Chapter 2 Phonology  音系学
1. The phonic medium of language
语言的声音媒介
Speech and writing are the two media used by natural languages as vehicles for communication. Of the two media of language, speech is more basic than writing. Speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises.
For linguists, the study of sounds is of greater importance than that of writing.
The limited ranges of sounds which are meaningful in human communication and are of interest to linguistic studies are the phonic medium of language (语言的声音媒介) . The individual sounds within this range are the speech sounds (语音). 2.What is phonetics?
什么是语音学?
Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language;It is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.
语音学研究的对象是语言的声音媒介,即人类语言中使用的全部语音。
There are three branches of phonetics. They are:
Articulatory phonetics (发音语音学), it studies the speech sounds from the speaker’s point of view. It studies how a speaker uses his speech organs to articulate the sounds.
Auditory phonetics (听觉语音学),it studies the speech sounds from the hearer’s point of view. It studies how the sounds are perceived by he hearer.
Acoustic phonetics(声学语音学),it studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another.
1. Organs of speech
发音器官
The pharyngeal cavity 咽腔  the throat
The oral cavity 口腔        the mouth
The nasal cavity 鼻腔      the nose
The air stream coming from the lungs may be modified in these cavities in many ways. It may also be modified in the larynx (喉) before it reaches any of the cavities.
Lying across the glottis (声门) are the vocal cords (声带). Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called “voicing”. The speed of the vibration determines the pitch of the sound.
The tongue is the most flexible in the oral cavity.
2. Orthographic representation of speech sounds
–broad and narrow transcriptions
语音的书写形式-宽式和窄式音标
IPA-International Phonetic Alphabet 国际音标
There are two ways to transcribe speech sounds. One is the transcription with letter-symbols (字母符号) only, called broad transcription (宽式音标). The
other is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics (变音符号), called narrow transcription (窄式音标).
实例:
对pit/spit中p音的比较:
pit中的p是送气音,在窄式音标中标为上标,写作:[p h it]
spit中的p是不送气音,在宽式音标中不作标示,写作:[spit]
对leaf/feel/build/health中l音的比较:
Leaf中l 在元音前,叫清晰音,在宽式音标中不作标示,写作:[li:f] Feel中l出现在单词结尾,叫模糊音,在窄式音标中加变音符号[~]
Build中l出现在另一个辅音前,也叫模糊音,在窄式音标中也加变音符号[~]
Health中l出现在齿音前,受其影响叫齿音[l],在窄式音标中加变音符号[II]
3. Classification of English speech sounds
英语语音的分类
a) Classification of English consonants
英语辅音的分类
按发音方式分
Stop or plosive 塞音或爆破音: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]
Fricative 擦音:[f] [v] [s] [z] [] [] [s] [] [h]
Affricate 塞擦音:[t][d]
Liquid流音:[l] [r]
Nasal鼻音:[m] [n] []
Glide滑音:[w] [j]
按发音部位分
Bilabial双唇音:[p] [b] [m] [w]
Labiodental唇齿音:[f] [v]
Dental齿音:[] []
Alveolar齿龈音:[t] [d] [s] [z] [n] [l] [r]
Palatal硬腭音:[][t][d][i]
Velar软腭音:[k] [g] []
Glottal声门音:[h]
B) Classification of English vowels
英语元音的分类
按舌头在口中的位置分:
Front vowel前元音:[i:] [i] [e] [] [a]
Central vowel中元音:[:] [] []
Back vowel后元音:[u:] [u] [:] [] [a:]
按口形的大小分:
Close vowel闭元音:[i:] [i] [u:] [u]
Semi-close vowel半闭元音:[e] [:]
Open vowel开元音:[] [a]
Semi-open vowel半开元音:[] [:] [] [] [a:]
按唇形是否为圆分
Unrounded vowel不圆唇元音:[i:] [i] [e] [] [a] [:] [] [] [a:]
rounded vowel圆唇元音:[u:] [u] [:] []
按语音的长短分
Long vowel长元音[i:] [:][a:] [u:] [:]
Short vowel短元音[i] [e] [] [a] [] [] [u] []
在元音中还有一些(diphthong)双元音,包括:[ei] [ai] [u] [a u] [i ] [i] [e] [u]
4. Phonology 音系学
Phonology and phonetics
音系学和语音学
Both phonology and phonetics are studies of speech sounds.
Phonetics is of a general nature, it is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages;
Phonology is interested in the system of sounds of a particular language, it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication. Thus these two are at once related and distinct branches of linguistic studies.
语音学研究人类所有的语言。音系学研究某种特定语言的语音系统。Example:
单词leap和peel中的[l]音有清晰音和模糊音之分,但音的不同对意义的表达并无关联。所以,如果从语音学角度来说,这是两个不同的语音,而从音系学角度来说,这是同一基本实体的两个变体。
音系学家对不引起意义区别的语音间的细微区别并不关注,但语音学家却要对所有的语音进行描述,不论它们之间的差别对表达意义有没有关系。
minimal5. Phone, phoneme, and allophone
语音(音素)、音位、音位变体
Phone can be simply defined as the speech sounds we use when speaking a language. A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. It does not necessarily distinguish meaning.
语音是语言学研究的单位,是一个个具体的声音。语音是一个语音单位或一个切分成分,它并不一定能区分意义。
Phonology is concerned with the speech sounds which distinguish meaning. The basic unit in phonology is called phoneme, it is a unit that is of distinctive value. But it is an abstract unit. A phoneme is not a sound, it is a collection of distinctive phonetic features.
音位是音系学研究的单位,是抽象的概念,每一个音位是一组语音特征的集合体,音位具有区别意义的作用。一个音位在语音上被具体体现为一个特定的语音(音素)。
按照惯例,音位被置于两斜线之间,如/p/ /t/,而语音被置于方括号内,如[p] [t].
The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme.
音位变体是一个音位在特定的语音环境里的具体体现,同一个音位在不

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