Mandarin Phonological Structure
Author(s): Robert L. Cheng
Source: Journal of Linguistics , Oct., 1966, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Oct., 1966), pp. 135-158
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4174929
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Journal of Linguistics
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
VOLUME 2 NUMBER 2 Pp I35-262 OCTOBER I966
Mandarin phonological structure
ROBERT L. CHENG
Department of Asian and Pacific Languages, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
(Received 30 October I965)
INTRODUCTION. This paper attempts to present the Mandarin phonological
system after the generative fashion.1 We find it convenient to treat this part of
the grammar in two components: namely, a syllable grammar and morphophonemics. The former attempts to designate the structure of the basic
syllables independently of the syntactic component of the grammar. It consists of a set of P-rules to generate strings of phonemes for the basic syllables.
The latter operates on sequences of these syllables with intrasyllabic information designated by the syllable grammar, and with category and intersyllabic
information which can be given by the syntactic component. It consists of
T-rules and gives a phonetic representation of sentences as its output.
At the present stage of our investigation a tentative statement about the
content of the morphophonemics is that it should include at least:
(i) Morphophonemics for the retroflexive suffix.
(2) Tonal morphophonemics.
(3) Stress.
(4) Intonation which is closely related to various final particles.
(5) Contraction of atonic syllables.
(6) Phonetic realization of segments including their duration.
Only the first two will be treated, and only crudely, in this paper.
A syllable that is derived by the above morphophonemics will not be considered as a basic syllable. Hence, syllables like hiar4 'thread', shem2 'what'
[i] Some articles that treat Mandarin phonology in distinctive feature analysis or after th
fashion of generative phonology are Wong, H., 1953: 268-76; 1954: 71-2; Wang, W.
S-Y., I963: I-6; Li, K. P., I964: I-I29. I wish to express my gratitude to Fred W.
Householder, who read the manuscript of this paper and made many detailed suggestions for improvement.
I35
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
which are derived by morphophonemic transformations from hian4+er,
shen2+me respectively are excluded from the basic syllables.
A generative grammar will be given which generates all (but not necessarily
the only) basic syllables in Mandarin. But as a part of the whole grammar this
syllable grammar (SG) merely assigns 'structure' to the morphophonemic
transcription of the morphemes given by some syntactic grammar. By structure
of the syllable we mean the intraphonemic properties as well as inter-
phonemic organization in the syllable. In assigning structural relationships
among phonemes we shall take into consideration the notion of rhyming which
has been the central motif of traditional Chinese phonology.
According to this scheme, to any morphophonemic transcription (i.e.,
phonemic transcription of the basic syllables produced by SG. - or any orthography biuniquely convertible with such transcription - ) of a sentence we can
assign both syntactical and syllable structures. Two major differences between
them are (i) that the domain in the former is the sentence whereas that in the
latter is the syllable and (2) that in assigning structure to the former there may
be ambiguity, but in assigning structure to the latter no ambiguity is possible;
each syllable of a sentence is assigned a unique structure (which we may call
the P-marker of SG). For example :2
hiau4 zhang3 kan4 gue mei2 ieu 'Did (you) see the principal?'
'Did the principal see (it)?'
may be assigned at least two syntactic P-markers, but our SG will be written
in such a way that only one syllable structure can be assigned to each syllable.
Thus to the first two syllables can be assigned P-markers as in Figure I.
The reasons for establishing nodes like Seg (segment), Init (initial), Fin
(final), Point (point of articulation), Man (manner of articulation), Med
S
Seg
Init
Fin
I
Syl
T
Seg
Init
T
Fin
Point Man Med Rime Point Man Rime
l ' N|guc INTer N/1 uc Ter
g i a iB 3D d A R a nB 3
h i a u 4 zh a ng 3
Figure i
[2] In the Pinyin system this sentence will be written as xiauzhang kanguo meiyou. It will
be shown that the present phonemic transcription is uniquely convertible with the
Pinyin system.
136
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
(medial vowel), Rime, Nuc (nuclei), Ter (syllable terminal), A (affrication),
F (friction), B (back), etc. will be given later. Here it suffices to say that some
nodes are useful in morphophonemic transformations and stylistic analysis
(chiefly rhyming). Beside revealing intra-phonemic structure, nodes like A,
F, B are especially useful in synthetic speech and machine recognition of
speech since they represent distinctive features.
