6. Phonology音系学

Phonology and phonetics

音系学和语音学

Both phonology and phonetics are studies of speech sounds.

Phonetics is of a general nature, it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages;

Phonology is interested in the system of sounds of a particular language, it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication. Thus these two are at once related and distinct branches of linguistic studies.

语音学研究人类所有的语言。音系学研究某种特定语言的语音系统。

Example:

单词leap和peel中的[l]音有清晰音和模糊音之分，但音的不同对意义的表达并无关联。所以，如果从语音学角度来说，这是两个不同的语音，而从音系学角度来说，这是同一基本实体的两个变体。

音系学家对不引起意义区别的语音间的细微区别并不关注，但语音学家却要对所有的语音进行描述，不论它们之间的差别对表达意义有没有关系。

7. Phone, phoneme, and allophone

语音（音素）、音位、音位变体

Phone can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.

语音是语言学研究的单位，是一个个具体的声音。语音是一个语音单位或一个切分成分，它并不一定能区分意义。

Phonology is concerned with the speech sounds which distinguish meaning. The basic unit in phonology is called phoneme, it is a unit that is of distinctive value. But it is an abstract unit. A phoneme is not a sound, it is a collection of distinctive phonetic features.

音位是音系学研究的单位，是抽象的概念，每一个音位是一组语音特征的集合体，音位具有区别意义的作用。一个音位在语音上被具体体现为一个特定的语音（音素）。

按照惯例，音位被置于两斜线之间，如/p/ /t/，而语音被置于方括号内，如[p] [t].

The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.

音位变体是一个音位在特定的语音环境里的具体体现，同一个音位在不同的语音环境里体现为不同的变体，也就是语音。

8. Phonemic contrast, complementary distribution, and minimal pair

音位对立、互补分布、最小对立对

Phonetically similar sounds might be related in two ways. They might form a contrast if they are two distinctive phonemes, or they do not form a contrast in meaning if they are allophones of the same phoneme.

相似的语音之间可能有两种关系。两个相似的语音如果是两个区别性音位，它们在意义上形成对立，如果是同一音位的变体，在意思上不形成对立。

The former is called phonemic contrast, they can occur in the same environments and they distinguish meaning.

音位对立是指不同音位之间的关系，它们可以出现在不同的语音组合的同一位置，产生意义差别，如rope和robe中的/p/和/b/。

The latter is called complementary distribution; they are two allophones of the same phoneme. They only occur in different environments.

互补分布是指音位变体之间的关系，同一个音位的不同变体在语音组合中永远不会出现在相同的位置上，它们没有区别意义的作用，如top中的送气的[p]和stop中不送气的[p]。

A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another one results in a change of meaning. If it does, the two sounds then represent different phonemes. An easy way to do this is to find the minimal pairs.

确定一种语言的音位的一个基本途径是，看如果用一个语音代替另一个是否会产生不同的意义。如果产生了，那么这两个语音就代表不同的音位。为此，一个简单的办法就是找出最小对立对。

When two different forms are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two words are said to form a minimal pair.

最小对立对是指除了出现在同一位置上的一个音之外其余都相同的两个语音组合，如[pen]和[ben]。

9. Some rules in phonology

几条音系规则

A)sequential rules 系列规则

The rules that govern the combination of sounds in a particular language are called sequential rules.

在一种特定的语言中，语音的组合是受规则制约的，这些规则叫做系列规则。

重要的规则：

I. 如果单词以[l] 或[r] 为首，其后的一个语音必定为元音，如rude, last, leap

II. 如果三个辅音同时出现在单词词首，则：第一音位必定为/s/，第二音位必定是/p//t//k/，第三音位必定是/l//r//w/，如strict, splendid, spring

III. 塞擦音[tF][dV]和咝音[s] [z] [F] [V] 后不能紧跟另一个咝音，如teach变复数为teaches[ti:tFiz]。

IV. 制约音位模式的规则是随语言的不同而不同的，英语中适用，其它语言却不适用。

B) assimilation rules 同化规则

The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying” a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar.

同化规则即通过“模仿”一个系列音位的一个特征使一个语音与另一个语音相似，从而使两个音素变得相似。

重要的规则：

I. 元音后紧跟一个鼻音时，该元音要鼻音话。如bean/ green 中的[i:]音。

II. 在一个单词中，鼻音[n]所处的发音部位和紧随其后的辅音的发音部位变得一样。如correct –incorrect。

III. 语音同化规则也体现在有关单词的拼写中。如possible的否定形式是impossible，是因为[n]音同化成了[m]音。

C)deletion rules 省略规则

The rule tells us when a sound is to be deleted although it is orthographically represented.

省略规则告诉我们什么时候一个语音尽管在拼写中存在，但在发音中却省略了。

重要的规则：

I. 如[g]音出现在位于词尾的一个鼻辅音前时要省略。如sign中的[g]音不发音。而在加了后缀的signature中，[g]却要发音的。

10. Suprasegmental features- stress, tone, intonation

超切分特征：重音、声调和语调

Distinctive features can also be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called suprasegmental features. The main suprasegmental features include stress, intonation, and tone.

区别性特征也可以在由两个或多个音位切分成分所组成的系列中体现出来。出现在切分层面之上的音系特征叫做超切分特征。它们时音节、单词和句子等语言单位的音系特征。主要的超切分特征包括重音、音调和语调。

A)Stress 重音

重要的规则：

I. 一个单词如果既可以作名词，又可以作动词，则名词重音在第一个音节上，相应的动词重音则在第二个音节上。如import。

II. 英语复合词的重音常在第一个成分上，第二个成分是次重音。如hotdog。

B) Tone 声调

英语不是声调语言，这里不作研究。

C)Intonation 语调

When pitch, stress and sound length are tied to the sentence rather than the word in isolation, they are collectively known as intonation.

当音高、重音和音长依附于一个句子而不是单个单词时，这些音素合起来叫做语调。

English has four basic types of intonation: the falling tone, the rising tone, the fall-rise tone, and the rise-fall tone. The most frequently used are the first three.

英语中有四种基本语调：降调、升调、降升调、升降调。最常用的是前三种。