ABSTRACT
As I have discussed in §6.1.1.4, syllables in Pingyao Chinese are in the shape of CV, CVŋ, or CV?. The vowel in CV is either a diphthong or phonetically long, and the vowel in CV? is very short. The former is usually more than twice as long as the latter. I henceforth write CV syllables as CVV. The vowel in CVŋ has comparable duration to the vowel in CV? (Zhang 1998). On CVV and CVŋ, three tones can occur: 13, 35, and 53; on CV?, 13 and 53 can occur, but they are partially flattened to 23 and 54 (Hou 1980, 1982a, b). Some Pingyao examples are repeated in (1).
Pingyao examples:
puu13 |
‘to hatch’ |
pΛ?23 |
‘to push aside’ |
puu35 |
‘cloth’ |
pΛ?54 |
‘a musical instrument’ |
puu53 |
‘to mend’ |