrase and the intonational phrase given by Nespor & Vogel (1986) are not able to describe the Taiwan Mandarin data. This thesis provides a revision of the prosodic hierarchy by taking into account the branchingness of the nonrecursive side on the phonological phrase level and by incorporating Selkirk (1984)’s Sense Unit Condition on the intonational phrase level. Finally, a foot formation condition is also proposed in order to restrict the minimal length of a phonological phrase or an intonational phrase.

No description available.

本篇論文針對三位以臺灣華語為母語的音韻異常兒童，採長期觀察的方式，研究中文顎音[tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ]的習得狀況與產製現象。習得狀況方面，詳細描述顎音的習得順序、常見的語音錯誤之音韻歷程、延遲的音韻歷程類型、錯誤取代模式隨著年紀增長而改變的情形。產製現象方面，本篇論文探討了顎音所在音節的音節複雜度(Syllable complexity)是否會對顎音的正確率以及錯誤取代狀況有所影響。 本研究共觀察三位年齡為三歲十個月至五歲三個月且正在接受語言治療的音韻異常兒童長達六個月，以每週一次的頻率前往醫院收集幼童與語言治療師之間的自然對話，並利用錄製回來的影音檔做譯寫和分析。 結果顯示，音韻異常兒童的顎音習得狀況有以下現象：(1)顎音發展較為停滯，幾乎沒有隨著年齡的增長而有進步的現象。(2)音韻異常兒童在發顎音時，會系統性的使用不該是他的年齡所應該出現的音韻歷程。(3)顎音的語音錯誤之音韻歷程種類不多，但使用的頻率卻非常頻繁。上述結果皆驗證了前人文獻的研究結果(Stoel-Gammon & Dunn, 1985; Jeng, 2011)。除此之外，本研究也發現音韻異常兒童具有以下特徵：(4)音韻異常兒童能夠察覺兩個音之間送氣特徵(aspiration feature)的不同，在選擇替代音時，也會選擇與目標音有相同送氣特徵的音來取代。(5)音韻異常兒童的語言能力和語言表現之間有落差，也就是說，他們知道能夠區辨出哪個是正確的音，但卻無法正確的使用該語音。(6)音節複雜度會對音韻異常兒童的顎音產製造成影響。因此，音韻異常兒童在顎音的習得狀況和產製表現上都和正常兒童不同。 音韻異常兒童使用的錯誤音的模式顯示塞擦音基底形式中的[stop]成分及[cont]成分並非均等(asymmetrical relationship)，且塞擦音是屬於以左邊的成分為主要核心的語音(left-headed)，並從第一語言習得的觀點為塞擦音的真實面貌提供了一項證據。 / The purpose of this study is to discuss the issue concerning the acquisition and production of Mandarin palatals [tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ] in Taiwan Mandarin-speaking disordered children. Four aspects regarding the acquisition of Mandarin palatals are included in this study: the order of acquisition, the phonological processes involved, the delayed phonological processes, and the path of error patterns. In addition, the effect of syllable complexity on disordered children’s palatal production is also examined. Three disordered children (aged 3;10 to 5;3) who were identified as having delayed phonological development are investigated in this study. A six-to-seven month of longitudinal observation is conducted by recording the spontaneous speech between the therapists and the children during the process of speech therapy. The results showed that phonologically disordered children have the following characteristics on palatal acquisition and production: (1) static phonemic system that stops at an early level of development, (2) persistent uses of delayed processes, and (3) frequent uses of phonological processes. These characteristics were asserted in the literature (Stoel-Gammon & Dunn, 1985; Jeng, 2011) and have been proved in this study. In addition, we found that disordered children are unconsciously able to notice the aspiration feature of two sounds, and will use an error sound that has an identical aspiration feature with the target. Moreover, the disparity between the linguistic competence and the linguistic performance in the disordered children was also found. Last, syllable complexity has found to affect disordered children’s palatal production. The substitution errors used by the disordered children support Schafer’s (1995) study, in which he claimed that the underlying representation of affricates is left-headed. To sum up, this study has provided a piece of evidence for the unsolved issue of the nature of affricates from the field of first language acquisition, and might serve as a reference for parents and speech therapists for understanding palatal acquisition and production in disordered children.

