CAA: Phonological and Phonetic Investigation of Syllable Weight Distinctions

[9310058 . Broselow]对人类语言语音结构的研究通常从两个方向进行。语音学家传统上专注于创建声音结构的心理表征的抽象模型，其最终目标是发现隐藏在人类语言表面多样性之下的普遍约束。随着语音分析技术的日益成熟，这两方面的研究已经开始融合，其有益的结果是，抽象的音系模型可以根据声音特性的精确描述进行测试。本项目将从音韵学和语音学的角度研究语言结构普遍约束的一个候选词；目的是比较由语音分析激发的抽象表征与由工具分析揭示的语音特性。要研究的特殊结构是不同类型的音节。人们早就认识到音节是人类语言的基本结构单位之一，音节重量（音节元音的长度和元音后面辅音的数量）在许多语法过程中起着重要作用，例如重音和重音的定位。目前有一个有争议的问题是关于语言参照的音节权重的区分数量：虽然大多数语言似乎只区分两个音节权重的程度，但一些语言被认为需要额外的区分。音节权重区分是否最大程度上是二元的问题反映了一个更基本的问题：既然有人提出，任何语言过程都不需要参考多于二元的区分，那么将音节权重区分限制为二元将与人类语言之间可能存在的差异的重要约束相一致。维持音节重量差别最大程度上是二元的说法的一种方法涉及假设音节的特定语音表示，将所有音节减少为两类之一：轻与重。该项目包括对音节权重抽象表征的音系证据的详细分析，以及对这些表征与语音分析中可用的工具数据所做的预测进行测试。* * *

9310058 Broselow Research on the sound structure of human language has generally proceeded from two directions. Phoneticians have traditionally focused on creating abstract models of the mental representation of sound structure, with the ultimate goal of discovering universal constraints underlying the surface diversity of human language. With the increasing availability of sophisticated technology for speech analysis, these two strands of research have begun to converge, with the beneficial result that abstract phonological models can be tested against precise descriptions of sound properties. This project will investigate one candidate for a universal constraint on linguistic structure from both a phonological and a phonetic perspective; the goal is to compare the abstract representations motivated by phonological analysis against the phonetic properties revealed by instrumental analysis. The particular structures to be investigated are syllables of different types. It has long been recognized that syllables are one of the basic structural units of human language, and that syllable weight (the length of a syllable's vowel and the number of consonants following that vowel) plays a fundamental role in many grammatical processes, such as the positioning of stress and accent. One currently controversial issue concerns the number of distinctions in syllable weight to which languages make reference: while most languages seem to distinguish only two degrees of syllable weight, a few languages have been argued to require additional distinctions. The question of whether syllable weight distinctions are maximally binary reflects a more fundamental issue: since it has been proposed that no linguistic process requires reference to more than a binary distinction, limiting syllable weight distinctions to binary would be consistent with a significant constraint on possible variations across human languages. One approach to maintaining the claim that syllable wei ght distinctions are maximally binary involves the postulation of particular phonological representations for syllables that reduce all syllables to one of two categories: light vs. heavy. The project involves both detailed analysis of the phonological evidence for these abstract representations of syllable weight, and testing of the predictions made by these representations against the instrumental data available from phonetic analysis. ***