熱務溝話語音簡貌：一種川北藏語新方言

Phonological Profile of Zhongu: A New Tibetan Dialect of Northern Sichuan

熱務溝話是筆者在四川省北部藏、羌交界地帶發現的一種特殊藏語，分布於松潘縣南部熱務溝區。筆者根據多年積累之第一手調查材料，首次對本方言提供描寫記錄，詳加探究其語音系統之源流及突出特點，包括缺乏聲調、長短元音等超音段語音對立，傳承自古藏語韻母體系極端簡化，以及發展小舌與舌尖聲母之流變趨勢等。由於語音創新與眾不同，外加部分本土語彙來源特殊，熱務溝話與周邊藏語已產生不同語種間之隔閡，不能直接通話。本文根據新方言材料對現行藏語方言分類體系提出原則性檢討，並提出在藏語方言家族中，熱務溝話應享有獨立小方言地位之意見。文末附錄有英語－－熱務溝藏語對照常用詞1,500條左右。

Zhongu is an obscure variety of Tibetan spoken in the Zhongu Valley of Songpan County in northern Sichuan, a borderland between Tibetan and Qiang. This paper, the first linguistic description of the dialect, explores the Zhongu phonological system and its evolution. A number of striking features are revealed, including lack of common modern Tibetan suprasegmental distinctions, phenomenal reduction of rhymes, and drift toward accretion of uvular and dental initials. The peculiar character of Zhongu, owing in part to its idiosyncratic phonological innovations and esoteric vocabulary, should earn it a place in the internal classification of Tibetan as a minor (but distinct) dialect. The current subgrouping schemes of modern Tibetan are critically evaluated in light of this new data.