本論文為以共振峰頻率資料來研究台灣華語母音音質之聲學研究。 本研究的受試者為六名生長在台灣台北市的男性華語母語使用者。本研究使用的測試字為70個包含所有韻母型態的單音節字。語音資料是利用KAY CSL 4100 (KAY Electronics)來錄製及分析。本研究所採用的資料為獨立發音且無聲母的測試字。 根據共振峰頻率資料本研究得到以下有關台灣華語母音音質的發現。首先研究的部分為音標所隱含的語音對比。在齒槽（alveolar）及後齒槽（post-alveolar）組的舌尖母音（apical vowels）間並沒有發現音質上的顯著差別，但統計及其它證據支持低母音裡的前後對比及中母音裡的半開（open-mid）及半閉（closed-mid）對比的存在。 其次，研究的結果也包括語音環境中的音段對於母音音質的影響。結果發現韻母中的元素，包含母音前介音、母音後介音、及韻尾鼻音，都對母音有不同的語音制約（conditioning）。另外，本研究發現順同化（progressive assimilation）比逆同化（regressive assimilation）對於低母音音質有較大的影響。 第三，本研究藉由與之前聲學研究的結果作比較來討論台灣母音音質的改變。結果發現硬顎及後硬顎組的舌尖母音間的音質差異隨著時間縮小終至於消失。此外，研究發現半閉母音及半開母音在母音高度及母音前後相對位置出現反轉。共振峰頻率的比較顯示這種反轉的原因為半閉母音[e]在音質上的改變。然而，我們需要進一步的研究才能對這些音質的改變有合理的解釋。 最後，本研究以共振峰頻率的形式描述及紀錄了當代台灣華語表層母音的音質。希望這些資料能對台灣華語母音的研究有所貢獻。 / This thesis is an acoustic study that investigates the vowel quality of Taiwan Mandarin vowels with formant frequency data. The subjects of this study included six male native Mandarin speakers born and raised in Taipei city, Taiwan. Testing items used in this study were 70 syllables that involve all combinations of segment in the syllable final. The speech data were recorded and analyzed with KAY CSL 4100 (KAY Electronics). The data discussed in this study were testing items produced in citation form without initial consonant. The vowel qualities of Taiwan Mandarin surface vowel were measured and analyzed. Several results concerning the vowel quality of Taiwan Mandarin surface vowel phones were reported based on the formant frequency data. Firstly, the distinction between vowel phones implied by their transcription was examined. The difference in vowel quality was not observed in the alveolar and post-alveolar groups of apical vowels, while the front-back distinction in low vowels and the open-mid and closed-mid distinction in mid vowels were found with statistic and other evidence. Secondly, the conditioning of segments in the neighboring environments on the vowel quality was investigated. It is found that elements in the syllable final, including pre-nuclear, post-nuclear glide and coda nasals, generally have different types of conditioning on the vowel. In addition, the progressive assimilation was found have greater influence on the vowel quality of low vowel phones than the regressive assimilation. Thirdly, the change in vowel quality was discussed through the comparison with results in previous acoustic studies. The difference in vowel backness between the alveolar and post-alveolar groups of apical vowels were found to be decreasing and eventually disappeared. Besides, the relative vowel height and backness of closed-mid and open-mid vowel were found to be in reverse compared with that in the literature. Comparison in formant frequencies showed that this reverse lay in the change of vowel quality in the close-mid [e]. However, further investigations were needed to offer reasonable explanations for the change. Finally, the vowel qualities of present Taiwan Mandarin surface vowel phones were described and recorded as the formant frequency data presented in this study. Hopefully, the data could contribute to the study of vowels in Taiwan Mandarin.

本論文探討法語借詞進入國語音韻系統時所採取的音韻調整策略，並從優選理論和語料庫的角度來分析借詞現象，主軸為法語子音和鼻母音的調整模式。 本研究建置一個法語借詞語料庫，並統計音段保留、替代、或刪除的趨向。研究發現，音段保留與調整為主要的轉譯策略，唯有韻尾子音[ʁ]傾向於刪除。數據分析顯示法語借詞中的語言變異(variation)極為普遍，此現象說明國語中的法語借詞尚未完全詞彙化 (lexicalization)，而是仍在持續進行。因此本論文採用ROE模型 (rank-ordering model of EVAL, Coetzee 2006)來解釋法語借詞轉譯的變異現象。 法語音段的調整現象和變異情形可訴諸於制約的排序與互動。根據ROE模型，制約係以中界線(cut-off line)加以區隔，違反中界線以上的候選值會直接淘汰，而僅違反中界線以下的候選值皆可成為優選值。本研究發現，中界線以上的制約包含結構制約、信實制約、以及聯合制約(conjoined constraint);中界線以下的制約則多為信實制約。音韻表徵(phonological features)如[labial]與[nasal]在轉譯的過程中必須保留，而是否違反[voice]與[spread glottis]等表徵僅會造成語言變異。 制約的交錯排序、互動，以及中界線的位置對於法語借詞的現象提出了解釋。借詞音韻並非自成一個系統，而是反映了借入語和普遍語法皆存在的制約。 / This thesis investigates the phonological adaptations of French loanwords in Mandarin. The focus is on the loanword adjustment of French consonants and nasal vowels. A loanword corpus is established. Based on the statistical analysis, the adaptation pattern of each foreign segment is provided. The thesis observes that preservation and adaptation are the major strategies in loanword adaptation. The only exception is [ʁ] in the coda position, which has segment deletion as the major substitute. Variant substitutes are common in French loanwords, which suggest that the loanword adaptation of French is an ongoing process in Mandarin. Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004) is the major framework in this thesis. To account for variations, Coetzee’s (2006) rank-ordering model of EVAL (ROE) is also used for analysis. A critical cut-off line divides the constraints into two parts: constraints above the cut-off line, and constraints below the cut-off line. Violations of the former are fatal, while violations of the latter lead to variations. The fatal constraints place restrictions on illicit segments, segment combinations, and prosodic preferences. These crucial constraints include markedness constraints, faithfulness constraints, or even the conjunction of the two. Constraints below the cut-off line are mostly IDENT constraints. Violations of IDENT features such as [voice] and [spread glottis] bring only variations. This is contrary to the violations of IDENT [nasal] and IDENT [labial], which result in ill-formedness. Based on the constraint ranking and the position of the cut-off line, the thesis shows that loanword phonology does not form an idiosyncratic grammar. Instead, it includes the constraints that are latent in L1 and reflects universal grammar.

