海洋語系漸層式元音和諧

Gradient Vowel Harmony in Oceanic

本文通過探討原海洋語系的漸次共現元音以進一步了解漸層式的音韻規律。本文尤其研究薩摩亞語、湯加語、夏威夷與、斐濟語，以及重構過的原海洋語和原馬來－波里尼西亞語裡雙音節詞所呈現的共現元音規律。調查發現，一般來說相同的元音偶對（如*i－*i）有過量的樣本，相近的元音偶對（如*i－e*）有不足量的樣本，而不相同的元音偶對（如*i－o*）則沒有特定的規限。另外，各語言的元音線性次序亦影響著這些漸層式的限制，因為不相等的頻繁率（不相近偶對＞相近偶對）只出現在某些線性次序。本研究著重收錄這些共現元音規律的樣本，以使將來的理論研究能夠建立於穩健的數據基礎。本文亦提出利用寄生性元音和諧的漸層式限制作出理論性的分析。

This article contributes to the understanding of gradient phonological patterns by investigating graded vowel co-occurrence in Oceanic languages. In particular, vowel co-occurrence patterns in disyllabic stems are investigated in four languages: Samoan, Tongan, Hawaiian, and Fijian, as well as reconstructed forms in Proto-Oceanic and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian. With some variation in degree, all languages exhibit an overrepresentation of identical vowel pairs (e.g. i-i), an under-representation of similar vowel pairs (i-e), and no special restrictions on dissimilar vowel pairs (e.g. i-o). These graded restrictions are also subject to order effects in all languages because the dissimilar > similar inequality in frequency is only found in certain orders. Our focus is on documenting the patterns supporting these generalizations so that future theoretical analysis will rest on strong empirical ground. In addition, we propose one such analysis using gradient constraints on parasitic vowel harmony.