Typological Universals Of Vowels In Austroasiatic Languages In China

Phonological typology is a key branch of linguistic typology,which aims to discover typology and universals in human speech.Relevant domestic studies mainly focus on Chinese dialects,Sino-Tibetan languages,Miao-Yao languages,and Kam-Tai languages,whereas the systematic study is relatively rare in the phonological typology of Austroasiatic languages.This thesis,taking the data of 21 phonological points in Austroasiatic languages in China,examines the number of monophthongs,the types of vowel inventories,and the composition and configuration of vowel inventories.Also,the types of diphthongs,triphthongs,and vowels with additional features are involved.From the perspective of phonological typology,the typological and implicational universals of vowels in Austroasiatic languages are investigated to verify and supplement the research findings of Maddieson and Crothers.The results suggest that the 9-vowel inventory of Austroaisatic languages is the most frequent and all phonological points include /i,e,a,o,?,u,? /,distributing as a triangle on the vowel space.As for monophthongs,the front unrounded vowels and the back rounded vowels are the most frequent,and the front unrounded are the least.The following implicational universals can be concluded,i.e.,the front rounded ? the front unrounded,and the front rounded ? the back rounded.The most common type of diphthongs is the 13-diphthong system.Diphthongs in the formation of “low vowel+ high vowel” occur most,followed by “high vowel + low vowel”,and diphthongs of“high vowel + high vowel” are the least,hence the implicational universal in diphthongs is shown in the following way,that is “high vowel + high vowel” ? “high vowel + low vowel” ? “low vowel + high vowel”.While the number of triphthongs is small,and the formation of triphthongs must be a combination of /a/,/i/,and /u/.The vowels with additional properties are primarily peripheral,and vowels with length distinction exist such an implicational universal,i.e.,the back rounded ? the front rounded.In this study,a total of 37 typological and implicational universals are found in the Austroasiatic vowel systems,of which 18 are consistent with the results of Maddieson and Crothers,and the remaining 19 can be regarded as supplements.Among them,11 are about monophthongs;3 are about diphthongs and triphthongs,and 5 are about vowels with additional features.The present study on vowels in the Austroasiatic languages in China has not only expanded the possibilities of phonological study in Chinese minority languages but also provided new evidence for the research on phonological typology.