名詞複数形の -s 語尾拡大の歴史は私の主要なテーマの1つである(拙著および[2011-11-29-1]の記事「#946. 名詞複数形の歴史の概要」を参照).とりわけ,なぜほかならぬ -s が選ばれたのかという問題にはこだわってきた.Hotta (148--49) では,いくつかの言語内的な要因を指摘したが,その1つとして,-s は他の複数形を代表する屈折語尾と比べて音声的に強固であり,失われにくいことを指摘した.
-s の音声的卓越という点について,Hickey (62) に関連する言及を見つけた.そこでは,名詞複数形の -s のみならず,動詞3単現の -th に対する -s についても議論されている.
. . . acoustic prominence can be appealed to in the history of English as well, for instance the substitution of /-θ/ by /-s/ in the third person singular or the progressive productivity of /-s/ plurals from Old English onwards and their encroaching on already established plural types --- cf. ME nasal plurals, such as eyen → eyes --- can be accounted for on the grounds of the phonetic salience of /s/ and hence its suitability as a grammatical suffix.
-s の音声的卓越は,ライバル接尾辞に対する直接的な勝因というよりは,最終的な生き残りに貢献した a conditioning factor ぐらいにとらえておくのがよいのではないかと考えるが,形態論の変化に音声的特徴が関わっている事例として注目に値する.特に [s] と [θ] の調音・音響音声学的な差異については,専門的に突っ込んだ裏取りをしたことはなかったので,Hickey (71 [fn. 5]) の次の要約はありがたい(引用中の参考文献書誌は引用者が展開したもの).
Ladefoged and Maddieson (pp. 145--72 of Ladefoged, Peter and Ian Maddieson. The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.) suggest a division of fricatives into sibilant and non-sibilant given that with the former (/s, ʃ/ articulations in English for instance) the constriction at the alveolar ridge produces a jet of air that hits the obstacle formed by the teeth. In non-obstacle fricatives, such as /θ, ð/, the turbulence is produced at the constriction itself. Laver (pp. 260--63 of Laver, John. Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge: CUP, 1994.) discusses the auditory characteristics of fricatives as does Fry (p. 122 of Fry, Dennis Butler. The Physics of Speech. Cambridge: CUP, 1979.), who notes that the noise energy for [s] is prominent between 4000 and 8000 Hz. It is similar in frequency distribution to [θ] but has much greater energy which means it is more clearly audible (see diagrams, Fry 1979: 123). *
・ Hotta, Ryuichi. The Development of the Nominal Plural Forms in Early Middle English. Hituzi Linguistics in English 10. Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo, 2009.
・ Hickey, Raymond. "Salience, Stigma and Standard." The Development of Standard English, 1300--1800. Ed. Laura Wright. Cambridge: CUP, 2000. 57--72.
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