Syllable onsets in Southern Min: inventory, processes, and constraints

Abstract This study adopts a system perspective to explore how inventory, process, and constraint function to shape the complexity of syllable onsets in Southern Min. Only 15 onsets are phonemic, but they present several typologically uncommon features and are rich in allophonic variations. About 57 variants are identified that are triggered by only three distinct features from subsequent segments, and involve processes of dentalization, palatalization, labialization, lenition, lamination, glottalization, nasalization, and prenasalization. The usage frequency of onsets and their combinability with other syllable components are severely constrained, leading to more than 71% of theoretically possible syllables failing to be attested. The nasality feature from nuclei, labial feature within syllables, complexity of final types, diachronic requirements for assigning tones with respect to syllable onsets and codas, and the nature of onsets can all evoke constraints. This exploration has significant implications for our knowledge of segmental phonetics, segmental phonology, and segmental phonotactics in this language. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the understanding of the importance of inventory, process, and constraint in the phonological research of specific languages, and shed light on adopting the perspective of system to investigate other phonological categories and stretch our cognition of natural languages.