Preservation and deletion in Mandarin loanword adaptation
This paper is about how English inputs that are not allowed in the native Mandarin phonology are adapted to Mandarin phonotactics in Mandarin loanwords. The focus of the discussion is on whether or not the elements in the inputs are preserved or deleted and what causes the phenomena. Through analyses of English consonant adaptation in Mandarin loanwords, the functions of both borrowers’ perception and the native Mandarin phonology are consistently found. The high preservation of the nasal consonants in any syllabic position clearly shows the functions, in that the salient segments are usually preserved and the acceptance of nasal codas in Mandarin phonology makes Mandarin speakers easily perceive the nasal sounds even in the coda positions. Furthermore, English /m/ and /n/ in the final positions are usually differently adapted into Mandarin loanwords. English /m/ mostly forms an independent syllable by vowel insertion while /n/ is mostly adapted into the coda nasal of the preceding syllable (e.g., English loam → Mandarin lú-mǔ, English pint → Mandarin pǐn-tuō). This tendency is due to the function of Mandarin phonology, because a nasal /n/ is allowed as a coda consonant, but /m/ is not allowed. The high deletion of English /ɹ/ in the coda or in the consonant clusters also supports the argument. The English /ɹ/, except in the initial position, is not easily perceived due to its own vowel-like quality and the fact that it is a non-Mandarin phoneme. Lastly, the higher preservation of consonants in the initial clusters than in the final clusters also shows the close relationship between perception and Mandarin phonology. Even though Mandarin does not allow consonant clusters in any position, final consonant clusters should be harder for Mandarin speakers to perceive. The reason is that in Mandarin phonology, consonants usually do not come in the final positions while all the consonants except /ŋ/ can come in the initial positions. More frequent deletion of consonants in final CCC clusters than in CC clusters can be identically explained.
References (30)
Adler, Allison N. (2006). Faithfulness and perception in loanword adaptation: A case study from Hawaiian. Lingua, 1161, 1024–1045. 

Brown, Adam. (1989). Giving your students /l/. ELT Journal, 43(4), 294–301. 

Chan, Bik Yan. (2007). Brand naming – A study of brand translation in China: U.S. brands translation into Chinese and Chinese Brands translated into English. B.A. thesis. Hongkong Baptist University.
Chang, Chia-Fang. (2009). Major features of articulatory phonetics: A contrastive study of standard American English and Mandarin Chinese. M.A. dissertation, Minnesota State University.
Clemente, Gary. (2012). Handbook of English Phonology. New Delhi: World Technologies.
Cruttenden, Alan. (2001). Gimsons’ Pronunciation of English (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Duanmu, San. (2000). The phonology of standard Chinese. New York: Oxford University Press.
Duanmu, San. (2008). The spotty-data problem in phonology. Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20), 11, 109–122.
Hall-Lew, Lauren Asia. (2002). English loanwords in Mandarin Chinese. B.A. thesis. The University of Arizona.
何善芬 He, Shanfen. (2002). Yinghan yuyan duibi yanjiu 英汉语言对比研究 [Contrastive studies of English and Chinese languages]. Shanghai: Shanghai waiyu jiaoyu chubanshe.
Hsieh, Feng-fan, Kenstowicz, Michael, & Mou, Xiaomin. (2006). Mandarin adaptation of Coda Nasals in English loanwords. ms. MIT.
亢世勇, 刘海润 Kang, Shiyong, & Liu, Hairun (Eds.). (2009). Xiandai hanyu xinciyu cidian 现代汉语新词语词典 [A dictionary of new words in Chinese]. Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe.
Kenstowicz, Michael. (2007). Salience and similarity in loanword adaptation: A case study from Fijian. Language Science, 291, 316–340. 

김태은 Kim, Tae Eun . (2012a). Mandarin loanword adaptation – A focus on the perception-phonology approach. Jungkuk umunhak nonjip 중국어문학논집 [Journal of Chinese language and literature], 731, 59–87.
김태은 Kim, Tae Eun . (2012c). The adaptation of English consonants in Mandarin loanwords. Jungkuk umunhak nonjip 중국어문학논집 [Journal of Chinese language and literature], 751, 49–74.
LaCharité, Darlene, & Paradis, Carole. (2005). Category preservation and proximity versus phonetic approximation in loanword adaptation. Linguistic Inquiry, 361, 223–258. 

Lin, Yen-Hwei. (2007). The sound of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Miao, Ruiqin. (2005). Loanword adaptation in Mandarin Chinese: Perceptual, phonological, and sociolinguistic factors. Ph.D. dissertation, Stony Brook University.
Pearson Education Group (Eds.). (2010). Langwen Gaojie yinghan shuangjie cidian 朗文高阶英汉双解词典 [Longman advanced English dictionary]. Beijing: Waiyu jiaoxue yu yanjiu chubanshe.
Peperkamp, Sharon, Vendelin, Inga, & Nakamura, Kimihiro. (2008). On the perceptual origin of loanword adaptation: Experimental evidence from Japanese. Phonology, 251, 129–164. 

Rose, Yvan, & Demuth, Katherine. (2006). Vowel epenthesis in loanword adaptation: Representational and phonetic consideration. Lingua, 1161, 1112–1139. 

史有为 Shi, You Wei . (2000). Hanyu wailaici 汉语外来词 [Chinese loanwords]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.
Silverman, Daniel. (1992). Multiple scansions in loanword phonology: Evidence from Cantonese. Phonology, 91, 289–328. 

Smith, Jennifer L. (2007). Source similarity in loanword adaptation: Correspondence theory and the posited source-language representation. In Steve Parker (Ed.), Phonological argumentation: Essay on evidence and motivation. London: Equinox.
Steriade, Donca. (2001a). Directional asymmetries in place assimilation: A perceptual account. In Elizabeth Hume & Keith Johnson (Eds.), The role of speech perception in phonology, 219–250. San Diego: Academic Press.
外研社学术与辞书部Waiyanshe xueshu yu cishubu (Eds.). (2010). Hanying xiao cidian 汉英小词典 [Little Chinese-English dictionary]. Beijing: Waiyu jiaoxue yu yanjiu chubanshe.
杨锡彭 Yang, Xi Peng . (2007). Hanyu wailaiyu yanjiu 汉语外来语研究 [A study of Chinese loanwords]. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.
于辉 Yu, Hui . (2010). Hanyu jieci yinxixue – yi yingyuan jieci de yuyin he yinxi fenxi weili 汉语借词音系学 – 以英源借词的语音和音系分析为例 [A study of Chinese loanword phonology taking English-origin loanword adaptation as an example]. Ph.D. dissertation, Nankai University.
中国社会科学院语言研究所词典编辑室 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan yuyan yanjiusuo cidian bianjishi (Eds.). (2011). Xiandai hanyu cidian 现代汉语词典 [Modern Chinese dictionary] (5th ed.). Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.
Zhou, Honghong. (2009). A sociolinguistic study on Chinese loanwords. Beijing: Beijing jiaotong daxue chubanshe.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.