Rhythmic Influence on Sequencing of Color Adjectives

【摘要】根據许多语言学家的研究，影响语法变异和变化的因素总是取决于语义学和语用学。例如，美国语言学家Avram Noam Chomsky认为句法是生成语法的关键组成部分，而他的研究低估了语音的影响。在2003年，德国语言学家Julia Schlüter在她的论文《英语语法变异的语音决定因素：乔姆斯基最坏的可能案例》中强调了语音影响对语法变异的重要性，对Chomsky的理论提出了质疑。本文通过研究语音对颜色形容词的排列影响，进一步证明了Schlüter 教授的观点。

【关键词】语音学;颜色形容词;语法变异

【作者简介】杨青青（1990.03-），女，西南交通大学希望学院，四川泸州，研究生，助教，研究方向：英美研究。

According to the previous researches of linguistic predecessors， the factors which influence on grammatical variation and change always rest on semantics and pragmatics like semantic or stylistic distinctions， emphasis and syntactic requirements. For instance， American linguist Avram Noam Chomsky claims that syntax is a key component in the generative grammar while phonological influence is underestimated by his research. Seldom cannot such precursors neglect the role phonology plays in morphological and syntactic structures. However， in 2003， German linguist Julia Schlüter argues against Chomskys theory by emphasizing the significance of phonological influence on grammar variants in her essay Phonological determinants of grammatical variation in English： Chomskys worst possible case.

Based on Schlüters argumentation， this paper narrows it down to the influence of rhythm on the color adjectives sequencing. Rhythm is， beyond all question， a crucial factor in the language of poems and songs.

As mentioned above， rhythmic alternation is a co-determining factor in some scenarios for the color adjective sequence. Taking pink as an example， when pink appears with a disyllabic color adjective immediately before or after and， this case deserves to do research and analyze.

According to the data of pink and orange and the data of orange and pink in google corpus， it is clear that pink which appears in the first position is almost two times of pink coming in the second position. This sharp comparison proves again the theory of Dr. Schlüter， ‘short and simple before long and complex. When the authors are writing， most of them choose pink and orange rather than orange and pink unconsciously. Dr. Schlüter also mentions that， semantic factor comes to play a part in sequencing color adjectives. For example， in her book， she gives the example of red and yellow， and tries to prove that the choice of red and yellow is partly because red is a more eye catching color. Apart from that， red is monosyllabic and yellow is disyllabic. But the semantic factor functions here in the phrase pink and orange far more less than in red and yellow. Because it is blur or controversial to say which one is more eye-catching between pink and orange， thus in this case， phonology influences more than semantics. In terms of phonological factor， ‘short and simple before long and complex is a domain rule， so pink and orange is twice as orange and pink. But rhythmic alternation also comes to affect the sequencing.

（1） a. Tory watched in bewilderment as Pete concentrated on the pink and orange clad girl， ignoring everyone else. （Susan H. Riner： The Mystery of the Twin Towers， 2008; Google Books： American English）

b. And when you hand your pink and orange cards to the mayors assistant at a fund-raising dinner， （Emira Mears， Lauren Bacon： The Boss of You： Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start， Run， and Maintain Her Own Business， 2008; Google Books： American English）

c. Clouds trailing southward glowed pink and orange against a lavender sky， and then， pop， “Here comes the sun， here comes the sun...”  （Frederick Ramsay： Choker， 2009; Google Books： American English）

In Dr. Schlüters book， she emphasizes that ‘In addition， rhythmic alternation comes into play if the pair of colour adjectives is placed in attributive position preceding an initially stressed noun （Schlüter， 2005）. In example （1a），  the phrase pink and orange is placed in front of a noun phrase clad girl. Pink and orange is in the attributive position to modify the noun phrase clad girl. clad is a monosyllabic adjective which means it is absolutely stressed. orange is a disyllabic word with the stress falling on the first position， so the second unstressed syllable of orange can be a natural stress buffer here to stop stress clash with clad. If the sequence of pink and yellow is reverted as yellow and pink， then the monosyllabic red will crash on monosyllabic clad. Similarly， in example （1b）， pink and orange is placed in front a noun card to function as attributive to modify the noun coming after. card is a stressed monosyllable， so the second unstressed syllable of orange can buffer the stress to make the rhythm more balanced. On the other hand， in example （1c）， the word following pink and orange is not a noun but a preposition against， which is basically not a stressed word. When it has to be stressed， the stress falls on the second syllable. It seems the rhythmic alternation does not work here， but as Dr. Schlüter mentioned， the prerequisite is that the color adjective pair is positioned before a noun. Therefore， this case is not typical.

As to the sequence of orange and pink， the authors choose this order partly due to the rhythmic alternation as well.

（2）a. Fast-food restaurants and coffee shops are painted orange and pink in conjunction to induce excitement. （Alan Pipes： Production for Graphic Designers， 2005; Google Books： American English）

b. Potted red geraniums and orange and pink hibiscus bloomed bright. Honeybees worked the stamens. （Tom Bailey： Cotton Song： A Novel， 2007; Google Books： American English）

In the example （2a）， the word coming after orange and pink is a preposition which is not stressed. Although pink is stressed， it does no harm to the rhythm of the sentence. If orange is positioned here in front of in， then successive unstressed syllables will create stress lapse， which is also not helpful to balance rhythm just as the stress clash does to the rhythm. In the example （2b）， it is more obvious to tell the influence of the rhythmic alternation on the sentence rhythm. The word following orange and pink is hibiscus， which is a disyllabic word with the stress falling on the second syllable. The first unstressed syllable of hibiscus here can function as a stress buffer.

Based on the presentation and analysis of the data above， it is far-fetched to say what Chomsky tried to prove is still right. Admittedly， syntax is an essential factor in determining the sequence of color adjective pairs， but the phonological reason especially PRA also gives a share in this decision-making. However， it is inevitable to ignore the fact that we cannot adapt phonology or PRA to every sequence of color adjective pairs. There are always examples that are excluded. For instance， in the phrase black and white， both colors are monosyllabic， so it makes no difference in rhythm whether black is in the first position or in the second position. But according to the COCA， the number of the sequence of black and white is almost eight times larger than that of white and black. Therefore， it is appropriate to state that rhythmic alternation is a co-determining factor rather than a dominant factor in terms of the sequence of color adjectives.

References：

[1]Schlüter， Julia： “Rhythmic Influence on Grammar： Scope and Limitations.”， Rhythm in Phonetics， Grammar and Cognition[J]. Berlin/New York： Mouton de Gruyter，2005：8.

[2]Schlüter， Julia： “Phonological determinants of grammatical variation in English： Chomskys worst possible case.” In： Günter Rohdenburg & Britta Mondorf （eds.） Determinants of Grammatical Variation in English[J]. Berlin/New York： Mouton de Gruyter， 2003：69-118.