新寨苗语五平调的声学和感知研究——兼论五度标调法

An Acoustic and Perceptual Study of the Five Level Tones in Hmu(Xinzhai Variety)

新寨苗语属于苗语黔东方言,该语言有五个平调。本文以新寨苗语的五平调作为研究对象,首先通过声学分析和多维尺度法考察了这五个平调的声学特性,发现五平调在母语者的发音音域中可以得到很好的区分。其次,我们又通过确认实验和区分实验考察了五平调的感知,结果发现母语者在听感上也能够很好地区分这五个平调,并且每一个平调都有自己的感知音域。在此基础上,本文讨论了五平调的发音和感知之间的关系,研究表明:(1)无论从发音还是感知角度,五平调之间的间距都不是等分的;(2)发音和感知虽然是两个层面的概念,但是五平调的研究结果显示母语者的发音音域和与之相对应的感知音域大致相等;(3)特定声调上存在的特殊发声类型不仅可以扩展其自身的感知音域,还可以扩展与之相邻声调的感知音域。最后,文章结合新寨苗语五平调的声学和感知结果讨论了五度标调法的问题。

Hmu(Xinzhai variety)is an eastern dialect of Hmongic language,and it has five level tones.The acoustic characteristic of the five level tones was analyzed firstly on the basis of experimental method and multidimensional scaling analysis,and then investigated their perceptual characteristic by means of identification and discrimination test.The results have shown that the five level tones can be well distinguished by native speakers no matter in speech production or speech perception.On this basis,this study discusses the relationship between speech production and perception of the five level tones.Results have shown that:1)whether it is from the view of speech production or perception,the pitch interval of the five level tones is not equally divided.2)the pitch range of each level tone is roughly equal in production and perception,though the two concepts belong to different level in the field of linguistics.3)non-modal phonation in specific tone not only expands its perceptual range,but also can extend the perceptual range of the neighboring tone.Finally,combined with these results,this paper discusses the"five number tone system".