Whiskey or Bhiskey?: Influence of First Element and Dialect Region on Sequential Voicing of shoochuu

Abstract

The present study investigated how five first elements (i.e., imo, soba, kome, mugi and kokutoo) affect sequential voicing (rendaku) in the second element shoochuu across six dialect regions (i.e., Kagoshima, Oita, Fukuoka, Yamaguchi, Hiroshima and Shizuoka). A decision tree analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 405 participants was conducted to predict voiced (/z/) or voiceless (/s/) decisions based on the two variables of shoochuu ingredient and dialect region. Results indicated that the type of shoochuu ingredient as the first-element was a significant factor for voiced-or-voiceless decisions, dividing them into four groups. (1) ‘Imo+shoochuu’ showed the highest frequency of voicing at 93.83%. (2) ‘Kome+shoochuu’ (88.89%) and ‘Soba+shoochuu’ (84.69%) showed similar percentages. (3) ‘Mugi+shoochuu’ (72.59%) was significantly lower than imo, kome or soba. (4) ‘Kokutoo+shoochuu’ (56.44%) was the lowest. The present study also demonstrated that the six dialect regions appeared to have no influence on voiced-or-voiceless decisions. Dialect seems to have no influence on rendaku occurrences, at least in the case of shoochuu.