Sinophone (三耨風)

---

sinophone (IPA: /ˈsaɪnəˌfoʊn/) is a python package that helps to manipulate Chinese phonology. It is divided into two submodules, sinophone.phonetics and sinophone.phonology. The former is a general abstraction of IPA symbols and distinctive features which could well be applied to other languages, while the latter is designed specifically to suit the purpose of working with the phonologies of Chinese languages.

Install

pip install sinophone

Documentation

Please visit the documentation for more information.

Example of use

In the following example, I simulated a tiny portion of Shanghainese phonology. Observe how sinophone can collocate phonemes to create a list of hypothetical syllables, and then pick out the ones that contradict the phonotactic constraint pc. It also applied a phonological rule when printing the syllable in phonetic transcription as bʊ̃ŋ˥˥, instead of the phonemic one, boŋ˥˥.

from sinophone.phonetics import *
from sinophone.phonology import *

# Syllable 音節
# Let's create some syllables.
kaq = Syllable(
    Initial("k"),
    Final(
        nucleus=Nucleus("ɐ"),
        coda=Coda("ʔ"),
    ),
    Tone("˥˥"),
)
kaq
"""
# note that the output is actually colored when printed to the shell.
<Syllable [<Initial 'k'> <Final [<Medial ''> <Nucleus 'ɐ'> <Coda 'ʔ'>]> <Tone '˥˥'>]>
"""

lon = Syllable(Initial("l"), Final(nucleus=Nucleus("o"), coda=Coda("ŋ")), Tone("˨˧"))

bo = Syllable(Initial("b"), Final(nucleus=Nucleus("o")), Tone("˨˧"))


# PhonologicalRule 音韻規則
# Let's create a phonological rule, saying that /o/
# becomes [ʊ̃] when it is followed by a nasal.
pr = PhonologicalRule(
    Nucleus("o"),
    IPAString("ʊ̃"),
    SyllableFeatures({"Final": {IPAFeatureGroup("+nasal")}}),
)
pr
"""
<PhonologicalRule "o -> ʊ̃ / {'Final': {'+nasal'}}">
"""


# PhonotacticConstraint 音位排列制約
# Let's create a phonotactic constraint, saying that
# voiced non-nasal, non-lateral-approximant consonants
# cannot collocate with extra-high-level tone.
pc = PhonotacticConstraint(
    SyllableFeatures(
        {
            "Initial": {
                IPAFeatureGroup("-nasal -lateral-approximant +voiced"),
            },
            "Tone": {IPAFeatureGroup("+extra-high-level")},
        }
    ),
    PhonotacticAcceptability(False, False),
)
pc
"""
<PhonotacticConstraint {'Initial': {'-lateral-approximant -nasal +voiced'},
'Tone': {'+extra-high-level'}}: {'existent': False, 'grammatical': False}>
"""

# Phonology 音系
# Let's create a simple phonology with the above elements.
phonology = Phonology(
    syllables={kaq, bo, lon},
    phonotactics={pc},
    phonological_rules=[pr],
)

# Automatically generate syllable components from syllables.
sorted(phonology.initials)
"""
[<Initial 'b'>, <Initial 'k'>, <Initial 'l'>]
"""

# Automatically collocate to create hypothetical syllables,
# regardless of phonotactics.
spc = sorted(phonology.collocations)

# Pretty-print the above list.
for syllable in spc:
    phonology.pretty_print_syllable(syllable)
"""
.. output abbreviated for brevity
Syllables are colored red if completely contradicting phonotactics, 
green if completely phonotactically acceptable.
See `sinophone.options.RAINBOW_COLOR_SCHEME` for more colors.
"""

# List hypothetical syllables which contradict phonotactics.
[
    syllable.phonetic_ipa_str
    for syllable in spc
    if phonology.render_syllable(syllable).acceptability
    != PhonotacticAcceptability(True, True)
]
"""
[<IPAString 'bʊ̃ŋ˥˥'>, <IPAString 'bo˥˥'>, <IPAString 'bɐʔ˥˥'>]
"""