Hura S L, Lindblom B, Diehl R L
University of Texas, Department of Linguistics, Austin 78712-1196.
Lang Speech. 1992 Jan-Jun;35 ( Pt 1-2):59-72. doi: 10.1177/002383099203500206.
Assimilation of nasals to the place of articulation of following consonants is a common and natural process among the world's languages. Recent phonological theory attributes this naturalness to the postulated geometry of articulatory features and the notion of spreading (McCarthy, 1988). Others view assimilation as a result of perception (Ohala, 1990), or as perceptually tolerated articulatory simplification (Kohler, 1990). Kohler notes that certain consonant classes (such as nasals and stops) are more likely than other classes (such as fricatives) to undergo place assimilation to a following consonant. To explain this pattern, he proposes that assimilation tends not to occur when the members of a consonant class are relatively distinctive perceptually, such that their articulatory reduction would be particularly salient. This explanation, of course, presupposes that the stops and nasals which undergo place assimilation are less distinctive than fricatives, which tend not to assimilate. We report experimental results that confirm Kohler's perceptual assumption: In the context of a following word initial stop, fricatives were less confusable than nasals or unreleased stops. We conclude, in agreement with Ohala and Kohler, that perceptual factors are likely to shape phonological assimilation rules.
鼻音与后续辅音的发音部位同化是世界语言中常见的自然过程。近期的音系学理论将这种自然性归因于假定的发音特征几何结构和扩散概念（麦卡锡，1988）。其他人则认为同化是感知的结果（奥哈拉，1990），或者是感知上可容忍的发音简化（科勒，1990）。科勒指出，某些辅音类别（如鼻音和塞音）比其他类别（如擦音）更有可能与后续辅音发生发音部位同化。为了解释这种模式，他提出，当一个辅音类别的成员在感知上相对有区别时，同化往往不会发生，因为它们的发音简化会特别明显。当然，这种解释预设了发生发音部位同化的塞音和鼻音比不易同化的擦音在感知上的区别性更小。我们报告的实验结果证实了科勒的感知假设：在后续单词首塞音的语境中，擦音比鼻音或未除阻塞音更不易混淆。我们与奥哈拉和科勒一致认为，感知因素可能会塑造音系同化规则。
