苗瑤語聲調問題

Some Issues regarding Tones in the Miao-Yao Languages

本文討論苗瑤語聲調的分化、合併和裂變問題。聲調分化分為線性和非線性兩種。線性分化有四個層次。聲調分化的原因有四種：古聲母的清與濁；古聲母的全清與次清；入聲韻韻母母音長與短的對立；古聲母鼻冠音與非鼻冠音性質的差異。聲調合併的原因有兩種：入聲韻尾的全部消失，使入聲調調類系統並入舒聲調調類系統；入聲韻韻尾脫落，特別是 *-k的脫落，使入聲調調類並入舒聲調調類。聲調裂變的原因有三種：連讀變調及變調後名詞前綴脫落，調類轉移；連讀變調及變調後名詞前綴脫落，調類不轉移，聲調區別詞彙意義和詞彙語法意義；句法結構和語義特徵要求的類推變讀。

This paper deals with three issues regarding tones in the Miao-Yao languages: divergence, merger, and split. 1) Tones diverged depending on the nature of the initials in proto-Miao-Yao, whether they were voiced or voiceless, unaspirated voiceless or aspirated voiceless, prenasalized or not; length of the vowel was also a factor. 2) Tones merged due to the loss of a final stop and with consequent loss of contrast; this is particularly noteworthy for the Miao branch, where final *-k was completely lost. (3) Tonal split was caused by sandhi, de-prefixation, wordformation, and morphological processes.