代格拉佤语的松紧音研究 = A STUDY OF THE TENSE AND LAX CONTRAST IN DAIGELA WA

Abstract

Daigela Wa of the Daigela village in Ximeng Wa Autonomous County of Yunnan Province is a variety of Masan sub-group of the Awa Dialect of Wa. Recent discovery has shown that Daigela Wa has the tense vs. lax contrast despite the previous common knowledge that varieties of the Masan sub-group have neither tone nor phonation contrast. This paper, through analyses of the acoustic and phonation signals of eight speakers of Daigela village by means of several parameters, studies the characteristics of the tense and lax sounds of Daigela Wa as well as the variation of parameters among speakers.