Phonological Research on the Inner Construction of Segments: A Comparative Study of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20015
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: HOKUYO University
• Principal Investigator: UETA Naoki 北洋大学, 国際文化学部, 講師 (30911929)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 分節音 / 音声特徴 / 音韻構造 / モンゴル諸語 / 対照言語学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study addressed the phonetic characteristics and phonological inner constructions of certain segments in Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese.
First, this study clarified that the phonetic characteristics of aspirated and unaspirated obstruents differed significantly between Khalkha Mongolian and Chinese, and those in Inner Mongolian were intermediate between them. In addition, it was shown that native Mongolian speakers who learn Japanese tended to pronounce Japanese obstruents with aspiration, which was interpreted as language transfer from Mongolian.
Secondly, this study investigated the phonological structures of /g/, /l/, and /r/ in Mongolic languages. Several phonetic and phonological analyses clarified that /g/ had the characteristics of a sonorant and glide, although it is normally categorized as an obstruent, and that /l/ in Khalkha Mongolian could behave as a fricative, while /r/ could not, although both /l/ and /r/ are categorized as liquids.

Free Research Field

言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、複数の言語を対照させることにより、言語間の音声的・音韻的特徴の異同を明らかにした点で、対象言語学的・記述言語学的な意義がある。また、音声的なバリエーションも含め、分節音の音声特徴の詳細な記述をベースとし、素性 (feature) や要素 (element) などの音韻理論を用いて分節音の内部構造を考察した点で、理論的にも重要な研究である。