白语焦点和边界的韵律编码方式

The Prosodic Realization of Focus and Boundary in the Bai Language

本文研究大理白语中焦点和边界的韵律编码方式。语音分析结果表明:(1)白语中焦点在基频上没有系统的变化,焦点词时长有一定的延长,句首焦点的延长量最为明显;(2)句内边界强度基本不通过音高区分,而主要通过边界前音节的时长延长以及可能出现的无声停顿。总体来说,白语中焦点的实现方式与彝语和羌语等许多语言一样,属于非焦点后压缩语言,不同于汉语普通话和藏语等焦点后压缩语言。韵律边界的标记方式在各语言间比较一致。

The present study investigated the prosodic realization of focus and boundary in the Bai language spoken in Dali,Yunnan Province.The reading material consisted of mathematical addition and multiplication formulas,e.g.3×(9+0)vs.(3×9)+0,whose meanings were varied by phrasing.Moreover,with a preceding question,focus was elicited on a neutral focus condition,or else on the initial,medial,or final digit.The phonetic analysis showed that:(1)F0 was not systematically varied to mark focus in the Bai language;instead,focused words were lengthened,especially the initial focus;(2)boundaries within a sentence were largely not marked by F0;instead,boundary strength was mainly encoded by pre-boundary lengthening and optional pause.In general,the prosodic realization of focus in Bai is similar to Yi,Qiang and some other non-PFC(post-focus-compression)languages spoken in southern China,but different from the PFC languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Tibetan.As for boundary strength,duration lengthening and pause are common cross-linguistic cues.