Since in our general scheme it is the syntactic component of the grammar
that actually generates morphemes (usually with their morphophonemic
presentation) and since the function of SG is merely to assign structure, SG
can be context-free and thus, allow some non-occurent combinations. But the
purpose of this paper being to show the structure of the syllable, we shall put
restrictions so that most of the 'forbidden combinations' (e.g. pii, chuai) will
be prevented while allowing generation of 'accidental gaps in structure' (e.g.
piang, a possible syllable for describing sound, though hardly recognizable as
a morpheme or as a part of a morpheme). Since the restrictions are not complete due to lack of precise interpretation of forbidden combinations and
accidental gaps in structure, our SG will enumerate all but not necessarily only
the acceptable syllables.
i. Preliminary Discussion
I.I. PHONEMES AND THEIR ALLOPHONES. Our consonant phonemes3 can be
presented in a traditional point-manner chart as follows:
bilab. dent. palatovelar dent. palatovelar
Unaspirated b[p] d [t] g [g, tc] z [ts] zh [tsj
Aspirate p [ph] t [th] k [kh, tch] c[tsh] ch [t%h]
Fricative f [f] h [x, 9] s [s] sh [sj
Nasals m [m] n [n] ng [e]
Liquid
[3]
The
1
[1]
r
[4]
symbols
here
use
b d g j z zh
p t k q c ch
h x s sh
m n ng
1
r
except
that
thej,
i
(high
unrounded
combined
and
rep
ki, hi, in this analysis etc. respectively. That this analysis is as valid as several other
solutions for the problem of multiple complementation in Mandarin initials has been
pointed out by Chao (I934). ng occurs only in syllable-final position and is usually not
listed in a chart for initials.
'37
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
Our vowel phonemes can be presented in the following vowel chart:
Front rounded Unrounded Back rounded
high
u
[y]
i
[i,
i]
u
[u]
mid e [e, Eta, y, o]
low
a
The
[a,
a,
a]
reason
why
five
vowel
and even more in other systems, will be given later. Here are listed all the
occurring finals together with their phonetic realization. (Most of the phonetic
values for nuclei are taken from Brotzman, i963: 7-i8.)
I.P.A.
U,
i,
a
ia
u
ua
a
ia
ua
ai
iai
uai
ai
iai
uai
au
an
iau
ian
au
uan
uIn
U
y
iAU
iuan
an
irn
uan
yin
ang iang uang ai iaQi) uaG
e
ie
ei
eu
en
ue
iie
uei
ieu
ien
uen
a
is
s1
ou
ilen
u)
yVs
uei
i?u4
an
i'n
uan
yan
eng ieng ueng iieng a ?i {r-uoi5 y?'
The tone phonemes are shown in the pitch scale (Figure 2). Allotones are
not giveni here, since their distribution is determined by factors existing outside the domain of this syllable grammar and will be accounted for by morpho-
phonemic transformations that operate beyond syllable boundaries.
high
2
high-mid
mid
low-mid
low
Figure 2
t41 Raised F'], (P] indicates [o or null], fa or null] respectively.
[5] ua'i occurs initially, u1ij after an initial.
I38
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
p
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
1.2. PHONEMES AND THEIR COMBINATIONS. The combinational relationships of
these phonemes can be shown as:
-3 -2 I +2 +3
b
p
i
i
I
a
u
2
iu
n
u
m
d
e
ng
t
3
4
r
Or more restrictively as in Figure 3.
Initial
Final
C,
Tone
~~~~~~~I
etc. ~ ~ ~ e
Figure 3
It should be noticed that the co-occurrence restrictions are merely roughly
shown in the above flow diagram. For example, 43 combinations are shown as
possible for finals (not counting differences in tones), but the finals actually
used are in fact 34, as listed above. The diminutive suffix er is excluded here
for the time being.
It is obvious from the above presentation that either a point-manner chart
or a flow diagram can show merely part of the phonological structure: information as to, say, what feature is relevant in identifying i, u, n, ng, etc. in
terminal position in contrast to other positions is not shown well in either of
these styles of presentation. It will be shown presently that an SG will indicate
at once distinctive feature and phonotactic analysis of the structure.6
[6] An approach that also attempts to show at once distinctive features and co-occurrence
restrictions of phonemes can be found in the phonological formulae of the 'Firthian'
school (Firth, 1948: 127-52; Firth & Rogers, 1935-7: 1055-74; Scott, I956: 556-6o;
Halliday, I959: I92-206).
Working out our syllable grammar independently, we found striking similarities
between their approach and ours. The chief difference between the two may be their
recognition of prosodies for each syllable as a whole. (We recognize in this paper no
more than the feature of presence or absence of the distinctive tone, which they may
call the prosody of stress, and several features that define the tones.) Two most significant similarities are probably the setting up of positions in the syllable and the establishment of distinctive features (which they call prosodies) for each position. (See Section 2.1. for further discussion.)
'39
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
I.3. FIVE-VOWEL SYSTEM DEFENDED. In the following paragraphs we will discuss
the validity of our five-vowel system on the ground of the three principles of
phonemic analysis, namely, complementary distribution, phonemic similarity
and pattern congruity.
The idea of a five-vowel system for Mandarin is probably not new at all. We
find three high vowels in the Pinyin system:
Pinyin
i
u
u
e o
a
In this system, as well as in our analysis, only one unrounded high vowel is
recognized, which is [i] after dental affricate, [tu'] (retroflexed) after palatal
retroflex affricate, and [i] elsewhere.
That [e] and [o] can be combined into one phoneme has been pointed out
by Chao (I934), Hartman (I944) Hockett (I947), and Martin (I957). The last
recognizes the following vowels on the basis of unnormalized data, i.e. including in his analysis non-basic syllables such as [ka,r] 'song', and [kar] 'root'.
