On the dialectal variations of voiced sibilant /dz/ in Taiwan Min young speakers

This study examined the realization of /dz/ in three dialects of Taiwan Min among young speakers based on a paragraph-reading task. Results showed there were five robust realization categories of /dz/, including the commonly reported dental sibilants, velar obstruents, and liquids and the rarely mentioned dental nonsibilants and retroflexes. Liquids and retroflexes were more likely to occur before a rounded segment, while dental sibilants, dental nonsibilants, and velar obstruents were more likely to occur before an unrounded segment. For the latter environment, there was also a correlation between structural complexity and realization of dental sibilants, velar obstruents, and liquids. The three dialects examined demonstrated different attitudes towards the realization of /dz/. 泉 Choan was the most receptive to the new sounds of liquids, dental nonsibilants, and retroflexes, while Mix was the most conservative in preserving the old forms of dental sibilants and velar obstruents. 漳 Chiang was somewhere in between. It maintained a robust dental sibilant category like Mix yet welcomed new variants of dental nonsibilants and retroflexes like Choan. Talkers were consistent in their /dz/ realization choices and intra-talker variability was low. This study thus demonstrated that talkers’ realization of a variable sound is a complex product of linguistic structure, speakers’ background, and idiosyncratic preference.