Correspondence patterns and perceptual distance of consonants between Southern Min and Cantonese

This dissertation seeks to explore further the research on the quantification of mutual intelligibility among Chinese dialects first proposed by Cheng (1990, 1992, 1994a, 1996, 1997). While most researchers approach the study of Chinese dialect affinity using shared rules among dialects, we examine mutual intelligibility to investigate the affinity of Chinese dialects. Cheng proposed to quantify mutual intelligibility by calculating the weights of correspondence patterns of all the elements in a syllable between a pair of dialects. The correspondence patterns of the dialects are established according to their cognate words. The assignment of weight is based on how much information the correspondence pattern provides and how well it enhances communication. Because this method of quantifying mutual intelligibility focuses on the perception part of communication, the dissertation examines the perception of sounds in a pair of dialects, particularly on the cross-dialect perception of initial consonants between Cantonese and Southern Min. An overall study of Chinese dialects and a more in-depth study of Cantonese and Southern Min are presented first in this dissertation. Following are the empirical studies including how Cantonese speakers establish sound correspondence patterns between Cantonese and Southern Min, and the perceptual distance of initial consonants between Cantonese and Southern Min. An acoustic measurement and comparison of oral stops between Cantonese and Southern Min is included as well to help us understand more of the results of the perceptual distance experiment. The results of the experiment help us refine the calculation of mutual intelligibility between dialects. The method of forming and investigating correspondence patterns between dialects can also be applied to improve the design of second dialect learning (Cheng 1998). The correspondence patterns help learners to learn a second dialect in a more systematic and efficient way. Different weights given to the correspondence patterns help the designer to determine what to teach first.