This paper outlines a theoretical approach to speech sound systems based on the notion of phonological potentials: physical ‘pressures’ or biases that give rise to discrete structure and the tendencies associated with this structure that arise from the physical nature of speech sound systems. We apply this approach to a poorly understood area of phonology – phenomena of the lower vocal tract (LVT) – through a schematic that encapsulates the complex interactions among the vocal tract structures responsible for producing LVT sounds. With the framework, we provide an account of a range of LVT phenomena from several languages, illustrating how tonal, phonatory, and vowel qualities interact. Finally, we consider how the idea of phonological potentials extends across various physical domains and might exhibit patterns of alignment across these domains, thereby serving to guide the formation of patterns found in speech sound systems.

中文翻译：

---

音位和下声道

本文概述了一种基于音位势概念的语音系统理论方法：物理“压力”或产生离散结构的偏差，以及由语音系统的物理性质引起的与这种结构相关的趋势。我们通过封装负责产生 LVT 声音的声道结构之间复杂相互作用的示意图，将这种方法应用于一个知之甚少的音韵学领域——下声道 (LVT) 现象。通过该框架，我们提供了来自多种语言的一系列 LVT 现象的说明，说明了声调、发声和元音质量如何相互作用。最后，我们考虑语音势的概念如何延伸到各个物理域，并可能表现出跨这些域的对齐模式，