浙江台州方言中的嘎裂声中折调

Creaky Voice in Taizhou, Zhejiang

本文考察见于吴方言台州片的一个语音现象--"嘎裂声中折调"。中折调最早是赵元任先生在黄岩发现的,他认为这是由于有个喉塞音在中间把音节一切为二。本文用实验语音学材料揭示,造成台州中折调的其实不是"中喉塞",而是"嘎裂声"。除台州的吴方言外,赣方言、闽南方言和粤北土话都发现了中折调,而且都被认为是"中喉塞"。核定其语音性质,对进一步的方言调查是有意义的。

This paper examines and clarifies a phonetic puzzle since Yuan-Ren Chao (1928); the broken tone in the Wu dialect of Huangyan, Taizhou. Chao considered it caused by a mid-glottal stop. This paper, based on the evidence from experimental phonetics, demonstrates that the broken tone in Taizhou dialects is none other than creaky voice, which is different from a normal glottal stop in terms of acoustics as well as physiology. Since there are a number of reports on the broken tone and the so-called ' mid-glottal stop' in other dialects such as Gan (Jiangxi) , Minnan (Fujian) and north Guangdong, it is important for Chinese dialectology to determine their phonetic nature.