Front
High
Mid
e,
Low
Central
i
z
Back
r
u
e:
a
a
His unnormalized data forced him to admit two mid vowel phonemes, short
and long. In the conclusion of his paper, however, he makes the following remark:
'For certain purposes, such as morphophonemic notation, historical and
comparative work, lexicography, and as a limited illustration of phonemic
principles, it is certainly convenient to use the primary sub-system, in which
/e./ is in complementary distribution with /e/, /ci/ with /a/, and /1/ with /3/
We could introduce into our system of notation a morphophonemic disturbant
(using for example the colon) to account for divergent phenomena with the
phoneme /e/ (and maybe /ca/) to be read "long allophone where the short
would be expected from the environment". . . '
Here his primary sub-system may be taken as equivalent to our structure of
the basic syllables.
The le/ in our analysis is realized as [e, ?, a, y, o, o, null]. [e] and [?] occu
before or after high non-back vowels, [e] in the environment of /u.i/, [E]
/iL, i-, i_/. [o] and [z] occur before or after high back vowel u, [v] in /u-/
and [o] in /-u/, /i.u/; between the medial i, u, ii and the nasal terminal
ng, /e/ fluctuates between null and very non-prominent [r 0]7; when /e/ occu
[7] The allophones in this position may be regarded as a transition sound between the
medial and the nasal terminals. The existence of /e/ is recognized here because of
congruity of pattern in syllable structure and because of the fact that [(a)] [iarj]
and [yarj] rime and so do [an] [ian] [uan] and [yan].
140
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
finally and follows a velar initial, it is realized as [
ments [a] occurs.
Only one low vowel phoneme has been recognized by most analyses so far,
and explanation is hardly needed here.
In the above statement [i, i, Lu'] have been analysed as allophones of /i/, and
[e, a, a, y, o, o, null], those of /e/ on the principle of complementation. This
analysis must also hold on the basis of phonetic similarity since the members
of /i/ are all high unrounded vowels and those of /e/ all mid vowels. By the
principle of pattern congruity our analysis should also hold:
(I) we can make quite general statements about the pattern in the distribu-
tion of allophones: (a) assimilation plays an important role in realization of the
phonemes, (b) regressive assimilation is more predominant than progressive
(e.g., /uei/ [uei], /iou/ [iou], /eu/ [ou], /ue/ [us)], /uai/ [uai], /iau/ [iAu]. One of
the exceptions is /i/ after affricate /shi/ [%ui'].)
e\a-
0
a8
I
afe
a
e
n
u
GP2
n
A
a
ai
-
1.i
/i/ after retroflex affricates is [u]
/i/ after nonretroflex affricates is [i]
/i/ after other initials is [i]
Figure 4
The velar series /g, k, h/ [k, kh, x] are regressively assimilated by the
following /i/, becoming palatal and affricates [t9, t9h, ~].
(z) Our statement concerning the contrast among the five vowels is simple:
i vs. e vs. a, contrast in height of the tongue; i vs. u or u, contrast in rounding,
ii vs. u, contrast in frontness of the tongue. Hence rounding or frontness is
irrelevant to the mid or low vowel.
[8] The allophones of /a/ may include [a, a, A, a] or [i, a, A] depending on how syllables
like [ian] 'smoke' are transcribed, /ian/ or lien/. The former is used by the overwhelming
majority of analyses including the present paper probably because [ian], and [an], [uan]
are rhymed. If the latter is used, [iPn] [iarj] can be transcribed /in/ /ing/ respectively and
our analysis as five-vowel system still works.
[8a] Editorial note. This symbol is used in place of the IPA symbol for 'secondary cardinal
VOWEL no. 7'.
14I
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
u u i e a
High-low + + + ? -
Round-unround + + -
Front-back + -
(3) The present analysis enables us to describ
in the syllable in a very simple way, as shown in the flow chart in Figure 3.
Therefore, if the above three phonemic principles are taken to be criteria
for evaluating the validity of a phonemic analysis, rather than procedures to
discover structure from raw data, our phonemicization may be considered
valid.9 It remains to be investigated whether the phonemes established on
these criteria are in accordance with phonemes taken to represent perceptual
units of the native speaker. Though it would be beyond the scope of this paper
to answer this question, one cannot miss the fact that all the orthographies
worked out for Mandarin so far have made a more minute differentiation than
the present paper, including the Yale system, intended for speakers of English,
and National Romanization and Pinyin, devised for the use of native speakers.
It seems to us not too bold to assume, however, that transcriptions or even
orthographies based on either of the above views of the phoneme should be
mutually bi-uniquely convertible.
To show this point, and to show that all orthographies widely used today
including the tonal spelling known as National Romanization can be used in
the syntactic part of the grammar and are traceable back to the Syl in this SG,
we give in the appendix conversion rules for some pairs of these transcriptions.
