A Phonetic Study Of The Northern Min Dialect And Central Min Dialect

This paper studies the phonology of the dialects in northern Fujian and central parts of this province. It is divided into eight chapters plus four appendices.Chapter One. which consists of three sections, is a general introduction of the research of dialects. The first section gives the connotation and denotation of the concepts of dialects in northern and central parts of Fujian province and introduces the uses of dialects in the neighborhood. The second section in this chapter is divided up into special subjects which review the research results of the dialects of the northern and central parts of Fujian province: (1)The explanation of the geographic division of the dialect research and the relationship of these dialects with those in the periphery of this area in addition to an introduction of the related studies based on the two theories—"the Relations of Wu and Min Dialects Theory"and"the Ancient Southern Chinese Theory". (2)The explanations of the pronunciations of the Middle Chinese (hereafter MC) voiced initials in Min dialect nowadays based on the four schemes:"Proto-Min Dialect Theory","Interactive Dialects Theory","Immigrants Convergence Theory"and"Diachronic Levels Theory". The focus is on the different views on the phenomena of the MC voiceless initials sounding voicedly nowadays and the tone 9. (3) A survey of the pronunciations of the characters originally subjected to the MC Lai initial but read with /s/(or /?/) nowadays. (4)Study of the differences of the colloquial pronunciation and literary pronunciation, and the study of the Diachronic levels. (5)The application of the documentation. (6)The Application of quantitative methods. (7)Reports, etymology inquiring and other studies. The third section focuses on the goals, significance and the methods of this study project.Chapter Two is on initials. Section One expounds the diachronic levels of the pronunciations of the MC voiced initials in Min dialect nowadays. There are three obvious diachronic levels in the pronunciations of the MC voiced initials in Min dialect nowadays: the unvoiced aspirated level, the unvoiced unaspirated level and the voiced level. We concentrate on the different pronunciations of stop and affricative initials in MC and in today's Min dialect and conclude that the differences result from the overlapping of many phonetics levels during the evolution of Min dialect. The unvoiced aspirated level is the oldest while the voiced level youngest. The evolution is influenced by migrations in the early stage of Min dialect and also the official language of the Sui and Tang Dynasty. Moreover, we can find two kinds of evidences in the structure of the Min dialect: the voiced and unvoiced characters of the initial and the aspirated and unaspirated characters shown after the devoicing of the initial have corresponding relationships both with the divisions of tones and with the different pronunciations in colloquial layer and literal layer.Section Two: today's pronunciation of the MC initials Fei and Zhi groups. (1)In each point ,the numbers of the characters subjected to the Fei group is read as Bang initial in modern times are different. The proportion between the MC Fei, Fu, Feng initials and Wei initial subjected to current readings with heavy-lip initials in the dialects of these two areas is different. However, when compared with the dialects in other Min destricts, the numbers and proportions of the characters in the two areas which still retain the ancient characteristics---light-lip initials are pronounced as heavy-lip initials---are roughly the same. Those that still retain the pronunciations of heavy-lip initials are mostly the characters used in the colloquial fields, but the identification of the colloquial characters varies from place to place. In Northern Min dialect, the number of the characters having the ancient features is more than that of those used in the southern part, which reflects the relative conservatism of the former. (2)The situation that the MC initials Zhi group are read as Duan group in the dialects resembles that of the Fei group being read as Bang group. (3)Since there are syllables with sound /m/ in Yong'an dialect, this paper explores the identification of the initial consonants and the finals in this dialect through lateral comparison and longitudinal comparison.Section Three: the modern readings of the MC Lai initial characters. There are special readings such as /n/,/t/,/s/ in the readings of the Lai initial characters in the northern and central Min dialects. (1)The phenomenon that the characters such as li"inside",li"cyprinoid"are read with the initial consonants /t/ or /d/ is a kind of special phonetic changes under the condition that they have open-front final vowels followed , and it is parallel with the relative phonetic changes taken place in Hakka and Gan dialects. The macro-sounded final vowels in the Songxi, Wuyishan and Jianyang dialects and so on are developed from open-front final vowels after their initials finished the phonetic change process l>t/d. (2)The distribution of 30 characters subjected to Lai initial which are now read with /s/(or /?