Phonetics of Taiwanese

Taiwanese, formerly the lingua franca of Taiwan and currently the second largest language on the island, is genealogically related to Min from the Sino-Tibetan family. Throughout history, it has been influenced by many languages, but only Mandarin has exerted heavy influences on its phonological system. This Element provides an overview of the sound inventory in mainstream Taiwanese, and details its major dialectal differences. In addition, the Element introduces speech materials that could be used for studying the phonetics of Taiwanese, including datasets from both read and spontaneous speech. Based on the data, this Element provides an analysis of Taiwanese phonetics, covering phenomena in consonants, vowels, tones, syllables, and prosody. Some of the results are in line with previous studies, while others imply potential new directions in which the language might be analyzed and might evolve. The Element ends with suggestions for future research lines for the phonetics of the language.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Existing research; 3. Dialectal variations in Taiwanese; 4. Materials for research on Taiwanese; 5. Acoustic analysis of the pronunciation of Taiwanese; 6. Future research; Appendix; References.

Summary

This Element provides an overview of Taiwanese phonetics, focusing on consonants, vowels, tones, syllables, and prosody. Taiwanese, the second largest language on Taiwan, is influenced by Mandarin and has been influenced by many languages. It introduces speech materials for studying Taiwanese phonetics, with new directions and research.

Foreword

This Element introduces Taiwanese phonetics, provides some data for studying the language, and gives a phonetic analysis using the data.

Product details

• Authors: Janice Fon, Janice (National Taiwan University) Khoo Fon, Hui-lu Khoo
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2025
• EAN: 9781009566827
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0956682-7
• No. of pages: 88
• Series: Elements in Phonetics
• Subjects: Education and learning > Adult education/adult education classes > Adult education class / course materials (language); Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Mandarin, Grammar & vocabulary, Dialect, slang & jargon, Phonetics, phonology, Language learning: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, Dialect, slang and jargon, Formosan (Taiwanese)