Experimental And Comparative Study On R-Sound Between American English And Standard Chinese

In phonetics, Rhotics, generally known as r-sounds, is a group of a number of variations with special properties, which sees multiple alternatives in both manner of articulation and place of articulation. In phonology, r-sounds are observed at both the onset position as well as coda position. R-sounds play a significant part in American English as well as Standard Chinese, yet study stumbles in terms of the understanding of r-sounds, comparative study between r-sounds in American English and Standard Chinese. at least two aspects of questions remain unsolved.1) Onset position, in American English, consonant [r] is usually conceived to be approximant though, the possibility of other variation, such as fricative, in consonant clusters still stands. In Chinese, the debate about the variations of consonant [r] has been going on for long,2) Coda positon. in both American English and Standard Chinese,[r] and the preceding vowel are integrated in co-articulation which is named rhotacization in American English and Er-hua in Standard Chinese, in which the vowel is modified in terms of acoustic and physical features. as a result, the two phenomenons generate Er-ized rhyme in Standard Chinese and rhotic vowels in American English.Based on former studies, the thesis tends to answer the following questions:1) How many variations of consonant [r] in American English and Standard Chinese, in what respect are the variations of [r] resemble in American English and Standard Chinese, and what elements influence the distribution of these variations.2) In what way do rhotic vowel in American English and Er-ized vowel resemble.From acoustic perspective, the thesis conducts the study in the following aspects:1) Determing variations of consonant [r]. variations of consonant [r] are determined through spectrum analysis on Praat, besides, influence of following vowel, tone(stress), location of [r] is assessed.2) Comparative study on consonant [r] of American English and Standard Chinese. a) fricative variation [r]. extract the data of center of gravity and dispersion whereof the pattern chart of fricative variation [r] is drawn on the platform of Mini-speech. b) approximant variation [r]. extract data of F1, F2on the initial position of articulation of [r], whereof acoustic vowel triangle is drawn.3) Comparative study on rhotic vowel of American English and Standard Chinese. a) determining variations of rhotic vowel, acoustic vowel triangle is drawn on the plateform of Mini-speech, whereby the distribution of rhotic vowel is illustrated by the concentration area of rhoticized rhyme. b) model of expression of rhotic vowel. extract data of duration ratio and F3decending ratio, whereof pattern chart of duration ratio and F3decending ratio is drawned in the analysis of model of expression of rhotic vowel in terms of mix degree.The results are as follows:variations of consonant [r] are mainly approximant, voiced fricative and few voiceless fricative. In Standard Chinese, the distribution of variations of consonant [r] is subject to specific context, when followed by high vowels [i],[u],[e], or syllable conveying falling tone, or positioned in bisyllables,[r] tends to be ficatives. In American English,[r] is approximant under most conditions, variations of fricatives appear only in [tr] structure and [dr] structure.Standard Chinese fricative variation [r] is located lower than that of American English, while dispersion higher than that of American English, which, from acouistic perspective, demonstrates that the center of turbulence on spectrogram is slightly lower than American English, and Standard Chinese fricative variation [r] is lower in terms of constriction degree when compared with American English.The distribution of approximant variation [r] of American English on initial position is located lower right to that of Standard Chinese, which, from acoustic perspective, demonstrates that the tongue position of approximant variation [r] of American English is lower and more backward when compared with that of Standard Chinese.Rhotic vowels of Standard Chinese can be classified into five groups:/ar/,/(?)r/,/er/,/γr/,/ur/, while rhotic vowels of American English can be classified into three groups:/(?)r]/,/ur/,/ar/. Furthermore, concentration area of rhoticized rhyme of American English is smaller than that of Standard Chinese, which can be interpreted as that rhotacization of American English is more stable than that of Standard Chinese,[(?)r],[ur] of American English and Standard Chinese overlaps a lot, which may in one way or another hinders language acquisition by language learners from the two language systems.The mix degree of rhotic vowels of Standard Chinese is considerably higher than that of American English, on pattern chart, mixed model rhotic vowels are confined in an area in which duration ratio extends from80%-100%, F3decending ratio extends from0.0-2.0, including/3r/of American English,/(?)ur/,/γγ/and/(?)r/. whereas other rhotic vowels are pieced model.