hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2015-11-10

■ #2388. 世界の主要な英語変種の音韻的分類 [world_englishes][model_of_englishes][ame_bre][ame][bre][irish_english][australian_english][new_zealand_english][scots_english][map]

　世界の主要な英語変種を分類する試みは，主として社会言語学的な視点から様々になされてきた．本ブログでも，model_of_englishes の記事で取り上げてきた通りである．言語学的な観点からの分類としては，Trudgill and Hannah による音韻に基づくものが知られている．概論的にいえば，大きく 'English' type と 'American' type に2分する方法であり，直感的で素人にも理解しやすい．この常識的に見える分類が，結論としては，専門的な見地からも支持されるということである．この 'American' type と 'English' type の2分法は，より積極的に歴史的な視点を取れば，大雑把にいってイングランド内の 'northern' type と 'southern' type の2分法に相当することに注意したい．
　Trudgill and Hannah (10) は，音韻論的に注目すべき鍵として以下の10点を挙げて，英語諸変種を図式化した．

Key
1. /ɑː/ rather than /æ/ in path etc.
2. absence of non-prevocalic /r/
3. close vowels for /æ/ and /ɛ/, monophthongization of /ai/ and /ɑu/
4. front [aː] for /ɑː/ in part etc.
5. absence of contrast of /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ as in cot and caught
6. /æ/ rather than /ɑː/ in can't etc.
7. absence of contrast of /ɒ/ and /ɑː/ as in bother and father
8. consistent voicing of intervocalic /t/
9. unrounded [ɑ] in pot
10. syllabic /r/ in bird
11. absence of contrast of /ʊ/ and /uː/ as in pull and pool

10  9   8   7   6   5        6   7   8   9   11         10         11  5   1   2

|   |   |   |   |   |        |   |   |   |   |          |          |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |        |   |   |   |   | Northern |          |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   | Canada |   |   |   |   | Ireland  | Scotland |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |        |   |   |   |   `----------+----------'   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |        |   |   |   |              |              |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   `--------+---+---+---+--------------+--------------'   |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |   |              |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |   `----------,   |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |              |   |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |              |   |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |              |   |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |              |   |                  |   |
|   |   |   |   |   USA      |   |   |   ,----------+---+------------------'   |
|   |   |   |   |            |   |   |   | Republic |   |                      |
|   |   |   |   `------------'   |   |   |   of     |   |   ,------------------'
|   |   |   |                    |   |   | Ireland  |   |   |
|   |   |   `--------------------'   |   |          |   |   |  England  ,--------------------------------- 3
|   |   |                            |   |          |   |   |           | 
|   |   |                            |   |          |   |   |  Wales    |         ,----------------------- 4
|   |   |                            |   |          |   |   |           | South   | Australia   New
|   |   `----------------------------'   |          |   |   |           | Africa  |             Zealand
|   |                                    |          |   |   |           |         `----------------------- 4
|   |                                    |          |   |   |           |
|   `------------------------------------+----------'   |   |           `--------------------------------- 3
|                                        |              |   |
`----------------------------------------+--------------'   `--------------------------------------------- 2
                                         |
                                         `---------------------------------------------------------------- 1

　この図の説明として，Trudgill and Hannah (10) を引こう．

We have attempted to portray the relationships between the pronunciations of the major non-Caribbean varieties in [this] Figure 1.1. This diagram is somewhat arbitrary and slightly misleading (there are, for example, accents of USEng which are close to RP than to mid-western US English), but it does show the two main types of pronunciation: an 'English' type (EngEng, WEng, SAfEng, AusEng, NZEng) and an 'American' type (USEng, CanEng), with IrEng falling somewhere between the two and ScotEng being somewhat by itself.

　最後に触れられているように，Irish English が2大区分にまたがること，古い歴史をもつ Scots English が独自路線を行っていることは興味深い．

　・ Trudgill, Peter and Jean Hannah. International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English. 5th ed. London: Hodder Education, 2008.

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