英汉音节分析及数量对比

Syllable Analysis and Syllable Inventories in English and Chinese

前人普遍认为,英语的音节结构比汉语复杂,音节数也比汉语多得多。不过,关于英语的音节数,前人往往只是估计,而且各种估计差异悬殊。文章认为,差异的来源主要在于对音节的定义和划分有不同理解。文章比较四种音节分析方法并且提出,英语音节划分应该根据“重长轻短”,音节结构则应该以非词缘位置为准,即排除词缀或词缘辅音的影响。根据这一观点,英语和汉语(普通话)不但音节结构相似,而且数量相差不大:如果包括词缘辅音,英语的音节总数大约是汉语的2倍;如果排除词缘的额外辅音,英语的音节总数大约是汉语的1.5倍。两种结果都低于前人的估计。文章为音节研究提供了新的数据和视角。

There is a common view that the syllable structure of English is more complicated than that of Chinese,and English uses far more syllables than Chinese.However,previous statements on the size of the English syllable inventory are often based on estimates,which differ widely,ranging from thousands to over 158,000.This study compares several approaches to the analysis of English syllables and propose that(i)syllabification should follow the Length-Stress Correspondence(whereby a stressed syllable should have a long rime and an unstressed syllable should have a short rime)and(ii)the maximal syllable size ought to be based on non word-edge positions.In the proposed approach,English and Chinese have similar syllable structures and similar sizes of syllable inventories.In the monomorphemic lexicon,if all consonants are included,the English syllable inventory is about twice the size of the Chinese inventory,and if extra word-edge consonants are excluded,the English syllable inventory is 1.5 times the size of Chinese inventory.Our study offers new statistical results and a new perspective for comparative studies on syllables in different languages.