Sociolinguistic studies on retroflex sibilants in Taiwan Mandarin

According to Labov (1972), during the course of language change, there are three

stages involved in the change of language forms, which are the origin of the change, the

propagation of the change, and the completion of the change. It is in the second stage

(propagation) that more and more people start to adopt new variant forms, and it is also

in this stage that “social significance is inevitably associated with the variant and with

its opposition to the older form” (p. 123). As a result, to study language variation, a

great number of studies start with the investigation of variants in social contexts.

Frequently examined social factors for the issue of retroflex and dental sibilants include

gender, age, socio-economic status, education level, etc.

2.3.1 Gender and region

Gender is the most frequently examined factor in most previous sociolinguistic

studies, and it also has a very salient effect. For example, in Lin’s (1983) study on

college students in Taiwan, gender is found to be the strongest factor, in which the

correct usage of retroflex sibilants for females greatly outnumbers that for males.

Subsequently, Li (1995) examined the realizations of [tß], [tßH], [ß] in Taiwan Mandarin.

Instead of using binary retroflex/non-retroflex distinction, she recognized the

intermediate variants of the three retroflex sibilants which, according to her, are the

realizations somewhere between retroflex sibilants and dental sibilants. Her results

suggested that gender effectively interacts with speech contexts. To be specific, women

retroflex more in the formal speech, but they actually substitute dental variants for

retroflex sibilants more often than men in the casual speech. Li explained her finding

with the well-established sociolinguistic theory. That is, in general, women are

comparatively conservative speakers and tend to use more standard forms than men.

However, in the course of sound change, usually women, instead of men, play the

leading role (e.g. Labov, 1990). As a result, it is not difficult to understand why more

vernacular forms are found in women’s daily conversation.

Compared to gender, region is a much less studied factor on this issue. The only

study that touches upon its effect is Lin’s study (1983). In particular, Lin roughly

divided his subjects into Taipei group and non-Taipei group, based on the subjects’

residency prior to the age of 14. Broad categorization this might be, the effect is rather

salient. Regardless of gender, when speaking Mandarin, native Min speakers from

Taipei have higher percentage of producing correct retroflex sibilants than those from

other regions. Moreover, discrepancies were shown even for native Mandarin speakers.

That is, native Mandarin speakers from Taipei also have more correct retroflex

production than native Mandarin speakers from other areas. This finding illustrates that

region is indeed a potentially effective factor that deserves being pursuing in greater

detail.

2.3.2 Hypercorrection

Labov (1972) studied the /r/ pronunciation of New York residents in relation to

their social classes. Significantly, he found that the usage of rhotic /r/ (considered to be

the prestigious form) of people from the lower middle class exceeds that of people from

the upper middle class in formal conditions. A more detailed investigation was done in

Labov’s another study (1990), in which he discussed the complicated relationship

between gender and social class. Particularly, he discovered that females constitute the

high percentage of using rhotic /r/ of the lower middle class New Yorkers. Males are

also doing the same, though on a smaller scale. The lower middle class, as well as

females, are both categorized as linguistically insecure groups, therefore propelling

them to use more standard forms. Such insecurity acts upon speakers’ consciousness

level and urges them to hypercorrect their speech in order to gain security.

The phenomenon noted above is parallel to the realizations of retroflex sibilants in

Taiwan Mandarin. To be specific, most past studies, either sociolinguistic or acoustic,

all showed a strong gender effect in terms of using retroflex sibilants. In addition,

retroflex production is found more often in the formal context, in the speech of people

of higher education level and higher income, etc. All these could serve as evidence for

the fact that retroflex sounds are considered to be prestigious in Taiwan Mandarin.

Therefore, people hypercorrect their pronunciation by using more retroflex sibilant

tokens.

In early studies, while most attentions were directed to the detretroflexion process,

researchers did notice that some non-retroflex tokens are pronounced as retroflexed one,

especially in reading tasks (e.g., M.-C. Li, 1995; C. C. Lin, 1983). Most researchers

explained this by stating that Taiwan Mandarin speakers have both dental and retroflex

repertoire in their phonological systems, but they simply activate them wrongly during

their productions. Chung (2006), however, held a rather different perspective. Instead of

having wrong activation, Chung regarded retroflexion of dental sounds to be a

hypercorrection process. Because retroflex sibilants have always been prestigious in

Taiwan Mandarin, to obtain authority and mark formality, people hypercorrect their

speech to such an extent that they even mistakenly retroflex dental sibilants. The

hypercorrection phenomenon unravels Taiwan Mandarin speakers’ attitudes towards

retroflex and dental sibilants, which should be facilitating in explaining how they are

realized and contrasted in natural speech.