“复声调”与“曲折调”新探

A New Study of Tone Contours and Tone Clusters

凡是用声调作为手段来表示“词汇意义和词的语法意义”的语言,被称为“声调语言”;凡是不用声调作为手段来表示“词汇意义和词的语法意义”的语言,被称为“非声调语言”。中国境内有藏语、彝语、壮语、傣语、苗语、瑶语等几十种语言都属声调语言之列。到目前为止,学者们对这些语言声调的起源、构成、发展、变化做过十分精辟的研究,但是也留下一些问题有待讨论。比如,声调语言的辅音有“单辅音、复辅音”之分,元音有“单元音、复元音”之分,其声调是不是也有“单声调、复声调”之分呢?这样的问题一直还没有人论证过,通过审听、实验和综合分析有关语料,所得出的答案是肯定的。

A language that uses tones to signal ＂word meanings and grammatical categories＂ is called Tone Language. A language that does not use tonal contrasts to distinguish ＂word meanings and grammatical categories＂ is a Non-tone Language. In China, there are tens of tone languages such as Tibetan, Yi, Zhuang, Dai, Miao , Yao and so on. Up to now, scholars have done many elaborate researches in the origins, structures, evolutions, and variations of the tones of these languages. However, there are still a few issues that need to be discussed. For example, in a tone language, consonants include ＂single consonants and compound consonants＂; vowels include ＂single vowels and compound vowels＂; then if its tones could be categorized into ＂single tones and compound tones＂？ The issue has not been argued yet. By listening, experimenting and comprehensive analyzing related language materials, the answer of the article is yes.