亲密与高调——对小称调、女国音、美眉等语言现象的生物学解释

Intimacy and high pitch

本文引入一条生物学原理———“高频声调表示体型小”来解释汉语方言中的小称变调和其他高调现象 ,提出小称调来源于儿语的观点。小称调从发生上说先有昵称功能 ,再有表小功能 ;从演化上看昵称功能先磨损 ,导致小称退化。所以“小称”(diminutive)应该叫“昵称”(affective)。本文认为发声态各异的多种小称调形式是独立发生的 ,不代表发展阶段 ,不过产生的原因和所起的作用都是为了突显或强化高调。儿鼻化和高调化小称是独立产物 ,儿鼻化早于高调化 ,但两者产生的理据却都是出于由怜爱婴儿所产生的联想。亲密高调论可以解释很多看似毫不相关的语言现象 ,如台湾“美眉” ,北京女国音 ,香港女孩名等 ;还可以扩展去解释某些躯体语言。

In linguistics there is a principle that the relationship between sound and meaning is arbitrary. An exception to the principle is that high pitch is often used to express intimacy, submission, or to ask for cooperation (e.g. Ohala 1983). Ohala calls it “frequency code”. Applied with this ethological theory, the current paper explores various forms of the so called “diminutive tone” in Chinese dialects. Furthermore we extend it to other high pitched linguistic phenomena such as “female Mandarin”, Taiwan “meimei” (美眉), etc., which have not been explained satisfactorily. It is proposed that the diminutive tone originates from child language.