从对音材料看汉语西北方言元音高化的历史层次

Historical Layers of Vowel Raising in Northwestern Chinese Dialects as Reflected from Transcriptional Representations

本文尝试根据民族语和汉语对音材料指出汉语西北方言历史上曾经历与鼻音韵尾脱落有关的三次元音高化。现代晋语和兰银官话各方言点的阳声韵分别表现为鼻音韵尾、鼻化元音和元音韵尾三种类型,相应元音的舌位也高低有异。这类复杂现象是不同历史层次叠加造成的结果,并非语言本身的直接发展。西北方言相关的历史演变可以分成三个层次。第一个层次产生于8-11世纪,特点是鼻音韵尾-?的脱落和元音的高化,即a>ε>e>i和α>?>o;第二个层次产生于11-13世纪,特点是鼻音韵尾-n的脱落和元音的高化,即a>ε>e;第三个层次产生于13世纪中叶以后,特点是此前已经脱落的鼻音韵尾在外来因素的影响下又添加上去,随后在一部分方言点重新开始了元音高化的过程。元音高化的起因可能与鼻音韵尾的脱落有关,但两种现象的发生并不同步。

This paper attempts to point out that vowel raising related to the loss of nasal endings has occurred three times in the history of northwestern Chinese dialects as reflected from the transcriptional representations of Chinese in other languages.The reflexes of the Yangsheng阳声rhymes in various varieties of modern Jinyu,i.e.,modern Jin dialects,and Lan-Yin mandarin constitute three types:nasal endings,nasalized vowels and vowel endings,with variations in the heights of the corresponding vowels.This complex situation results from the superimposition of different historical layers,instead of a direct development of the ancient Northwestern Chinese dialect per se.The historical changes in this regard in northwestern Chinese dialects can be subsumed into three layers.The first layer lasts from the eighth to the eleventh century,featuring a loss of the nasal ending-?and vowel raising,i.e.,a>ε>e>i andα>?>o.The second layer lasts from the eleventh to the thirteenth century,featuring a loss of the nasal ending-n and vowel raising,that is,a>ε>e.The third layer occurs after the mid-thirteenth century,featuring regained nasal endings under foreign influence,and in its wake occurs again the vowel raising process in some localities of northwestern Chinese dialects.Vowel raising may be triggered by the loss of nasal endings,but the two kinds of phenomena are asynchronous.