2. Syllable Grammar
2.1. BASIC STRUCTURE
# Syl $
i. Syl Seg+ <T>
2. Seg <Init > + Final
3. Final <Med >+Rime
4. Rime Nuc+ <Ter >
e unrestricted
5. Nuc - a
i+ <R > if not: Med+-
6. Med i+ <RK>
r
if:
$+e
-
7. Ter - {i }+ <B > unrestricted
[9] We have chosen 'basic' syllables before starting phonemicizing. This is rather contrary
to the general procedure (for 'discovering' the phonemes).
142
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
8. R {F if:-+an, -e+n <B >, _+ <T >}
B unrestricted
9. Init Point+ <Man >
ob if:? <i >+{a
I O. Point e le, _+iBe
{d, g unrestricted
II Man |<A+ <R>>+ <Mod> if:d+?+ <iB> <{e}>,d +-+i:
{ Mod unrestricted
R = retroflexion
{L if: d+?, dAR+ A = affrication
J N if: b+_, d+ tH = aspiration
12. Mod ) F if not: d+ -N = nasalization
iH unrestricted J L = liquidization
F = friction
13. <D >3
Rule i:
Our first division of the syllable into the tone and segment is based on the
tonal morphophonemic transformations in which the tone changes independently of the rest of the syllable which we call segment. The tone is made
optional in order to generate toneless syllables, or syllables with the neutral
tone, the pitch values of which have no morphological significance but are
determined by environments, usually by the tone of the preceding syllable.
Rule 2:
The Seg is divided into the initial and the final because it is the final that
carries the relevant tone pitch. Some initials m, n, 1, r may carry pitches, but
their values are irrelevant in determining the tone.
Rule 3:
The final is divided into the medial (i, u, ii) and the rhyming part because
it is the rhyming part as a whole not the final that participates in rhyming.
Some rhyming schemes require identity of the rhyming part plus the tone for
rhyming; some require identity of the rhyming part only (cf. Wang, L., I963).
Rules 3-6:
These rules are written so that the medial and the terminal cannot co-occur
without having the nuclei e or a in between. We could have analysed the final
I43
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
as { <Med > + <Nuc > }[+ <Ter > which reads that the final consists of
Med or Nuc, or both, plus optional Ter. This would imply the phonemiciza-
tion of [i?n], [uan], [y'n], as /in/, /un/, /iin/ respectively, and would make it
impossible to account for the fact that these sounds are rhymed with /en/ [an].
To reflect such feelings of the native speaker we phonemicize these sounds as
/ien, uen, iien/ that rhyme with /en/. The same thing can be said for the
analysis of /eng, ieng, ueng, iieng/.
Rule 4:
The rhyming part consists of a nucleus with or without a terminal phoneme
(n, ng, i, u, r).
Rules 5, 6, 8:
The i, e, a, in these rules stand for high, mid, and low vowels respectively.
The high vowel i can be rounded by taking the rounding feature R.10 The
rounded vowels are either front (F) or back (B) as will be shown later in ?2.z.
P-rules for phonemic presentation of basic syllables:11
iF -+ ii
iB -* u
Here we have chosen i as the norm of the high vowels, which stands for high
unrounded vowel if not modified by the rounding feature.
Rules 7, 8:
The terminal r is possible only in / $ e. This generates morpheme er4
'two', etc., and the diminutive suffix er. Other terminals are either oral vowels
[io] Several interpretations are possible for this way of treating phonemes.
(i) We may regard i as the basic phoneme of a class of phonemes that share the
feature i (highness), and iB, iF as phonemes that have their specific features that dis-
tinguish them from the basic phoneme /i/ and the rest of the class.
(2) We may regard i, u, u as a class of phonemes grouped together for their common
feature i, and the phoneme /i/ is identified as having plus value in feature i and minus in
feature R: /i/ is +i, -R, or +i, -F, -B; /u/ is +i, +R, +B; iu is +i, +R, +F.
(3) We may regard /i/ as an entity established for its contrast with /e/ and /a/ (w
any regard to /u, iu/) and then /u, il/ as entities transformed from /i/.
The first and second interpretations are possible because the notations for the components of the phonemes i, iF, iB imply the existence of such a class. In fact, such a
classification must have been made before working out these rules.
[ii] Contradicting the conventions concerning P-rules, we call the following types of
rules P-rules rather than T-rules because we need to keep all the symbols to the left of
the arrow (which is -+ and not =>) in the output of the rule. Hence the effect of the
Ter
Ter
Ter
Ter
first rule is /\ - -- > A and not /\ :>
i
F
iF
iF
u
u
144
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
(represented by i) or nasals (represented by n). Either the vowel or the nasal
may select the back feature B.12
iB-*u
nB-?ng
Rule 8:
The restriction is to prevent the impossible syllables iiang, iiei, iieu, uia, iiai.
Some restriction can be made on Rule 7, if we want to prevent iei, ueu and
uau.
