Lexical Effects in Phonemic Neutralization in Taiwan Mandarin

Colloquial Taiwan Mandarin has deviated from Guoyu [National language] or Standard Chinese in pronunciation, vocabulary, and even syntax. Such changes come from the linguistic contact with Taiwan Southern Min or natural diachronic linguistic drift (Kubler, 1985; Tung, 1994; Tsao, 2000). This new form of Taiwan Mandarin has become a lingua franca among speakers of the different backgrounds in Taiwan and a creole for new generations to acquire as their mother tongue (Her, 2009). One of the most noticeable segmental changes in Taiwan Mandarin is the merging of alveolar sibilants [ts, tsh, s] and retroflex sibilants [tʂ, tʂh, ʂ]. The other one in Taiwan Mandarin is the neutralization of alveolar nasal coda [n] and velar nasal coda [ŋ].