形式功能的聲調模式

A Formal Functional Model of Tone

對語言的研究，形式主義與功能主義長久以來都被認為是互不相容的。然而近年來，一方面形式學家逐漸意識到語言使用對語言結構的影響，另一方面功能學家則提出較明確的運作模式以測試這種影響，這個互不相容的情勢已經開始改變。本文所提出的聲調模式是形式的，也是功能的。這個模式是形式的，因為它的目標在提供一個十分精確的音韻知識的理論；它也是功能的，因為模式中的運作成分的形式都是來自說、聽、習得等音韻知識在語言使用時的實際情形。本文最主要的是採用Tsay（1994）對聲調現象的洞察與 Boersma（1998）的功能優選理論。這個新的聲調理論可以解釋聲調中各種重要的現象，例如：語言所用到的平調的數目上限；聲調與其他音韻特徵的互動；聲調傳播等。語料主要來自漢藏語系的聲調語言。

Formalist and functionalist approaches to language have long been seen as inherently antagonistic, but in recent years this has begun to change, as formalists recognize the influence of language use on linguistic structure, and functionalists provide more explicit models for how this influence operates. The model of tone proposed here is formal in the sense of aiming to provide a completely explicit account of phonological knowledge, yet it is also functionalist, since its elements take the form they do because of the way phonological knowledge is actually used when speaking, hearing, and acquiring a language. In particular, this paper builds on the tonal insights of Tsay (1994) and the functional Optimality Theory formalism of Boersma (1998) to propose a new model that explains important aspects of tonal behavior: limits on the number of level tones, interactions of tones and other features, and tone spreading. Data primarily come from tone languages of the Sino-Tibetan family.