民族语人称代词的语音象似性

Phonetic Iconicity of Personal Pronouns in the Minority Languages of China

文章对中国国内121种民族语的人称代词的语音象似性进行了考察。发现它们的声母、韵母、有声调语言的声调遵守着多样的原则,体现着不同程度的语音象似性。全部样本数据汇总显示:人称代词更符合位置方向象似性(即I人称:II/III人称=内:外),对于响度———距离的符合度不如指示词,但仍然存在。与说话人有关的(I:II,I:III)相当符合象似性,尤其是位置方向象似性,远远超过偶然性的概率。与说话人无关的(II:III)象似度相对较低。总体上声调和复杂度较多符合背景原则。结果只是统计学上的倾向,即样本语言人称代词的语音形式与其所表语义之间的关系,是居于"任意性"和"必然性"之间的一种中间状态,是"或然性"的。理解语言形式与意义之间关联应从"任意性、或然性、必然性"三分的理念出发,去发掘更多的象似性原则,开发"或然性"这一中间地带存在的规律。

This paper gives a statistic study on the phonetic iconicity of personal pronouns in 121 mi- nority languages of China. It finds that phonetic iconicity exists in the initial consonants, vowels, tones of those personal pronouns, following a variety of principles. The statistic figures of the lan- guage samples show that the personal pronouns follow the place-direction iconicity more than others. The sonority-distance principle also works for personal pronouns but is not as powerful as demonstra- tives. The relationships between pronouns related to the speaker （1st vs. 2nd and 1st vs. 3rd person） measures up to the iconicity considerably, especially to place-direction iconicity, while the iconicity ir- relevant of the speaker （2nd vs. 3rd） is relatively lower. The tones and complexity follow the back- ground principle more than other principles. The results reveal certain statistic tendencies instead of absolute laws, showing that the relationship between the phonetic sounds and the semantic meanings of personal pronouns in the language samples is a kind of probability, an intermediate state between arbitrariness and inevitability. It is in this state rather than arbitrariness and inevitability that lin- guists can explore to find more iconic sound-meaning principles.