臺灣客家話中有一親屬稱謂，其表「兒媳婦」義時讀[sim^1-khiu^1]，可能的漢字書寫模式亦有多種，例如：新臼、心舅、辛舅、薪臼……等，漢字標寫形式的不同，也同時暗示了學者對客語兒媳婦義一詞，「詞源」上的認識仍有所擺盪。本文藉由檢視客、贛兩語，及其他諸多語言的例證，認為這些乍似零散不群的例外現象，仍是份屬於條件音變的層次，而促成音變的條件正是滑音[-u-]與[-i-]的雙向力量，因此我們發現縱然是「規律」中的明顯「例外」，往深一層挖掘時，「例外」仍可能有一致性的「規律」。凖此，我們的觀察為客話「新婦」sim^1-khiu^1一詞，找到較合理可行的音韻詮釋之道。以下茲分五小節論述之：一、緒說；二、新婦的「歷史」與「地理」；三、客、贛語的「新婦」；四、「新婦」sim^1-khiu^1的音變機制；五、結論。

The Taiwan Hakka 客家 dialect has a kinship term for daughter-in-law, which is pronounced "sim^1-khiu^1"新婦. In written form, it has many variations, including新臼, 心舅, 辛舅, and薪臼. These variations show the difference of opinion that exists among scholars regarding the origin of the term. Through investigating evidence abstracted from many related dialects, this paper tries to put forth the claim that conditional phonological variations are found in these "scattered exceptions." The premise that makes this explanation of phonological variation possible is the relationship between the glides [-u-] and [-i-]. Although this explanation is an apparent exception, through further investigation, apparent exceptions in regularity seem to still be rule-governed. Hence, we find a reasonable explanation in phonology for the Hakka term sim^1-khiu^1, and will discuss the issue in five sections: 1. Introduction; 2. The history and geography of sim^1-khiu^1; 3. sim^1-khiu^1 in the Hakka and Gan 贛 dialects; 4. The phonological mechanism of sim^1-khiu^1; and 5. Conclusion.