/) as their initial in 14 dialects in the northwestern Min are irregular. This situation is brought about over a long time of change since the Old Chinese. Lai initial characters which are read with /s/ initial are mostly read in a Yang tone, which shows that the change were started with the voiced initials, and completed a process like this : r→z→s.Section Four: The current readings of the MC initials Jing, Zhuang, Zhi, Zhang groups. (1) Particular quantitative analysis shows that the current readings of these four MC initials groups fall into two kinds: dichotomy and trisection. Northern Min dialect belongs to the dichotomy pattern, that is Zhi group are read as Duan group ,and Zhuang Zhang groups are read as Jing group. Central Min dialect belongs to the latter pattern; that is, Zhi group are read as Duan group, Zhuang group are read as Jing group, and Zhang group are stand alone. The trisection pattern is more similar to the MC initials reading structure than the dichotomy one. Though belonging to the same condition that Zhi group are read as Duan group, there are differences: in Northern Min, the characters are read with Duan group no matter which class they are subjected to, the 2nd class or 3rd class. However, in the Central Min dialect, the characters read as Duan group are mostly subjected to the 3rd class. Affected by the dialects of both Hakka and Gan, in the internal Central Min dialect, the number of the characters read with the initials /t?/ or /ts/ has direct relation with the combination of the initials, finals and tones. (2)The MC initials of characters Xin, Sheng, Shu, Xie, Chuan, Shan are nowadays read with affricate initials, and the Chong initial in MC are at present read as fricative initials. These two situations are on the Minor side in the two areas; in most cases, these initial changes are directly presented as a lexical phenomenon,which may be caused by the mutation of the dialects. And this mutation can be taken place at the last period of the Old Chinese times or happened in MC times, and some may be affected by the common language and variations were brought about quite late. (3)In the dialects in Jianyang ,Wuyishan etc, the MC initials Tou, Che and Ding, Cheng are currently read as /h/. This change can be traced back to the sound change (*d >)t?>h. The MC initials Qing and Cong are now read as /t?/, and this change originated from the evolution (*dz >)ts?>t?. The MC initials Chu, Chang, Xin and Chong have gone through a similar evolution. The phonetic change of Tou initial and so on led to the change of the Qing initial and thus formed a chain shift. The process of changes are related with the influence of Gan dialect, but the root of changes is the same as the analogous phonetic change to the Min dialect in Hainan province and the Gan dialect. They are all influenced by the Kam-Dai languages. It is a substratum phenomenon. Part of the characters with MC Ban, Bing initials are read nowadays as /h/. This change resulted from the evolution process (*b >)p?>h, which is analogized by the variation t?>h. (4) Part of the MC Shan initial characters with even tone are presently read aspiratedly. This is influenced by the Mandarin. However, we cannot come to a conclusion that the level of Yangping tone Jia, with the first tune and aspiration falls into the Mandarin. ri"sun"sounded as /mi?/ in Jian'ou dialect shows that the initial may originate from the Old Chinese consonant *mj-.Section Five: MC initials Jian group's current readings. Jian groups brought about 3 kinds of evolutions and substitutions:?k→ɡ,k→?→?,k→x/h in the dialects used in the two areas. That characters subjected to the Yi initial are now pronounced with /l/ as their initial represents the gradual change from Yi initials to Ni initial; Characters with the Xiao initial have a current reading of the Xi initial, and this resulted from the polarization from the Xiao initial *qh in Old Chinese. That characters with MC Xia initial are currently read with/k/ or /ɡ/?initials reflects the features in the Old Chinese times that the Xia initial were subjected to the Qun initial. That Ying initial Characters are now read with affricate initials can provide the evidence to prove that the Ying initial were in the Old Chinese read as *q- instead. That MC Yun initial characters are at present pronounced as /x/ or /h/reflects the phonetic characteristics of the dynasties of Wei and Jin that the 3rd class of Yu initial belongs to Xia initial. Yi initial characters are now read with affricate and fricative consonants, and this can be traced back to the phonetic series relation between Yi initial and Xie initial in the Old Chinese.Chapter Three Tones: With regard to dialects, we try to trace its MC sources. As for the four tones of MC, we try to survey their evolution in the dialects. This chapter analyzes the interaction between the initials and the tones in the dialects in detail. The use of the quantitative method in the analysis shows clearly the mainstreams and the tributaries, rules and exceptions in the development of the tones.Chapter Four Finals: Section One takes MC Guo, Jia, Yu, Xiao, Liu groups and so on as example, and arranges ,displays and compares in table forms the situation of the finals read nowadays in the dialects with what they pronounced in MC. In order to deter Mine the diachronic levels, this chapter uses the lateral comparisons between dialects and longitudinal comparison between the pronunciation of the MC and the Old Chinese times.Section Two inspects on the /?/ final characters in the Central Min dialect. The pronunciations of /?/ final characters in the Central Min dialect vary in two ways as those are lead by two kinds of initials in the Northern Min dialect. They reflect the situation at the same level of literary pronunciation. Essentially ,it is the unifying of the MC initials of Jing, Zhuang, Zhang groups as /ts/, /ts?/, /s/,the finals of the dialects in the Central Min dialect unified, however, the differences of them are remained in the dialects used in the northern Min. The other dialects in Min mostly belong to the latter one, and can be divided in to four board categories and twelve narrow ones. Characters belonged to the MC Zhi initial group now are read as /ts/, /ts?