英语短-A语音史

英语短-A语音史(pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩)主要是说明英语元音分裂的过程,如何由平舌元音(flat-A;短-A)变化到舌后元音(broad-A;长-A);或者并存之共生与转移机制。

Trap-bath分裂

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“Trap-bath分裂”是指在英格兰英语口音“trap”和“bath”这两个英文字中间的/a/音的元音分裂过程。这个过程发生于英格兰南部,进一步也影响了英语标准音、美国的波士顿口音南半球澳洲英语新西兰英语南非英语等口音的变化。现在近代英语音素/æ/在特殊程况下被延长了,并慢慢演化成为father里的/ɑː/音。(Wells 1982: 100–1, 134, 232–33)

本文提到一些延长元音的字词,比如:bath, laugh, grass, chance 等词,它们在重音方面受到"分裂"特性的影响,进而将其称之为舌后元音-A(broad A)(同样的变化,在大不列颠却称之为长-A(long A))。语音学上,公认发音(RP)的元音会呈现舌后元音长-[ɑː]之现象;可将之归于较前元音类;比如[ɐː]、或则 [aː]等音素一类。其它的一些重音的变化,包括有许多澳洲英语新西兰英语里的重音,而在南非英语(South African English)里可能是一个圆唇元音[ɒː]的变化。有些重音没有受到分裂的影响,这些字词经常有同样的元音,比如:cattrapman,将其称之为短-A(short A)、或则平舌元音-A(flat A)。

这种语音的变化发生在18世纪末叶的英格兰南部,于字词里由[æ]音到[ɑː]音的变化规律是:当[æ]音出现在[f, s, θ, ns, nt, ntʃ, nd, mpl]音素之前,就变音为[ɑː],于是path此单词发音转变成RP[pɑːθ]sample变为[sɑːmpl]等。在其它的辅音之前这些语音并不会发生转变;因此分裂改变重音的现象发生在某些单词,比如 cat元音发音还是保持为/æ/音素不做改变。要了解更多受影响的单词详情,请参见底下语音变化一节。

英伦诸岛的口音

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语音分裂的存在与否,在英格兰英语不同口音之间是一项很显著的差别因素。这一条语音分裂同言线穿过岛中地带(Midlands)起于华许地区(The Wash)至威尔士边境,再通过伯明翰莱斯特的南边。同言线以北,大多受影响的语词之元音经常有相同的短-[a]像是cat这个单字。同言线以南,受影响的语词之元音经常表现为长-[a]。(Gupta 2005)

靠近同言线的元音也有一些变化;比如:在伯明翰口音(Brummie)大多数受影响的字词呈现出短-[a]之现象,不过单字aunt却经常显现出长-[a]的特性。此外,在美国英语中有一些单词大多呈现出/æ/之音素,包括:half、calf、rathercan't,不过在英格兰的东北地区这些字却是发[a]元音。

在某些英格兰西郡地区(West Country)之英格兰英语(English English)重音会发生一些变化,像是单词 trap 是用[a]之音素而不是[æ]音素,单词 bath 的元音被延长为[aː]并且不会和单词 father/ɑː/音素并在一起。这些单词的重音 trapbathfather 都有不同的元音如:/a//aː/,与/ɑː/。(Wells 1982: 346–47)

而其它的西郡地区之口音,及苏格兰英语(Scottish English)的许多音素方面,对于RP在/æ//ɑː/的区别变化的架构上是没有多大的分别。

南半球国家的口音

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已有证据显示来自于南半球国家,如:澳大利亚新西兰、及南非之口音变化的转移日期。

澳洲英语(Australian English),在一些单词如:path, laugh, class口音变化一般是同于英国英语。不过在"N+辅音"之变化,如单词:dance, plant,大多数澳洲人是使用平舌元音-A(flat A)(auntcan't 属于例外,而且不变化的发为[ɐː]音)。语音学上,舌后元音-A(broad A)发为[ɐː]音。澳洲英语单词 castle 在发音上是有一些变化,而且两种发音:舌后元音-A平舌元音-A,均可使用,且经常听到有人这样讲。进一步的相关资讯,请参见澳洲英语语音体系(Australian English phonology)表。