Rules 9-I2:
The initials are decomposed by these rules into features. The labial (b),
dental (d), and velar (g) features are generalized as points of articulation; b, d,
g also stand for unaspirated stops if not modified by optional Manner (of
articulation). Manner (Man) may be affrication (A) which presupposes optional
retroflexion (R) and/or other Modifications (Mod) in manner of articulation,
namely, aspiration (H) nasalization (N) liquidization (L) and friction (F).
Besides articulatory or acoustic notions we establish nodes Point, Man, Mod
on the basis of simplicity in making co-occurrence restrictions. For it is hardly
plausible to put environmental restrictions in a rule that may read:
Init {d} <A <R > > F >
and the environmental restrictions appearing in Rules IO, II, I 2 require us to
establish these nodes. It is hoped that these nodes are justifiable, not on their
internal characteristics, but on their tactic properties.
The environmental restrictions on Rule IO are to prevent the b series (b, p,
m, f) from combining with fl-finals, and ua, ia, etc. Those in Rule I I restrict the
affrications to dental and prevent the affricates (zh, ch, sh, r and z, c, z) from
combining with i- or fl-finals except i. Rule I2 shows that aspiration may
occur with each of b, d, g, dA (= z) dAR (= zh); and that N, F, L are quite
restricted in occurrence.
Rule I3:
i and 3 stand for high and low in tonal pitch at the end of the syllable
duration. If unmodified, they also stand for Tone i and Tone 3. Either may be
modified by the dynamic feature (D) that means a syllable has undergone a
[12] To analyse final ng as nB rather than gN is desirable in prescribing the vowel quali-
ties of syllables like dARFanB /shang/, [?A] where the backness in nB determines the choice
of the back variant [a] of the preceding phoneme /a/ [a, a].
I45
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
dynamic change of pitch before it reached high or low pitch AT THE END:
I
2= ID
3
4 = 3D
The structure of the Mandarin basic syllable as indicated by the above
expansion rules can be shown as in Figure 5.13
Syl
Seg
<
Init
>
Finl
<-M an___K Med> Rime
Point <A<R>> Mod i <R> Nuc <Ter> <T>
i|titi B n
Feature
b
A
R
D
b
i
i
F
B
D
Presenta- d
tion
K
Phonemic
Presentation
m
f
p
u
u
d
e
u
i
i
a
u
n
ng
u
2
3
4
r
t
Figure 5
It should be noted that i and iB may be dominated by Med, Nuc, or Ter.
Nevertheless, thanks to the position of a phoneme in the sequence, there
should be no ambiguity in tracing back to the right node. The B of iB is
dominated by R if it is in medial or nuclear position but it is not dominated
by R in terminal position. This is so because R is irrelevant in terminal
position.
/n/in initial and terminal position has different features; dN and nrespectively.
This is because we identify a phoneme not by a bundle of distinctive features
[I3] Optionality is shown only for the category symbols.
146
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
that distinguish it from ALL OTHER PHONEMES but by
the phoneme and needed to distinguish it from the rest of THE PHONEMES THAT
MAY OCCUR IN THE SAME POSITION.14 Hence as an initial it is dN to contrast
with dH, dA, dAR, dF, etc., in addition to bN (= m), but as a terminal it is
n to contrast with the high vowels and the back nasal nB (= ng). We could
have expanded Ter as {d}N and i < B >
Tr Point+N
Tie < B>
Point-* d,g, +N+ <T> >
But i and n as a group behave differently from iB and nB in retroflex suffix
morphophonemics: i and n drop out, iB and nB remain when contracted with
er. (See ?3.I, Rule 3.)
The outputs of these P-rules are strings of features which are structured for
their being traceable back to the Syl. All the strings traceable back to the node
Init and those to the node Finl are listed here separately.
Finals
er
i
iB
iF
b
Initials
d
g
dAR
dA
e ie iBe iFe bH dH gH dARH dAH
ei iBei bF gF dARF
eiB ieiB bN dN
en
ien
iBen
iFen
dL
dAF
dARL
enB ienB iBenB iFenB
a
ia
iBa
ai iai iBai
aiB iaiB
an ian iBan iFan
anB ianB iBanB
These will be converted into phonemic transcription by the following Prules.
2.2. P-RULES15 FOR PHONEMIC PRESENTATION OF THE BASIC SYLLABLES
Finals:
i. iF F
2. iB u
3. nB ng
[I4] This concept of distinctive feature and phoneme bears g
'Firthian' notions of prosody and phonematic unit.
[15] See footnote [i i] for interpretation of the following rules as
I47
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
Initials:
4. dA z
5. zR- zh
Ig l+H Ik|
Lzh Lchi
7 [d]+N- [n
6. +F hLhl
[zh] 1rh]
Tones:
IO. Ii+D--2
II. 3+D 4
The inventory of our initial phonemes and sequences of phoneme represent-
ing all finals (see ?I.I) is compared with Pinyin, the Yale system and National
Romanization in the following tables. (See the appendix for conversion rules
between these different systems.)
