Geographical Linguistics Research At The State Dialect

Based on the data investigated mostly by the author, this dissertation studies Chuzhou dialects (belonging to Wu dialects) by using geographical linguistic method. It includes the following four chapters.Chapter one aims to give a brief introduction about Chuzhou, Chuzhou dialects and relevant studies on it. Thepurposes.data, and methods of this study are also given here.The main purposes are 1) to classify dialects of Chuzhou from the geographical angle; 2) to analyze the evolution process of Chuzhou dialects synchronically and geographically; 3) to explore the process and mechanism of language change by explaining the geographical distribution and evolution of Chuzhou dialects according to non-linguistic factors.Chapter two introduces the geographic classification of Chuzhou dialects. According to the 90 maps of this paper, 28 Distinguishing Words are selected to classify Chuzhou dialects. Some are Absolute Distinguishing Words which have nearly the same isogloss. The others are Relative Distinguishing Words which have similar isogloss. And Chuzhou dialects are divided into three parts: the east, the west, andhe north-east.The main and the secondary isoglosses are put forward according to the features of Chuzhou dialects' isoglosses. This paper concludes that the geographical classification is changeable, and the main isoglosses reflect the current one, while the secondary isoglosses reflect the past or the future one.Chapter three consists of two parts: phonological comparison and vocabulary comparison. Taking ancient initials feifufeng (非敷奉) and ancient rhymes haoyao (豪肴) as examples, the paper illustrates that the historical evolution are reflected by the phonological diversity geographically, and discusses the relations between synchronic diversity and diachronic evolution. By comparing the different variants of father and spiders, the paper argues that the vocabulary evolution is a competing process of word forms, either through the competition of the variants of a word, or through the geographic competition of different words. In the process of competition, non-linguistic factors such as district change, migrants, religion, often play an important role. In addition, this paper discusses the importance of geographical linguistics in defining dialectal characters.Chapter four mainly deals with the non-linguistic factors which affect dialectal distribution and evolution, including district, terrain, politics, economy, media, education, culture and psychology, etc. The district change of Chuzhou influenced greatly the distribution pattern of Chuzhou dialects. The bumpy and rough terrain is the main reason that Chuzhou dialects are still have many ancient Chinese features, especially in the south and west of Chuzhou. From Suidynasty on, Lishui county have been the centre of Chuzhou. Its political and economical status as well as dozens thousands of migrants have influenced greatly Lishui dialect and other dialects around. With the development of media and education, Chuzhou dialects change more and more rapidly since 1949. And the cultural elements such as taboo, religion, superstition can also cause the change of a language.