南非新西兰重音变化在公认发音(RP)的分布上是相同的。

北美洲国家的口音

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大多数的美国英语,及加拿大英语的口音是不受元音分裂的影响。最主要的例外是在新英格兰得地区(参见波士顿重音(Boston accent)),在那儿一些字的舌后音如同南英格兰地区一样,比如:can't, aunt, ask, bath 等字。在这些字当中,较广泛使用的字是 aunt ;说这个字的人会发现和 "ant" 字发音相同也不合谐,不过会强说是和 "ant" 的拼法不同。

而一项有关联的,不过有些差别的语音现象就是纽约方言(New York dialect)及费城口音(Philadelphia accent)之口音音位æ-拉紧式

音素变化

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变化不会发生在所有被挑选到的字词当中。不过还是很难找到一些理由来解释为什么有些音素会变化有些不会。大致来说,一个单词是比较可能从平舌元音-/æ/变化到舌后元音-/ɑː/ 。看起来单音节相对于多音节比较可能会变化。接着列出一些从RP来的例子,底下逐一举例说明之:

  • 舌后元音 /ɑːf/ 出现在 half, calf, laugh, laughter, shaft, raft, after
  • 平舌元音 /æf/ 仍然出现在 baffle, raffle, Taffy, Aphrodite, kaftan
  • 舌后元音 /ɑːθ/ 出现在 path, bath, and /ɑːð/paths, baths, rather
  • 平舌元音 /æθ/ 出现在 mathematics, maths, Cathy,与 /æð/ 在 fathom, gather
  • 舌后元音 /ɑːs/ 出现在 class, pass, mast, past, master, plaster, castle, mask, task
  • 平舌元音 /æs/ 出现在 ass (donkey), crass, mass (amount), classic, pastel, asp, Aston, Asquith
  • 舌后元音 /ɑːnt/ 出现在 aunt, plant, can't, advantage
  • 平舌元音 /ænt/ 出现在 ant, banter, cant (slang), scant, mantle
  • 舌后元音 /ɑːns/ 出现在 dance, chance, advance, answer
  • 平舌元音 /æns/ 出现在 ransom, cancer, Anson

有一些字在南方的说话者是会使用两种发音方法:

  • 导源于希腊语,比如:telegraph、blastocyst、chloroplast
  • 前缀词 trans-
  • 其它的单词mass(弥撒)(使用在教堂里)、chafflather

单词 mass 使用舌后元音-A音肯定是保守的用法,目前可能比较少人用。其它单词的用法则两种音位都有,当然除了一些比较复杂的变化之外。虽然单词 graph、telegraph、photograph 等字两种音位均可用,但是单词 graphic、graphology 二字总是发(平舌元音-A)音。当 s清音(比如:transfer [trɑːnsfɜː]transport [trɑːnspɔːt])比起发浊音(比如:translate [trænzleɪt]trans-Atlantic [trænzætlæntɪk])来舌后元音-A音比较可能使用。

Bad-lad分裂

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Bad-lad分裂近代英语之短元音/æ/音位由短的/æ/到长的/æː/音位分裂(phonemic split)过程。Bad-lad分裂被发现存在于英格兰英语(English English)及澳洲英语的一些变异性使用里边,这种变异是因单词bad(用[æː])、和单词lad(用[æ])二者之发音并不谐韵。(Wells 1982: 288–89, 596; Horvath and Horvath 2001; Leitner 2004).

在同一音节内,音素/æ/如置于/m//n/之前,则经常被延长为/æː/音。更进一步地,可以将形容词 badsadglad、与 mad 等字发长音;而且不管在两音节或是三音节上,family 这个单词也是经常存有一长母音。有些语音与区域变音也是在/g//ŋ//l/ 及/或 /dʒ/等音位之前使用延长/æː/音位;像这种延长音的使用与其它的变化比起来是不规则一些。延长音被禁用于不规则动词的过去式、功能字词,及多音节字词的现代缩写型式;像是音位/æ/置于子音之前而此子音须再接续元音之字词构造。不过,延长音是不会因字词位准之后缀增加而所禁用。

要注意的是在英语方言上的一些字词之Bad-lad分裂会替代舌后元音-/ɑː/,比如/m//n/音之后跟随元音的情形发生。在这种情况下,除了含有舌后元音/aː/的字词如:'aunt','can't',及'shan't'之外,澳洲英语经常(不是普遍地)会使用/æː/音位。