INITIALS
National
Pinyin Yale Romanization - Basic
b d g,j zh z b d g,j j ds b d g,j j tz
p t k,q ch c p t k,ch ch ts p t k,ch ch ts
f h,x sh s f h,s sh s f h,sh sh s
m
n
1
m
r
n
1
mh
r
nh
lh
148
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
rh
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
FINALS
Pinyin
er yi/il6 wu/u yu/ii e ye/ie wo/uo/o20 yue/iie
a
ya/ia
ai
wa/ua
wai/uai
ou
ei
wi/ui
you/iu
au yau/iau en yin/in wen/un yun/iin
an yan/ian wan/uan yuan/uian eng ying/ing weng/ong yong/uiong
ang yang/iang wong/uang
Yale
er yi/i/z/rl7 wu/u yu
a
ya
ai
wa
yai
au
e
ye
wai
yau
ou
wo
ei
ywe
wei
you
an yan wan ywan en yin/in wen/wun yun
ang yang wang eng ying/ing weng/ung yung
National Romanization18
el
i/y19
a
ia
ai
au
an
ua
ie
uai
iau
uan
iang
iu
e
iai
ian
ang
u
ou
iuan
uang
uo/o20
ei
iue
uei
iou
en
eng
in
ing
uen
ong
iun
iong
3. Morphophonemics
As stated in the introduction, this part of the grammar obtains phonetic
realizations of sentences. How detailed this phonetic presentation should be
depends very much on the purpose of a grammar. But some criteria seem to
be due in order to define the degree of detail in any presentation:
(I) to the degree of differentiation which the native speaker can make;
(2) to the degree of differentiation a trained linguist can make; and
(3) to the degree of detail needed for recognition by a given type of machine
or for speech synthesis.
[i6] In PY and Yale systems different spellings may be used for the same final. In these
tables, unless indicated otherwise, the first spelling is the one used where there is no
initial; the second one is used where there is an initial present in the same syllable.
[i7] r is used after the retroflex series j, ch, sh; z after the dental affricate ts, s; yi when
there is no initial preceding; unmarked when /i/ of our analysis appears after dz, r;
i is used elsewhere.
[i8] Only the 'basic forms' (spellings for the first tone) are given here. Conversion into
spellings for other tones will be given in the appendix.
[I9] y is used after the affricates, i is used elsewhere.
[20] 0 is used after the labial series, b,p,m,f; uo or wo elsewhere.
149
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
It seems reasonable that we adopt the first criterion for the purpose of this
paper. Not enough experimentation has been done on differentiation recognizable to the native speaker, however, to give us great confidence in any
particular way of writing morphophonemics. The output of the following
morphophonemics may not be consistent at all in its fineness of detail (or
differentiation).
How much syntactic information is needed for morphophonemic trans-
formation is a vital question. The syntactic component at least has to provide
different types of boundaries between each pair of contiguous syllables, and
form-class information for certain syllables (final particles in particular), and
some morpheme nodes (untraceable to Syl in SG) to determine the intonation
of a sentence.
Syntactic information, however, is not the sole linguistic supra-syllabic
factor in determining the phonetic reality of sentences. A factor such as speed
seems to play an important role in determining whether some morphophonemic transformations will take place or not (among which are transformations
from one tone to another). To incorporate this complexity the syntactic component can provide a basis for setting up several degrees of closeness (in terms
of syntactic relationships) between each pair of syllables, and let the factor of
speed decide what degree(s) of syntactic closeness (or depth as it is called by
Wang, I965) are eligible for or excluded from the same morphophonemic
transformation. Or we may write different sets of morphophonemic transfor-
mations, each suitable for a given speed of speech. (Wang (I965) seems to have
the first possibility in mind. He gives the following P-marker with the succeed-
ing rules and explanations: the numerals I, 2, 3 indicate approximately closeness
of syntactic relationships from close to remote, which he calls depths of
syntactic boundaries.
S
NP
VP
v
l-ao
|
'll
|
mafl
NP
mei
I
u
(Old Lee ibuys ood wne.)
I
3
2
I
I -?'/ I
Rule I states that a dipping tone changes into a ri
by a dipping tone. Rule II states that a rising ton
when it is not final and preceded by either a level
150
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
The effect of the synthesis experiment was to confirm
(A) In slow speech, Rule I operates only across boundaries of depth I to
produce the tone sequence
,
vv
,
(B) In faster speech, boundaries of depth 2 also cease to block the rules.
The result is ' '
(C) In rapid speech, all boundaries lose their effect, and the r
Since investigations into these syntactico-phonological relatio
in the beginning stage, and since the main emphasis of this paper
following rules will not incorporate the above-mentioned comp
two types of boundaries will be recognized between syllable
hyphen (-) is used for the intrasyllabic concatenating symbol.
3.I. RETROFLEX SUFFIX (OR DIMINUTIVE SUFFIX) MORPHOPHONEMICS
I. # X-T+er => X-er-T $
2. er #r r#if not: i <F> - e--
3- V{n}rzVr V=e,a
4. i <F> eer-3 <D> => i<F> er-3 <D>
5. Vng-ro V-r V= e,a
6. V- r =- Vr V = u, e, a
In these rules the diminutive suffix loses its syllabicity.
