本研究以語音與社會語言學觀點探討台灣華語音節末鼻音合併現象。
研究發現，戰後由中國來台之新移民（一般所稱之「外省人」）與本省閩南
人之間，於音節末鼻音合併現象上並無顯著差異。此外，本研究亦顯示音
節末鼻音合併方向與鼻音前之母音有關，若該母音為[i]，則其後之齒齦鼻
音[n]傾向與軟顎鼻音[ŋ]合併; 若該母音為[ə]，則鼻音傾向由軟顎向齒齦合
併。此項研究發現與Ing (1985)及Chen (1991a)吻合，但其中的[iN]合併方
向，則與Kubler (1985)及Tse (1992)相反。此外，本研究雖與Chen (1991a)
於兩種音節末鼻音合併方向上得到一致的結果，但對於何者居帶頭地位，
仍未得一致結果。Chen (1991a)的研究結果顯示，[in][iŋ]的合併頻率較高，
但本研究卻顯示[əŋ][ən]頻率較高。

The current study examines syllable-final nasal mergers in Taiwan Mandarin. One major
finding is that the ethnic gap of syllable-final nasal mergers has been leveled. Meanwhile, the
merger directions observed in the current study are in accordance with Ing (1985) and Chen
(1991a) in that the syllable-final nasals tend to be alveolarized if preceded by [ə] and velarized
if preceded by [i]. However, this [iN] merger direction contradicts Kubler (1985) and Tse
(1992). Chen (1991a) and the current study presented inconsistent results in terms of the
leading merger. Chen (1991a) suggested that [in] to [iŋ] was leading the merger while the
current study suggests that the leading merger is [əŋ] to [ən].