丹尼尔·琼斯(Daniel Jones)察觉到在公认发音(RP)上的一些变化,因有一些操英语的人士在长-/æ/短-/æ/之间呈现出音位上的对比;丹尼尔将之各别以/æː//æ/之音素来标示。譬如,在《英语语音学概要》(An outline of English phonetics, 1962, 第9版, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons)一书中丹尼尔提到sadbad一般是发/æː/音,不过ladpad却是发/æ/音。而且在他个人的发音字典里,他也记录了几个最小对比对的字词,比如bad发为/bæːd/音,而bade却发为/bæd/音(也发为/beɪd/音)。他留意到有些人说“jam”这个字时有两个不同的发音,以分辨不同的恴思:当他们说/dʒæːm/时的意思是'fruit conserve',但读/dʒæm/时的意思却是'crush, wedging'。他把这个分别记录在这本字典里,但后来由阿尔弗烈德·金森(Alfred C. Gimson)编辑的版本则删除了这个分别。

不过,除了琼斯的字典以外,其他字典并不会标示这个历史上有关/æ/在发音上的差异。

/æ/ 拉紧式

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在英语社会语言学中,/æ/ 拉紧式是出现在一些美国英语口音(还有所有鼻音之前)以及加拿大英语的过程,其中元音/æ/在一些环境下音位上移并拉长或双元音化。“æ拉紧式”的实现方式是从[æ̝ˑ][ɛə][eə][ɪə]的变化,依赖于读者的地方口音。常见的实现方式是[eə](比如,起始点比在dress里面的元音[ɛ]更近的双元音),其拼法在本条目中会有相应的表示。[1]下表中的~表现的是持续变化的体系而不是语言雪上的分隔。

/æ/ 拉紧式[2] 北美英语口音中:
环境 示例 波士顿
大都会
西部
巴尔的摩
费城
加拿大
美国中西部西北部
美国通用英语
中部地区
北部内陆地区
(五大湖)
纽约 美国中西部 美国南部
/æ/
之后的辅音
音节类型
/r/
arable, arid, baron, barrel, barren, carry, carrot, chariot, charity, clarity, Gary, Harry, Larry, marionette, maritime, marry, marriage, paragon, parent, parish, parody, parrot, etc.; this feature is determined by the presence or absence of the Mary-marry-merry merger
[æ] [æ]
[ɛə]~[æ]

[eə]~[ɛə]~[æ]
[eə] [æ]
[eə]~[ɛə]~[æ]
[æʲə]
/m/, /n/
Alexander, answer, ant, band, can (the metal object), can't, clam, dance, family, ham, hamburger, hand, handy, man, manly, pants, plan, planning, ranch, sand, slant, tan, understand, etc.; in Philadelphia, began, ran, and swam alone remain 松

[eə]~[ɛə]~[æ]
[eə] [eə]
amity, animal, can (the verb), Canada, ceramic, gamut, hammer, janitor, manager, manner, Montana, panel, planet, profanity, salmon, Spanish, etc.
[æ] [æ]
/g/
agate, agony, dragon, magazine, ragamuffin, etc.
[æ] [æ] [eɪ]
agriculture, bag, crag, drag, flag, magnet, rag, sag, tag, tagging, etc.
[eə]
/b/, /d/, /dʒ/,
/ʃ/, /v/, /z/, /ʒ/
absolve, abstain, add, ash, bad, badge, cab, cash, clad, dad, fad, flash, glab, grab, halve, mad, pad, plad, raspberry, rash, sad, smash, splash, tab, tadpole, trash, etc.; in Philadelphia, bad, mad, and glad alone become 紧; in NYC, this environment has a lot of variance and many exceptions to the rule (e.g. had remains 松)
紧/松 [ɛə]~[æ] [æ] [æ]
/f/, /s/, /θ/
ask, bask, basket, bath, brass, casket, cast, class, craft, crass, daft, drastic, glass, grass, flask, half, last, laugh, laughter, mask, mast, math, pass, past, path, plastic, task, wrath, etc.
[eə]
所有其他辅音
act, apple, aspirin, athlete, avid, back, bat, brat, café, cafeteria, cap, cashew, cat, Catholic, chap, clap, classy, fashion, fat, flap, flat, gap, gnat, latch, mallet, map, mastiff, match, maverick, pack, pal, passive, pat, patch, pattern, rabid, racket, rally, rap, rat, sack, sat, Saturn, savvy, scratch, shack, slack, slap, tackle, talent, trap, travel, wrap, etc.
[æ] [æ]
脚注
1) 几乎所有美国英语读者在一些地方把/æŋ/读成[æŋ]或者[eɪŋ],虽然西部更爱读作[eɪŋ]
2) 纽约、费城和巴尔的摩口音的规则中,拉紧式/æ/在一些闭音节的环境下也发生词形变化起源于那些以前闭音节的/æ/,现在有开音节的/æ/环境下。例如,pass以外的词变成紧音(根据一般规则),因此这些开音节衍生出passing和passer-by,但不是passive。
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Phonemic /æ/ tensing in the Mid-Atlantic United States