As a result of the loss of terminal i or n (see Rule 3) many homonyms occur.
jia- I + er => jiar- I 'home'
jian - I + er j> iar - i 'pointed'
sia - 4 + er => siar - 4 'down'
sian - 4 + er => siar - 4 'thread'
After rules I, 2, 3 have been applied basic syllables ending with e have a
(= ee) in contrast with a basic syllable with medial e plus terminal i or n w
has a short e after the morphophonemic transformations. But such distinc
are kept only for syllables with Tone I or Tone 2. Syllables with Tones 3
4 (3D) reduce the vowel length (see Rule 4).
ge- I + er > geer- I 'song'
gen- I + er > ger- I 'root'
zhe - 4 + er => zher - 4 'here'
zhen - 4 + er => zher - 4 'town'
Rules 5 and 6 may not be needed since they produce a more detailed
presentation than other rules would. (These rules are based on Chao's description in Chao & Yang, 1947: xxii-xxiii.)
151
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
3.2. TONAL MORPHOPHONEMICS
I. 2 => 3 if: - + Seg- 3
2. I D => I if: I < D> + Seg- + Seg- T
3. 3 =>- 3' (3' indicates half third tone which differs from a full third
in that it does not rise as the latter does.)
Rule I reads that Tone 2 becomes Tone 3 if the following syllable is within
the same phrase boundaries AND if it is in Tone 3.
Rule 2 reads that Tone 2 (= I D) loses its dynamicity if it is preceded by a
high tone (I, 2 (= i D) ) AND followed by a full toned (i.e., not zero toned)
syllable within the same word boundaries. (For examples, see the reference
to Wang, I965, given above.)
4. Conclusion
In this paper we have proposed a treatment of phonological structure in the
two components of the whole grammar, SG and morphophonemics. We have
treated the former as the base component that assigns structure to Mandarin
basic syllables independently of the syntactic component, and regarded the
latter as the part of the grammar that operates upon the structural description
given by the former. To account for the fact that, for example, a native
speaker can easily tell whether hiar4 is hian4+er 'thread' or hia4+er 'time'
from the context and that he must decide on either of the two possible basic
forms to communicate, our division of basic and non-basic syllables, deriving
the latter in the morphophonemics, seems natural and proper. Since the
morphophonemic transformations may rely upon the syntactic component
for information as to types of inter-syllabic junctures and as to the category to
which a syllable belongs (e.g. if a syllable carries the structural description of a
certain category of final particle, it may carry a particular stress and pitch).
Besides, intonation is determined so much by the mood and emphasis on a
specific part of the sentence and since these are better specified in the syntax
rather than in the SG (unless we want to set up a new component that plays
this role independently of the syntax), the morphophonemic component is
likely to operate upon the outputs of both the SG and syntactic components.
(How morphophonemics works upon the output of the syntactic component
is not illustrated in this paper.) In suggesting this, however, we do not deny the
possibility of treating phonology entirely independently of syntax (cf. Miartin,
1957; Hockett, I947, I950). But it seems to us that to make our analysis
simple and meaningful some part of the phonology must be stated in accordance with the syntax.
On the other hand we cannot agree to the contention that no part of phonology can be treated independently of the syntax of a language. We have
shown in Section 2 that a grammar can be written so that it prescribes all
152
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
possible phonemic (actually morphophonemic) shapes of morphemes that the
syntax may have as its fundamental units. This SG accounts for the fact that
the native speaker of Mandarin can tell that a sequence like stei or ist is not a
'word' in his language, while kai or iau may be something in his language no
matter whether he knows its meaning or not, or whether it appears in the
syntactic context or not.
By identifying a phoneme in terms of distinctive features relevant to the
position in which it occurs, rather than in terms of features relevant in distinguishing all phonemes, we reduce the number of features to the minimum
from the very beginning. For one purpose or another, it is surely desirable to
have the same scale for both the consonants and the vowels and it is even more
plausible to use the distinctive features claimed to be universally available to
the languages of the world. For example /n/ can be defined as having the
features of -grave and +nasal and others if dominated by Init, and exclusively if by Ter; /i/ as -grave and -flat if dominated by Med or Nuc, and
as -grave and -nasal if dominated by Ter.
Ter
i
u
ng
Nasal
Grave
The
-
Init
n
+
+
minus
m
+
+
+
-
+
sign
for
gravity
in
would take care of the fact that /i/ and /n/ as a group and /n/ and /ng/ as
another behave similarly in morphophonemic transformation for the diminu-
tive suffix. This has not yet been tried because it seems to sacrifice the economy
gained by the present approach while achieving some goal beyond the purpose
of this paper - to reveal the structure of Mandarin phonology.
Appendix I
Rules for Converting the Phonemic Transcription of the Present Analysis
into the Pinyin System:
I.
a.
ue?
