TTLV: Phonetic characteristics of original Hanoi dialect

INFORMATION ABOUT THE MASTER'S THESIS

1. Student's full name:Nguyen Thi Hanh                       

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: October 14, 1991

4. Place of birth: Liep Tuyet, Quoc Oai, Ha Tay

5. Decision on student admission No. 2998/2013/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 30, 2013, by the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in the training process:

7. Thesis title:Phonetic characteristics of original Hanoi dialect

8. Major: Linguistics Code: 60.22.01

9. Scientific supervisor:Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Cam LanDepartment of Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Hanoi.

10. Summary of the thesis results:

This thesis analyzed and described the phonetic characteristics of original Hanoi dialect based on experimental analysis and auditory perception of the five components of Vietnamese syllable structure: tone, initial consonant, medial consonant, vowel, and final consonant, in comparison with the phonetic characteristics of other regions of Hanoi in particular and other dialects in general. The specific results are as follows:

- Regarding tones: The original Hanoi dialect has 6 tones, each distinct in pitch and duration, with tone 1 being the longest and tone 4 the shortest. Variations in the nuances of the tones are very diverse. The tones start at relatively close pitches but become increasingly far apart towards the end.

- Regarding initial consonants: the initial consonant system in Hanoi dialect only has 19 consonants. The consonants /ʈ, ş, ʐ/ tend to be transformed into /c, s, z/, meaning that the initial consonant system in Hanoi dialect lacks the retroflex consonant series.

- Regarding glides: like standard Vietnamese, glides in original Hanoi dialect are a system created by the opposition between two phonemes, one with a positive connotation, the glide /-w-/, and one with a negative connotation, the glide zero. The combinations formed by the glide /-w-/ and the main vowel to create rhymes are considered the most typical and complete representations of original Hanoi dialect (also known as Hanoi dialect from the Old Quarter).

- Regarding the main vowel system: The main vowel system of Hanoi dialect consists of 16 vowel phonemes. According to our analysis, this system differs between male and female voices: the average pitch of formants is always lower in males. Most vowels begin at similar formant pitches, but there is a significant difference in the ending formant pitch. In female voices, the vowel /i/ begins at the lowest formant pitch but ends at a higher pitch than the others.

- Regarding final consonants: The final consonant system of Hanoi dialect consists of 8 phonemes. Among the final consonants, the contrast in duration between the nasal consonants /m, n, ŋ/ and the stop consonants /p, t, k/ creates a short-long contrast. In syllables, the shorter the vowel, the longer the final consonant duration, and vice versa.

11. Practical applications:

12. Future research directions:

13. Published works related to the thesis:

INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS

1. Full name: Nguyen Thi Hanh 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: October 14, 1991 4. Place of birth: Quoc Oai, Ha Tay

5. Admission decision number: 2998/2013/QD-XHNV-SDH Dated December 30, 2013,by the Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU - Hanoi

6. Changes in academic process:

7. Official thesis title: Phonological characteristics of original Hanoi an accent

8. Major: LinguisticsCode: 60.22.01

9. Supervisors: Assoc Prof. Trinh Cam Lan. PhD, PhDFaculty of Linguistics,University of Social sciences and Humanities.

10. Summary of the findings of the thesis:

The thesis gives an analysis and portrait of phonological characteristics of original Hanoi an accent, based on experimental findings and acoustic senses of 5 elements of Vietnamese syllables, which refer to tone, Syllable-initial, prevocalic, nuclear and syllable-final, in comparison with typical features of other areas of Hanoi in particular and other regions in general. The findings are specified as follow:

- Tones: Original Hanoian accent has a system of 6 tones, which distinguish each other in pitch and length. Tones 1 is the longest while tone 4 is the shortest. There exists a wide variety of tone trait. Tones' pitches are closer its comes the further tones' pitches different from each other.

- Syllable-initial: Hanoian has a system of no more than 19 consonants. Those consonants like /ʈ, ş, ʐ/ tend to be converted into /c, s, z/, which means that Hanoian syllable-initial system is missing retroflex consonants.

- Prevocalic: in the manner of universal Vietnamese, prevocalic phonemic system of original Hanoian accent is created by virtue of the opposition between two phonemes, one of which is of positive content - /-w-/, and the other is of null content. The combination of /-w-/ and nuclears generates the rhyme, which is considered the most unique and comprehensive trait character of original Hanoian accent (in other words, Old Quarter Hanoian accent).

- Main - vowels: Hanoi's main-vowels system consists of 16 vowels. Our findings point out the difference between male voice and female voice: average pitch of men's formants is normally lower than that of women's. Virtually, formants' pitches are similar at the start-up of vowels, but obviously diverse at the vowel's end. Particularly in female voice, /i/ starts at the lowest formant level, but ends at a rather higher level than other vowels.

- Syllable-final: Hanoian's syllable-final system includes 8 phonemes. Among syllable-final, there exists the opposition regarding length between nasal consonants such as /m, n, ŋ/ and occlusive sounds /p, t, k/. A syllable with shorter vowel will have a longer ending consonant, and vice versa.

11. Practical applicability, if any:

12. Further research directions, if any:

13. Thesis-related publications: