Tense and lax vowels in the Lahu dialect of Yunshan: A laboratory phonological study

ABSTRACT: A controversy exists regarding whether there are tense-lax vowels in Lahu and whether tense-lax phonation should be accorded phonological status, an issue that is closely related to the physiological movement of the larynx. This study presents an experimental analysis of the acoustic features of the Lahu dialect of Yunshan, using electroglottography to collect acoustic and physiological data and employing VoiceSauce and Eggworks to extract glottal features to explore laryngeal mode of motion. The study demonstrates a distinct tense-lax phonation contrast in Yunshan Lahu, which is characterized by multiple types of phonation, differences between front and back parts of tense vowels, and equal importance of tense-lax contrast and vowel length. To contribute to a systematic description of Tibeto-Burman language, this paper proposes to treat tense-lax contrast as the main feature in phonological induction, using length as its accompanying feature for explanation. From the perspective of the path of historical evolution, tenseness comes from the loss of plosive codas, and is also closely related to voiced, aspirated initials. In the process of transforming tense-lax features to tones, tense vowels retained their features of tenseness as a result of falling tones.1 摘要: 拉祜语是否有松紧元音区别，如果有，其区别是从什么因素演变而来、 是否具有音位地位，这是一直存有争议的问题，也是一个与喉部运动 模式相关的问题。本研究使用电子声门仪对中国云南省云山拉祜语进 行声学和声门信号采集，使用 VoiceSauce 和 Eggworks 软件进行喉部 声带运动模式分析。研究证明，云山拉祜语在发声态上有清晰的松紧 对立，其特点为松紧包含多种发声态、紧元音前段和后段间有差异， 以及松紧-音长并重。考虑到藏缅语描写的系统性，本文赞成以松紧作 为音系归纳中的主要特征、长短作为其伴随特征进行说明。从历史演 变路径看，紧特征来源于促韵尾的丢失，在演变中与浊音、送气音声 母关系密切。在松紧向声调系统性过渡过程中，降调有利于紧特征的 保留。