P _, Init - -ng
{m}
Yuo if not /$ -ng
b. eu ou
c. uengc yong
{ /
e ong elsewhere
d. Med-e-Ter -+ Med - Ter / Init - I53
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
/i/
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
2.
a. y yi
b. uW -> w
c. ui- Yu)
d.
yyi]
fn
>~ ~~~ / g > T>$
e.
w
vuJ
,ng
3.
a. g -j
b. k-+q
c. h xI
4-
a. Seg-- I Sag
b. Seg - 2 Se'g
c. Seg - 3 Seg
d. Seg-4 4 S6g
5-
au -* ao
Appendix II
Rules for Converting the Phonemic Transcription of the Present Anlaysis
into the Yale System:
I.
a. i yi}
b. u wuf
c. u yu
d. u w 4, /+V V=a, e
e.
Y
2.
a. we wu /Init + - + n
b. we wo /I + <T> $
c. we u /Init + - + ng
d. ye yi / + {n}
e. eu ou
3a.
i
zh
r
ch
(shJ
b. ri r
c.
i
dz
{c
lsl
d. zi dz
'54
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
4.
a. g -j
b.
c.
k
h
ch
-s
+
J
d. zh j
e.
f.
z
c
dz
+V
ts
Appendix III
Rules for Converting the Yale System to the Pinyin System:21
I.
a. ch q
b. s +sf
C. j zh if not f {l}
d.
r
ri
I
$
-
$
e. dz zi
z
f. ts C
g. z i
h. r if
2.
a. Y J
b.
w
u
Init
+
C. y i
d. iing iuong [b]
e.
wo
o
/{m
f
f. uei ui
g. wun un
h. ung ong
1. iou iu
3.
au -ao
[2I] Tones are ignored here since the two systems mark them in an identical way. The
same subject has been treated by Li (I963). His rules are, in our opinion, more suited for
programming.
'55
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
Appendix IV.
Rules for Converting the Phonemic Transcription of the Present Analysis into
National Romanization:
I.
a.
b.
g
k
c.h
j
ch
shJ
i
+
U
d. zh j
e. z tz
f. c ts
2.
a.i y {zh, ch, sh, } +
b. U 1iu
c. ue o / {m} + -, - + ng
d. ue uo /Init +
e. eu ou
3.
i <u> e <iu> I +{g}
4.
RX RhX /+ i R= m,n,1l,r
5.
a. t[1]X +3 $[Yi ]x+3
b.[i X + 4 Y WX+4
6.
a. [u~] + 2-~ [Wu]
b. ujX +z . [y]x X null
C. Vr [n + 2 V? r [ng V =any vowel
156
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MANDARIN PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
7.
a. iu+Y+3- - eu+Y
b. i +Y+3--->e+Y Y begins with a, o
c. u +Y+3--o +Y Ybeginswitha,e
de a[]+ 3 --> a[O
e. V+ [g] + 3 VV+ K g] V = any vowel
8.
a. wuoo -* woo
b.yiee yee
9.
b. V+ |4?nn
-ng_ nq_
b. V +4 ->Vh
REFERENCES
Brotzman, R. L. (I963). Vowel formant values. POLA 6. 7-I8.
Chao, Y. R. (1934). The non-uniqueness of phonemic solutions of phonetic systems.
BIHP 4. 363-97.
Chao, Y. R. & Yang, L. S. (I947). Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese. Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press.
Firth, J. R. (I948). Sounds and prosodies. TPhS I27-52.
Firth, J. R. & Rogers, B. B. (1935-7). The structure of the Chinese monosyllable in a
Hunanese dialect (Changsha). BSOAS 8. 1055-74.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1959). The Language of the Chinese Secret History of the Mongols.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Hockett, C. F. (I 947). Peiping phonology. j7AOS 67. 25 3-67.
Hockett, C. F. (I950). Peiping morphophemics. Lg. 27. 2I 1-22.
Howie, J. M. (I965) Syllable-structure and phonological rules for Pekin Mandarin. Indiana
University. Mimeographed work paper.
Li, K. P. (I963). Conversion algorithms among different transcriptions. POLA 6. 50-63.
Li, K. P. (I964). Machine recognition of Mandarin monosyllables. POLA 9. I-I29.
Peng, F. C. C. (I966). A note on 'A note on Mandarin phonology'. The Bunker-Ramo
Corporation. Workpaper.
Scott, N. C. (I956). A phonological analysis of Szechuanese monosyllable. BSOAS 17.
556-6o.
Teeter, K. V. and Mei, K. (I966). A note on Mandarin phonology. Lg. 42. 67-68.
Wang, L. (I963). Chinese Phonology. Peking: Zhonghua Shujii.
'57
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
Wang, W. S-Y. (I963). Mandarin phonology. POLA 6. I-6.
Wang, W. S-Y. (I965). TRIP Report. The Ohio State University. Mimeographed.
Wong, H. (1953). Outlines of the Mandarin phonemic system. Word 9. 268-76.
Wong, H. (1954). Outlines of the Mandarin phonemic system. Word IO. 71-2.
158
This content downloaded from
205.154.255.108 on Thu, 05 May 2022 05:33:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms