La « voyelle apicale » en chinois de Jixi : caractéristiques acoustiques et comportement phonologique

Apical vowel” of Jixi-Hui Chinese: acoustic characteristics and phonological behavior. This study investigates the phonetic and phonological properties of the “apical vowel” /z/, as attested in Jixi-Hui Chinese. Our goal is to determine if this segment has the properties of a vowel or a consonant. Phonologically, this segment is a distinct phoneme from /i/. It is exclusively attested in syllable nucleus position where it constitutes a tone-bearing unit, and can undergo tonal sandhi processes. Phonetically, we examined the acoustic characteristics of this segment based on the production of 10 native speakers. The results obtained show that /z/ contains in the majority of cases friction noise in its initial phase, but a formant structure appears towards its end. The analysis of the harmonic-to-noise ratio confirms this significant presence of noise, clearly distinguishing this segment from the high vowels /i, u, ʉ/. These results raise a series of questions about the relationship between the phonetic realization of a segment and its phonological behavior. MOTS-CLES : Voyelles apicales, langue chinoise de Jixi, phonétique, phonologie.