结构所引起的辅音音变--论三个客家话软腭音龈腭化演变的不平衡

Structurally-Triggered Consonant Shift

粤东北部三县见组字在细音条件下只有/KiAC/类音节变音为龈腭音:~*[k]、~*[k^h]、~*[■]分别变成[■]、[■~h]、[■];音变后介音也流失了。/KiC/类音节不变。这个观察有别于前人的记述,但可以通过语图分析得到验证。借助音节建构的分析,文章说明不平衡的演变来自见组细音的两组音节内部结构的不同:/KiAC/类音节中K,与[i]同属音首,所以糅合为龈腭辅音;而/KiC/类音节中,[i]却作为韵核,与音首关系疏远,所以未能糅合。

Across 3 Hakka dialects, velars （^＊ k, ^＊ k^h, η） shift to become alveolo-palatals （ , ^h, respectively） when followed by the medial glide [i], but such shifts are unattested when [i] is the syllable nucleus. The paper argues that this asymmetrical shift is triggered by structural affinity which is a consequence of standard syllabification algorithm. Thus, theories of generative phonology shed light on historical shifts. The ^＊ velar→alveolo-palatal shift can easily be understood from the perspective of feature geometry： the high, front position of [i] palatalizes and fronts the velars. Given the structural affinity account, this is a natural process of anticipatory assimilation.