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In Baltimore, Philadelphia and metropolitan New York, the tense /eə/ is a separate phoneme from /æ/ (in Labovian linguistic variable notation, the phonemes are represented as (aeh) and (ae) respectively), since certain minimal pairs can be found:

  • can /keən/ 'metal container' vs. can /kæn/ 'be able'
  • halve /heəv/ vs. have /hæv/

In these accents there has thus been a phonemic split. Nevertheless, the distribution between /æ/ and /eə/ is largely predictable in the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York regions: In Philadelphia and Baltimore, tense [eə] occurs in closed syllables before the /n/, /m/, /f/, /θ/, and /s/, as well as the words mad, bad, and glad. In New York, tensing occurs in all those environments as well as before voiced stops and /ʃ/. Lax [æ] usually occurs before /ŋ/, /l/, and voiceless stops, and also usually occurs in open syllables regardless of the following consonant. The word avenue normally has tense [eə] (unlike average, etc.).

In Philadelphia, tensing in some lexical items before /l/ and nontautosyllabic nasals has been reported.[3]

Tense [eə] Lax [æ]
man [meən] hang [hæŋ]
ham [heəm] pal [pæl]
laugh [leəf] lap [læp]
bath [beəθ] bat [bæt]
pass [peəs] passage [ˈpæsɪdʒ]

The main exceptions to the above generalizations are:

  1. When a vowel-initial word-level suffix is added to a word with tense [eə], the vowel remains tense even though it has come to stand in an open syllable:
    mannish has [eə] like man, not [æ] like manage
    classy has [eə] like class, not [æ] like classic
    passing has [eə] like pass, not [æ] like Pasadena
  2. When a polysyllabic word with [æ] in an open syllable gets truncated to a single closed syllable, the vowel remains:
    caf (truncation of cafeteria) has [æ], not [eə] like calf
    path (truncation of pathology) has [æ], not [eə] like path 'way, road'
    Mass (truncation of Massachusetts) has [æ], not [eə] like mass
  3. Function words and irregular verb tenses have lax [æ], even in an environment which would usually cause tensing:
    and (a function word) has [æ], not [eə] like sand
    ran (a strong verb tense) has [æ], not [eə] like man

[eə] is also used in these accents before intervocalic /r/ in words like dairy and Mary and in non-rhotic varieties of these accents in words like square and scarce (which rhymes with glass for many non-rhotic speakers).

The phonemic tensing of /æ/ is similar to the broad A phenomenon of certain other dialects. The environment of broad A overlaps with that of /æ/ tensing, in that broad A occurs before voiceless fricatives in the same syllable and before nasals in certain environments; and both phenomena involve replacement of the short lax vowel /æ/ with a longer and tenser vowel. However, the "broad A" is lower and backer than [æ], while the result of /æ/ tensing is higher and fronter.

It is also related to the bad–lad split of some Southern British and Australian dialects, in which a short flat /æ/ is lengthened to [æː] in some conditions. The most significant differences from the Philadelphian system described here are that bad–lad splitting dialects have the broad A phenomenon, so the split can't occur there; that 'sad' is long; and that lengthening can occur before /ɡ/ and /l/.

In Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961; Springfield, Mass: Merriam-Webster Inc.), the Mid-Atlantic tense /æ/ (written with \aa(ə)\, the lax /æ/ being \a\) is shown at individual entries as a variant pronunciation; for instance, the pronunciation of can "container" is \'kan, -aa(ə)n\. In the 11th (2003) edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which is partly derived from the Third unabridged, the distinction is discussed in an introductory section on pronunciation but ignored elsewhere in the text. The editors justify their decision by maintaining that "this distinction is sufficiently infrequent that the traditional practice of using a single symbol is followed in this book" (p. 34a).

