Loanword Adaptation in Mandarin Chinese - Perceptual, Phonological and Sociolinguistic Factors - Doctoral Dissertation

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret

This dissertation studies Mandarin Chinese loanword phonology, focusing on consonant phoneme substitution patterns and on processes used to repair foreign syllable structures that are prohibited in Mandarin. The empirical base consists of loanwords borrowed into modern Mandarin from English, German, and Italian. The analysis investigates how perceptual and phonological factors regulate variation in adaptation, and how sociolinguistic factors condition the phonological outcomes. Using Optimality Theory, the work argues that speakers’ perceptual knowledge guides constraint ranking. It proposes a perceptual-similarity mechanism, supported by online perception and adaptation experiments.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages184

Reading Time7 h 44 min

AccessFree to download

List of figures and tables

List of symbols and abbreviations

Acknowledgments

1 Loanword adaptation and phonological theories

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Theories of loanword adaptation: Literature review

1.3 Loanword adaptation in Chinese: Literature review

1.4 Research goals

1.5 Data

1.6 Outline

2 Background

2.1 The Chinese language

2.2 Adaptation approaches and types of loanwords in Mandarin

2.3 Mandarin phonology and writing system

2.4 Comparison between the donor languages and Mandarin

3 Phoneme substitution in adaptation of phonemic loans and hybrids

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Background

3.3 Patterns of phoneme substitution: Faithful mappings and deviations

Loanword Adaptation in Mandarin Chinese: Perceptual, Phonological and Sociolinguistic Factors A Dissertation Presented by Ruiqin Miao to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Stony Brook University December 2005 Copyright by Ruiqin Miao 2005 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Ruiqin Miao We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. | Co-Advisor: Ellen Broselow, Professor, Department of Linguistics | | --- | | Co-Advisor: Lori Repetti, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics | | Marie K. Huffman, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics | | Alice C. Harris, Professor, Department of Linguistics | | Agnes Weiyun He, Assistant Professor, Department of Asian and Asian American Studies, Stony Brook University
This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School | Dean of the Graduate School Abstract of the Dissertation Loanword Adaptation in Mandarin Chinese: Perceptual, Phonological and Sociolinguistic Factors by Ruiqin Miao Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Stony Brook University 2005 This dissertation is a study of Mandarin Chinese loanword phonology, with focus on phoneme substitution patterns for consonants and processes used in resolving foreign syllable structures which are illicit in Mandarin. The data serving as the basis for analysis are loans borrowed into modern Mandarin from three Indo-European languages, namely English, German and Italian. I investigate the perceptual and phonological factors that regulate the variability of loanword adaptation in Mandarin. In addition, I discuss the influence of sociolinguistic factors on the phonological processes observed in the data. Based on the adaptation patterns in Mandarin, I argue that the recipient language speakers’ perceptual knowledge plays a crucial role in loanword phonology and that loanword processes function to create an adapted form that is perceived as sufficiently similar to the source word. I propose a constraint ranking analysis within the Optimality Theoretic framework (Prince & Smolensky 1993, McCarthy & Prince 1993, McCarthy & Prince 1995) . Following Steriade’s (2002) P-map hypothesis, I conjecture that rankings of various correspondence constraints are projected by the perceptual similarity between the source form and the adapted form. Furthermore, this analysis is tested by data from online loan perception and adaptation experiments, the results of which corroborate the hypothesis that perceptual similarity plays an important role in loanword adaptation. This research supports cross-linguistic findings about the preference for faithfulness of manner over faithfulness of other features such as voicing and place (e.g. Broselow 1999, Steriade 2002) and the preference for segment preservation over deletion in loan adaptation (e.g. Paradis & LaCharité 1997, Uffmann 2001, 2004) . It enriches our understanding of the role of perceptual similarity and perceptual salience in phonology and their relationship to constraint ranking. Table of Contents List of figures and tables ………………………………………...………..…….…….. viii List of symbols and abbreviations ……………………………………………….…….... x Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………….……... xi 1 Loanword adaptation and phonological theories ………………………………... 1 1.1 Introduction …………………...………………………………………………… 1 1.2 Theories of loanword adaptation: Literature review ……………………………. 4 1.2.1 The perception-only approach ………………………………...…………. 5 1.2.2 The production-only approach …………...………………………………. 5 1.2.3 The approach with separate perception and production levels …………... 7 1.2.4 The perceptual-similarity approach ……………………………….....…... 8 1.3 Loanword adaptation in Chinese: Literature review …………………………... 10 1.4 Research goals ………………………………………………………….……... 11 1.

FAQs

What kinds of loanword data does the dissertation analyze?

It analyzes Mandarin loanwords taken into modern Mandarin from three Indo-European languages: English, German, and Italian, focusing on phonological adaptation patterns.

Which phonological topics are central to the study?

The study centers on consonant phoneme substitution patterns and on processes that resolve syllable structures that are illicit in Mandarin.

How do perceptual and sociolinguistic factors contribute to loanword adaptation?

Perceptual knowledge is argued to crucially shape adaptation by projecting constraint rankings based on perceptual similarity, while sociolinguistic factors are discussed as influencing the phonological processes observed in the data.

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret