Syllable Structure And Segmental Phonology In Changsha Chinese

This thesis presents a systematic analysis to the syllable structure and the syllable-structure-based segment inventory in CSC within the framework of autosegmental phonology. Up till now, the investigation of CSC focuses on the description. No literature has made a systematic analysis to the syllable structure and the segment structure from the point of generative phonology. The autosegmental phonology can exemplify the characteristic of the syllable structure and the internal organization of the segment system in CSC.The segments in CSC are not syllabified in the underlying lexical entries. The syllabification of the segments in CSC is generated in the course of phonological derivation. During the syllabification, the segments are mapped onto the syllable position according to the universal sonority hierarchy which is assessed according to the phonological features of the segments. The segment of the highest sonority parses onto the nuclear position, the segments preceding to the segment of the highest sonority parse onto the onset position and the segments following the segment of the highest sonority parse onto the coda position.As for the syllable structure in CSC, this thesis adopts the binary-branching model. The primary partition of the syllable in CSC is composed of the onset and the rime. The rime is divided into the nuclear and the coda. The syllable model is shown as follows.When dealing with the medial in CSC, this thesis proposes that the medial is grouped with the onset rather than with the rime. That is to say, the segments in theonset position permit consonant cluster in the form of CG. This analysis breaks out the traditional view which often groups the medial with the rime.As for the conventionally defined zero-onset, the assumption in this thesis is that when the syllable begins with a non-high vowel, the onset position is empty; when the syllable begins with a high vowel, the high vowel in the nuclear position spreads to the onset position or parses onto the onset position, resulting in a glide as a phonetic realization which fills in the onset position.The rime in CSC consists of the nuclear and the coda. There are two types of rime structure: the non-branching rime, which consists of the nuclear without the coda; the binary-branching rime, which consists of a nuclear vowel plus a coda segment. The segments in the coda position are subject to the coda condition in CSC. Only high vowels lit and lyl together with a coronal nasal /n/ may appear in the coda position. They form a natural class: sonorants in CSC.The onset-rime phonotactics in CSC is subject to two constraints: the syllable-internally rounding constraint, which requires the segments with the [+rd] feature should not occur within the same syllable; the syllable-internally backness constraint which requires pre-and post-segments with the [+hi] feature should not occur within the same syllable.In a word, the onset-rime phonotactics in CSC indicates that the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) not only plays a role in constraining the underlying lexical entries, but can act on the phases of the phonological derivations in CSC.The syllable-based segment inventory is discussed in this thesis. According to the theory of underspecification which adheres to the principle of excluding all redundant information from lexical entries, this thesis assumes that there are six underlying monophthongs in CSC. All the surface vowels (there are 12 surface vowels) are derived from these six monophthongs via phonological rules including the fronting assimilation, the rounding assimilation, and the backness assimilation. On the basis of this point, the traditionally defined diphthongs in CSC do not exist in the underlying segments. The diphthongs are analyzed as the combination of GV or VG.There are fifteen underlying consonants and twenty-four surface consonants in CSC. Retroflex does not exist in this language. The palatal sibilants are derived from the underlying velars via palatalization when the velars bccur before the high front vowe...