論文提要內容：（共一冊，17770字，分六章） 本研究用雙音節詞來探討不同音段和聲調在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中的重要性。Cohort模型（1978）非常強調詞首訊息的重要性，然而Merge模型（2000）認為訊息輸入和音韻表徵的整體吻合才是最重要的。因此，本研究企圖探索不同音段和詞首詞尾在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中的重要性。然而，聲調的問題並無在先前的模型裡被討論。因此，聲調在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中所扮演的角色也會在本研究中被討論。另外，詞頻效應也會在本研究中被探索。本研究的三個實驗均由同樣的十五名受試者參加。實驗一是測試不同音段在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中的重要性。實驗一操弄十二個雙音節高頻詞和十二個雙音節低頻詞，每一個雙音節詞的每一個音段都分別被噪音擋住。實驗二是在探索詞首和詞尾在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中的重要性。實驗二操弄十二個雙音節高頻詞和十二個雙音節低頻詞。這些雙音節詞的詞首CV或詞尾VG/N都分別被雜音擋住。實驗三操弄二十四個雙音節高頻詞和二十四個雙音節低頻詞。這些雙音節詞的聲調都被拉平到100赫茲。在這三個實驗中，受試者必須聽這些被操弄過的雙音節詞，並且辨認它們。受試者的反應時間和辨詞的準確率都用E-Prime來記錄。實驗結果顯示，傳統的Cohort模型不能被完全支持，因為詞首訊息被噪音擋住的詞仍能被受試者成功的辨識出來。強調聲音訊息和音韻表徵的整體吻合度的Merge模型，比較能解釋實驗的結果。然而，Merge模型必須要加入韻律節點才能處理臺灣華語的聲調辨識的問題。本研究也顯示，雙音節詞的第一個音節的母音在口語詞彙辨識歷程中是最重要的，而雙音節詞的第二個音節的母音是第二重要的。這是因為母音帶了最多訊息，包括聲調。另外，雙音節詞的詞首和詞尾在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中是扮演差不多重要的角色。母音對於聲調的感知是最重要的。詞頻效應也完全表現在臺灣華語的口語詞彙辨識歷程中。 關鍵詞：口語詞彙辨識歷程、臺灣華語、華語聲調、音段、Cohort模型、Merge模型 / The present study investigated the importance of different segments and the importance of tone in spoken word recognition in Taiwan Mandarin by using isolated disyllabic words. Cohort model (1978) emphasized the absolute importance of the initial information. On the contrary, Merge (2000) proposed that the overall match between the input and the phonological representation is the most crucial. Therefore, this study tried to investigate the importance of different segments and the importance of onsets and offsets in the processing of Mandarin spoken words. However, the issues of tone were not included in the previous models. Thus, the importance of tone was also investigated in this study. The issues about frequency effect were also explored here. Three experiments were designed in this study. Fifteen subjects were invited to participate in all three experiments. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate the importance of different segments in Taiwan Mandarin. In experiment 1, 12 high-frequency disyllabic words and 12 low-frequency disyllabic words were selected. Each segment of each disyllabic word was replaced by the hiccup noise. Experiment 2 was designed to investigate the importance of onsets and offsets. In experiment 2, 12 high-frequency disyllabic words and 12 low-frequency disyllabic words were chosen. The CV of the first syllable and the VG/N of the second syllable were replaced by the hiccup noise. Experiment 3 was designed to investigate the importance of Mandarin tones. In experiment 3, 24 high-frequency disyllabic words and 24 low-frequency disyllabic words were selected. The tones of the disyllabic words were leveled to 100 Hz. In the three experiments, subjects listened to the stimuli and recognized them. The reaction time and accuracy were measured by E-Prime. The results indicated that traditional Cohort model cannot be fully supported because words can still be correctly recognized when word initial information is disruptive. Merge model, which proposed that the overall match between the input and the lexical representation is the most important, was more compatible with the results here. However, Merge model needs to include the prosody nodes, so that it can account for the processing of tones in Taiwan Mandarin. In addition, the current study also showed that the first vowel of the disyllabic word is the most crucial and the second vowel of the disyllabic word is the second influential since the vowel carries the most important information, including tones. The results of experiment 2 demonstrated that the onsets and offsets are almost the same important in Mandarin. Furthermore, vowel is the most influential segment for the perception of Mandarin tones. Finally, frequency effect appeared in the processing of Mandarin words. Keywords: spoken word recognition, Taiwan Mandarin, Mandarin tones, segments, Cohort, Merge