中国手语的音系学研究

A Phonological Study of Chinese Sign Language

文章运用音系学音位理论和特征赋值理论对中国手语的构词要素进行了音系学的分析。文章认为:中国手语的构词要素是由无意义的特征构成的,要素即"音位"。如其它人类语言一样,中国手语的音义关系既有任意性,又有相似性。文章认为,根据特征赋值理论,中国手语中的"书空"缺乏音系理据,因此从音系学讲没有充分的语言学资格。对中国手语的音系学分析能帮助我们更好地解读手语(包括各地方手语)是否具有自然语言的基本属性,即音义之间的双层性和任意性。

This article makes a brief phonological analysis of the morphological elements of Chinese sign language, based on such phonological theories as phonemics and feature specification. The authors believe that the word-formation elements of Chinese sign language are phonemes, which are composed of phonological features with no real meaning. Like any other human language, Chinese sign language is characterized by not only arbi- wariness but also iconicity in terms of the relations between sound and meaning. Based on the theory of feature specification, the article claims that ＂shukong＂ （writing in the air with the index finger） in Chinese sign language is not well phonologically motivated. Therefore, ＂shukong＂ lacks adequate linguistic qualifications for phonology. A phonological analysis of Chinese sign language helps better understand whether Chinese sign language （including regional sign languages in China） has the basic properties of a natural language, namely the duality and arbitrariness between sound and meaning.