河南许昌方言单字音声调音高实验研究

Experimental Study on the Pitch of Monosyllabic Tones in Xuchang Dialect, Henan Province

摘要: 河南许昌方言属北方方言中原官话区，调类与普通话相同，但调值差异较大。以往对该方言声调的记录多依赖传统耳听转写(如孙炳南1993：阴平24、阳平42、上声44、去声31)，运用声学实验方法的相关研究仍不多见。本文以两位许昌方言母语者(一男一女)为发音合作人，采用Praat软件采集单字调录音并提取基频，运用T值法进行五度归一化处理，对四个调类的音高特征作初步声学描写。结果显示，两位发音人阴平、阳平、上声、去声均值分别为24、51、55、41，其中阴平与孙炳南(1993)记录基本一致，阳平、上声、去声则存在不同程度差异，这可能与研究方法、样本构成及发音人年龄、教育背景等社会语言学因素有关。受限于样本量，本文的声学观察仍属探索性质，所反映的调值特征宜作为许昌方言声调系统的初步参考，相关差异的具体成因及其普遍性尚待后续研究检验。未来工作可在扩大发音人样本的基础上，辅以语言背景、方言与普通话使用情况等社会语言学信息的采集，进一步考察声学参数与相关社会变量之间的关联，为语言接触对声调变异的影响机制提供更为系统的证据。

Abstract: Xuchang dialect of Henan Province belongs to the Zhongyuan Mandarin subgroup of Northern Mandarin dialects. Its tone categories correspond to those of Standard Mandarin, but the pitch values differ considerably. Previous records of the dialect’s tones have relied mainly on traditional auditory transcription (e.g., Sun Bingnan 1993: Yinping 24, Yangping 42, Shangsheng 44, Qusheng 31), and studies employing acoustic-experimental methods remain scarce. This study recruited two native speakers of Xuchang dialect (one male, one female) as informants, recorded monosyllabic tone productions using Praat, extracted fundamental frequency (F0) data, and applied the T-value method to normalize the F0 values on a five-point pitch scale, providing a preliminary acoustic description of the pitch characteristics of the four tone categories. The results show that the mean tone values for Yinping, Yangping, Shangsheng, and Qusheng across the two informants were 24, 51, 55, and 41, respectively. Of these, the value for Yinping is largely consistent with Sun Bingnan’s (1993) record, whereas Yangping, Shangsheng, and Qusheng show varying degrees of difference, which may be related to differences in research methodology, sample composition, and sociolinguistic factors such as the informants’age and educational background. Given the limited sample size, the present acoustic observations remain exploratory in nature; the tone values reported here should be taken as a preliminary reference for the tone system of Xuchang dialect, while the specific causes of the observed differences and their generalizability await further verification in future research. Future work could expand the sample of informants and incorporate sociolinguistic information such as language background and patterns of dialect versus Mandarin use, so as to further examine the relationship between acoustic parameters and relevant social variables, thereby providing more systematic evidence for the mechanisms underlying the influence of language contact on tonal variation.