特集書評 : The C/D Model as a Theory of the Phonetics-Phonology Interface (Feature Articles : Adventures in Speech Science : Focus on the C/D Model and Its Impact on Phonetics & Phonology)

The following is my personal understanding of the C/D model, based on my reading of Osamu Fujimura’s works (especially Fujimura 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007), as well as, perhaps more importantly, on my personal interaction with him. To start, let us assume, as most grammatical theories do, that phonetics and phonology are two distinct modules of grammar. It is then necessary to think about how these two modules of grammar are related to one another. More concretely, discrete, abstract, and cognitive phonological symbols need to be “translated” into continuous, gradient, and physical phonetic gestures, the issue that is sometimes known as the “translation” problem. The C/D model is an explicit attempt to model this translation procedure. This characterization of the C/D model may sound trivial—well, any grammatical theory has to do it anyway, but as soon as we attempt to think about doing so explicitly by ourselves, we come to appreciate the value of the C/D model. Let me try to walk us through the conceptual aspects of the C/D model as a theory of the phonetics-phonology interface. The C/D model cares about both phonological representations and phonetic representations. To understand its value and how it came to life, it may be helpful to recall that Osamu, the creator of the C/D model, is a physicist who is interested in languages in general. He is one of those who introduced Chomsky’s (1957) Syntactic Structures to Japan