普通话儿童塞音送气对立获得研究 ——一个个案研究

论文摘要

嗓音起始时间(voice onset time, VOT)能最简单有效地区分同发音部位塞音的清浊对立。本研究以VOT为测量手段来研究普通话儿童塞音送气对立习得的过程。我们跟踪调查了一名生长在湖南长沙的说普通话儿童,收集了其从九个月大到三岁的自然语音材料。本研究中,我们截取了该名儿童一岁半至三岁之间共21个观察阶段的语料,从语图和波形图上测量双唇、齿龈和软颚部位共三对对立塞音的VOT值。我们还收集分析了成人在朗读和自然语流中塞音的VOT值,从而建立成人语言中塞音送气/非送气对立模式。我们将每个观测阶段儿童的VOT语料与以往研究中其他语言环境中的情况进行对比。我们的语料显示,该儿童的习得过程经历了三个阶段。第一阶段,同发音部位两类塞音之间未形成对立。第二阶段,该儿童在两类塞音之间形成了系统性的对立,但这种对立模式还没有达到成人的标准。第三阶段,该儿童的VOT对立模式经过一系列的调整逐步接近成人的模式。这种三阶段的发展模式与以往研究中英语儿童和粤语儿童表现出的习得过程相似。值得关注的是,在第三阶段该名普通话儿童的VOT值和分布经历了四通的波动。从送气对立初步建立开始到观察结束,我们发现送气清塞音的VOT值经历了两次延长继而缩短的过程,每次波动大致经历了半年时间。我们观察到的这种波动要比英语儿童表现的波动更复杂。我们认为这种波动实际上是该名儿童朝着目标对立模式进行的不断调整。我们的语料显示,相对与其他语言儿童如西班牙语、泰语以及北印地语塞音清浊对立的获得过程,该名普通话儿童送气/非送气的获得比其他语言儿童塞音清浊对立的获得要早,也比粤语儿童塞音送气/非送气对立获得得早。除了个体差异,这可能归因于普通话塞音中不存在浊音即VOT为负值的塞音,而且相对于粤语,这种对立在普通话塞音塞擦音中更有显著性。与以往的发现一样,该名普通话儿童在塞音对立获得之前将送气塞音发成不送气塞音,而且体现了发音部位对相应VOT值的影响。有意思的是,该名普通话儿童持续地将部分非送气双唇塞音发成同部位的浊塞音,即VOT值为负分布于voicing lead区的塞音。这种现象一直持续到观测结束。本文还就习得过程各阶段VOT特点,从目标语言相关因素以及两类塞音发音机制的生理制约等方面进行了讨论和探讨。

论文目录

• 摘要
• Abstract
• Index to Figures
• Index to Tables
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Voice Onset Time and the Acquisition of Voicing Contrast of Stop Consonants:An Overview
• 2.1 Voice Onset Time: a Brief Survey
• 2.1.1 The Measure of Voice Onset Time
• 2.1.2 Articulatory Mechanisms of the Three Stop Categories
• 2.1.3 Significance of VOT in the Acquisition of Voicing Contrast
• 2.2 Previous Studies on the Acquisition of Voicing Contrast
• 2.2.1 Review of Previous Studies
• 2.2.2 Summary of Findings in the Previous Studies
• 2.2.3 Previous Impressionistic Observations in Mandarin
• 2.3 Aims of the Present Study
• 2.4 Significance of the Present Study
• 2.5 Summary
• Chapter 3 Methodology
• 3.1 Child Data
• 3.1.1 Subject and Data Collection
• 3.1.2 Data Processing
• 3.1.3 VOT Measurement and Analysis
• 3.1.4 Criteria for the Acquisition of Voicing Contrast
• 3.2 Adult Data
• 3.2.1 Data in Running Speech
• 3.2.2 Data in Careful Speech
• Chapter 4 Voicing Contrast Model in Adult Language
• 4.1 Voicing Contrast in Careful Speech
• 4.2 Voicing Contrast in Running Speech
• 4.3 Comparison of VOT Values in the Adult Data
• 4.4 Conventions for the Phonetic Regions
• Chapter 5 Acquisition of Voicing Contrast by LSY
• 5.1 Phase I: the Preliminary Stage of Voicing Contrast
• 5.2 Phase II: the Primary Stage of Voicing Contrast
• 5.3 Phase III: the Refinement Stage of Voicing Contrast
• 5.3.1 The First Round of Refinement
• 5.3.2 The Second Round of Refinement
• 5.3.3 The VOT Fluctuation of the Voiceless Unaspirated Stops
• 5.3.4 Summary of VOT Characteristics in Phase III
• 5.4 Summary
• Chapter 6 Discussion
• 6.1 The Three-Stage Model of Acquisition
• 6.1.1 Three-Stage Model: Evidence from Our Data
• 6.1.2 What Is Beyond VOT Fluctuation?
• 6.2 The Voicing Lead Tokens in Child’s Production
• 6.3 VOT Production in Early Stage
• 6.4 The Age of the Acquisition of Voicing Contrast
• Chapter 7 Conclusions and Limitations
• 7.1 Conclusions of the Present Study
• 7.2 Limitations
• References
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix A 攻读学位期间所发表的学术论文目录
• Appendix B Spectrograms and Waveforms for the Three Stop Categories
• Appendix C Sample of Raw Data for LSY
• Appendix D Word List for Adult Caretaker in Careful Speech
• Appendix E VOT Distribution of Stop Tokens by LSY
• Appendix F 详细中文摘要