hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2015-11-23

■ #2401. 音素と文字素 [phonology][phoneme][grammatology][grapheme][writing][double_articulation][sign][semiotics][terminology]

　ここしばらくの間，文字素 (grapheme) とは何かという問題を考えている．音韻論における音素 (phoneme) になぞらえて，文字論における文字素を想定するということは，ある程度の研究史がある．確かに両者には平行的に考えられる点も少なくないのだが，音声言語と書記言語は根本的に性質の異なるところがあり，比喩を進めていくと早い段階でつまずくのである．
　そのキモは，音声言語では2重分節 (double_articulation) が原則だが，書記言語では第1分節こそ常に認められるものの，第2分節は任意であるという点にあるだろうと考えている．第1分節でとどめれば表語文字（あるいは表形態素文字）となり，音声言語と平行的に第2分節まで進めば表音文字（単音文字）となる．
　この辺りの事情は今後じっくり考えていくとして，当面は音素と文字素について平行するところを整理してみたい．Pulgram が便利な一覧を作ってくれているので，それを再現したい．以下，P(honeme) と G(rapheme) の比較対照である．

P1	The smallest distinctive audible units of a dialect are its phonemes.	G1	The smallest distinctive visual units of an alphabet are its graphemes.
P2	A phoneme is a class of articulated speech sounds pertaining to one dialect.	G2	A grapheme is a class of written characters pertaining to one alphabet.
P3	The hic et nunc spoken realization of a phoneme is an articulated speech sound or phone.	G3	The hic et nunc written realization of a grapheme is a written alphabet character or graph.
P4	The number of phonemes in each dialect must be limited, the number of phones cannot be.	G4	The number of graphemes in each alphabet must be limited, the number graphs cannot be.
P5	By definition, all phones identifiable as members of one phoneme are its allophones.	G5	By definition, all graphs identifiable as members of one grapheme are its allographs.
P6	The phonetic shape of an allophone is dependent on its producer and on its phonetic surroundings.	G6	The graphic shape of an allograph is dependent on its producer and on its graphic surroundings.
P7	Phones which are not immediately and correctly identifiable as belonging to a certain phoneme when occurring in isolation, may be identified through their meaning position in a context.	G7	Graphs which are not immediately and correctly identifiable as belonging to a certain grapheme when occurring in isolation, may be identified through their meaningful position in a context.
P8	Dialects are subject to phonemic change and substitution.	G8	Alphabets are subject to graphemic change and substitution.
P9	The number, kind, and distribution of phonemes varies from dialect to dialect.	G9	The number, kind, and distribution of graphemes varies from alphabet to alphabet.

　Pulgram の論文は音素と文字素の平行性を扱ったものである．私は，実はかえってその非平行性を示す点が明らかになるのではないかという期待をもって，この論文を読んでみたのだが，期待外れだった．唯一印象に残ったのは，p. 19 の次の1文のみである．

If today we distinguish between letter (or better grapheme) and speech sound (or better phoneme), the reason is that there has hardly ever existed in any language with some tradition of writing a strictly one to one ratio between the two.

　Pulgram は，音素と文字素の非平行性に気づいていながらも，それを真正面から扱うことを避けたのではないか，という気がしないでもない．

　・ Pulgram, Ernst. "Phoneme and Grapheme: A Parallel." Word 7 (1951): 15--20.

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