苗瑶语元音系统的类型学考察

A Typological Investigation on the Vowel Systems of the Hmong-Mien Languages

苗瑶语元音系统以五到十元音型为主,其中七元音型和九元音型最多;元音音位的平均数目为8个,较为接近汉语方言的元音音位平均值8.6;从地理分布上来看,元音系统类型数目、元音平均数目由北到南、从西往东呈现逐步递减之势;元音系统的构型以三角形为主,只有5个点属于四边形;出现频率较高的元音音位是/i a u e o?y/;/e o/与前响二合元音的高频出现是苗瑶语显著的类型特点;/y/成为常见音素体现了汉语对苗瑶语元音系统的深刻影响。

The vowel systems of 40 language samples in the Hmong-Mien languages are investigated from the typological perspective in this paper. Among the dominating patterns of 5 to 10 vowels, the pattern of 7 and 9 vowels are the most common ones. The vowel systems contain 8 vowel phonemes on average, and this number approaches the average number of 8.6 ones in the Chinese vowel systems. From North to South and from West to East, the spatial distribution of the number of the vowel patterns and the average number of the vowel phonemes diminish gradually. The triangular configurations of the vowel system predominate, with 5 exceptions of quadrangle configurations; /i a u e oειy/are the most frequent vowel phonemes. The frequent occurrence of/e o/and the falling diphthongs are the distinct typological features of the vowel systems of the Hmong-Mien languages;/1 y/＇s getting the position of the common phonemes is a concrete reflecting of the profound influence of the Chinese vowel systems.