非音位/æ/-拉紧式

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在经历了北方大城市元音移位的口音中,发音/æ/在所有情况下上抬并拉紧。[4]

多数美国北部英语口音display an /æ/在一些环境下上抬并拉紧并在其他情况下下移并放松,不像纽约、巴尔的摩、费城口音那样分成两种不一样的发音。常见的现象是“鼻音体系”(nasal system),即/æ/专门在鼻音前抬升并拉紧,而不顾及现时音节和语素的界限。鼻音体系发现于一些单独的不相关的方言区,包括美国中西部的南部、新泽西的北部、佛罗里达加拿大的一部分,除其他地区外,但这是最突出的——也就是/æ/的两种语位变体之间的区别最大的,而且带鼻音体系的读者最集中——在新英格兰地区东部(参见波士顿口音)。

美国西部加拿大和美国中西部的读者中分布更广泛的是“持续音”体系。这类似于鼻音体系中/æ/在鼻音前常抬升并拉紧为[eə],但不是鼻音前高、紧的变体和其他辅音前低降、放松的音的明显区别,/æ/同位异音占据了高和紧这两极之间不同程度的连续体,带有语音和音系上的变体相互作用(有时候在不同口音之间相异地)以决定任意/æ/的特例的高和紧。

美国南部美国南部英语英语Southern American English最具特色的模式一点不用/æ/-拉紧式,但是相反地在所谓的“南部长腔”(Southern drawl):/æ/在实质上变为三元音 [æjə]。然而,许多来自南部的读者有上述的鼻音/æ/-拉紧式体系,特别是查尔斯顿亚特兰大佛罗里达,还有一些新奥尔良的读者被报告有和纽约类似的音位上的分别。[5]

/ɡ/之前的/æ/拉紧式

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对于一些加拿大和美国北部和西北部的读者,在/ɡ/后面拉紧的/æ/和随后的鼻化音一样多或者更频繁;多数美国中西部和一些太平洋西北地区没受到北方大城市元音移位的影响,这发展成/ɡ/之前的/æ/并入/eɪ/的趋势,所以bag的音韵和plague一样。这些通常有别于egg中的/ɛɡ/

Flag-plague音素并合

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音素/ɑː/的进展

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注释

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  1. ^ It is also used in Wells, 1982.
  2. ^ Labov et al. (2006), p. 182.
  3. ^ Labov (2005), p. 39.
  4. ^ Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006:ch. 13)
  5. ^ Labov, "Transmission and Diffusion"

参考文献

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trap-bath分裂
bad-lad分裂
æ-拉紧式
  • Benua, L. 1995. Identity effects in morphological truncation. In Papers in optimality theory, ed. J. N. Beckman, L. Walsh Dickey, and S. Urbanczyk. UMass Occasional Papers 18. Amherst: GLSA, 77–136.
  • Ferguson, C. A. 1972. "Short a" in Philadelphia English. In Studies in linguistics in honor of George L. Trager, ed. M. E. Smith, 259–74. The Hague: Mouton.
  • Kahn, D. 1976. Syllable-based generalizations in English phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA. Reproduced by the Indiana University Linguistics Club.
  • Labov, W. 1966. The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
  • Labov, W. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Labov, W. 1981. Resolving the Neogrammarian controversy. Language 57:267–308.
  • Labov, William, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg. The Atlas of North American English. Mouton de Gruyter. 2006. ISBN 978-3-11-016746-7.  已忽略未知参数|lcoation= (帮助)
  • Trager, G. L. 1930. The pronunciation of "short a" in American Standard English. American Speech 5:396–400.
  • Trager, G. L. 1934. What conditions limit variants of a phoneme? American Speech 9:313–15.
  • Trager, G. L. 1940. One phonemic entity becomes two: The case of "short a". American Speech 15:255–58.
  • Trager, G. L. 1941. ə ˈnəwt on æ ənd æ˔ˑ in əˈmerikən ˈiŋgliʃ. Maître Phonétique 17–19.
  • Wells, J. C. 1982. Accents of English. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

参见

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外部链接

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  • Sounds Familiar? — Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website, including an audio "bath" map of the UK