'Apical vowels' are not vowels: acoustic and ultrasound evidence from Jixi-Hui Chinese

Résumé En

This study focuses on the 'apical vowel' as attested in Jixi-Hui Chinese. The objective is to determine its acoustic and articulatory characteristics when it occurs in the context of labial onsets. Phonologically, this segment is a distinct phoneme that opposes to /i/ from which it is diachronically derived. It is exclusively attested in the syllable nucleus position where it constitutes a tone-bearing unit. On the articulatory level, the ultrasound data show that when preceded by the bilabial consonants [p p h m], the 'apical vowel' displays an articulatory configuration which is virtually identical to that of the alveolar fricative [s]. The tongue configuration of [z] is realized in an anticipatory way during the bilabials. One consequence of this overlap is that the release phase of [p h ] exhibits similar acoustic characteristics as the friction noise of the fricative [s], as evidenced by the resemblance of their centre of gravity. These results provide additional evidence that the apical vowel in Jixi-Hui Chinese is better defined, at least phonetically, as a voiced alveolar fricative.