从《楚辞》联绵词、叠音词探汉语语音起源

Exploration into the Origin of Chinese Speech by Studying Alliterated Words and Reiterative Locution in Songs of Chu

从语源角度看,《楚辞》中联绵词和叠音词的声韵分布表明,联绵词喉音占优势,影母尤其突出,汉语最初的发音应该是从含混的喉辅音开始,辅音的出现早于元音。从联绵词到叠音词,喉音和影母比例急剧减少,表明联绵词早于叠音词。《楚辞》中联绵词和叠音词的韵部分布则与婴儿的语音发展相吻合,人类发出的最初元音按照由低后向高前的发生趋势进行,这主要受人的生理活动制约,也受辅音发展的影响。

An etymologic study of the distribution of the initial consonants and vowels of alliterated words and reiterative locution in Songs of Chu indicates that gutturals predominates in alliterated words, especially the Ying-initial consonants. The Chinese language pronunciation may start with the indistinct gutturals, and the emergence of consonants is earlier than that of vowels. The fact that gutturals and Ying-initial consonants are apparently fewer in reiterative locution than in alliterated words shows that alliteratedwords must have come to existence earlier than reiterative locution. The distribution of vowels in alliterated words and reiterativelocution in Songs of Chu coincides with the development of infant’s speech. The first vowels a man can make develop from low tohigh and from back to front, and this tendency is conditioned by the physiological activities of human, and also affected by the development of consonants.