/, /s/ belongs to the latest literary level. The pronunciation of the character cu"vinegar"in Yong'an dialect is implanted from the Gan dialect. But the final /?/ in the Central Min dialect was affected originally mainly by common language,Hakka and Gan dialects are conducive elements.Section Three summarizes the exceptional conditions of the development of the initials, finals and tones in the dialects, including the apperception of the phonetic series of Chinese characters, pronunciation nowadays sustained by some other factors ,meaning-discriMinating and multi-sound characters in MC possessing anther pronunciation nowadays, the omitted Fanqie in rhyme books, the MC pronunciations retained of the daily used characters in oral speech, being affected by exceptional pronunciation in common language, being affected by periphery dialects, pronunciation taboos, infection effect, evading the same pronounced characters and seeking blanks, alternative meanings with different pronunciations bringing about exceptions, sound changes on the grammatical levels, misreading and so on.Chapter Five rules of sandhi and diminutive: Section One analyzing the sound change in the speech in dialects, containing tone sandhi, changing rhymes, assimilation and dissimilation, weakening, epenthesis, eclipsis and unifying and so on. Section Two mainly inspects and analyzes two kinds of diminutive sandhi in the Central Min dialect: non-entering tone characters being read with an entering-tone, non-even tone characters now being read with a even tone and non-departing tone characters now being read with a departing one.Chapter Six internal differences: Mainly from the phonetic factor does the survey starts. The differences in Yong'an dialect is typical, and they primarily are shown at the aspect of the discrimination and the identification of the initials /ts/ and /t?/, whether the initial /?/ eclipses or not, the separation and identification of the finals /ɑm/,/iɑm/?and?/?m/,/i?m/, and such things are presented by the differences between the young and the old. The affecting sources is principally the common language. In the pronunciation on Shaxian dialect of the old, the MC initials Zhang and Jing groups was read out with different initials when coMing cross open-front vowels, but the young treat them as the same. The distinction between the young and old in Jian'ou dialect are mostly presented as: part of zero initial characters with rising tone and /i?/ are newly read as /iei?/, the Cuo-Kou-Hu finals /y?/ and /yi?/ are turning into the finals in He-Kou-Hu /u?/ and /ui?/.There are many newly pronunciations and old ones, however, they can be mostly analyzed from the sound change. Differences lied in dialect in Songxi are extensive, and involves three parts: initials, finals and tones. Differences in Shibei dialect are mainly shown in the part of the tones, and the voiced initials are disappearing.Chapter Seven on the origin of the sound-divided-words in the Central Min dialect and the Northern Min dialect: Comparing with the qiejiaoci in Fuzhou dialect and the inserted-/l/-words in Jin dialects, this chapter argues that the sound-divided-words in the Central Min dialect and the Northern Min dialect is essentially a special type of reduplication. The finals and tones reduplicates, the initial of the latter syllable sticks to /l/ whose loudness is the highest, the sound-divided-words gets its syllabic characteristic that the latter syllable of a sound-divided-word always takes the primary stress. It's one of the forms of the disyllablization in Chinese, relating to the consonant clusters of the Old Chinese.Chapter Eight deals with the relations between Northern Min dialect and Central Min dialect. Section One surveys the relationship between the dialects in these two areas in the frame of the regional differences of Min dialect which is divided into two contrasting groups -- the north dialects in contrast to the south dialects and The east dialects in contrast to the west dialects. This division is in turn illustrated with examples. Section Two illustrates the differences between the dialects of the two areas, and subdivides the North Min dialect area into two parts as the northeastern dialect area and the northwestern area, and the Central Min dialect area into two parts as the north one and south one.Appendix One provides the homophony syllabary of Gaizhu Dialect in Shaxian. This report is subjected into the phonetic system of Gaizhu Dialect in Shaxian, Fujian Province . The appendix mainly contains the system constructed by initials ,finals and tones, and the homophony syllabary, targeting at providing full and accurate references of the phonology in the Central Min dialect.Appendix Two is a list of the sound-divided-words in six categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives, quantifiers, onomatopoeias and other expanded forms. Appendix Three: the pronunciations of the character gui (癸) in Chinese dialects. gui (癸) is all read as the character ji("season",季) in the northern and Central Min dialects; thus making its pronunciation different from the character gui("ghost",鬼), particularly different in tone . Based on an further survey of the pronunciations of the character gui (癸) in up to 338 unique dialects in China, we can come to an conclusion that the variety of pronunciations of character gui(癸)results from the avoiding of the sound of gui("ghost",鬼).Therefore, the change of the pronunciation of the character is an evading action. In southern dialects, the phenomenon that"gui (癸)≠gui("ghost",鬼)"is far more common than in the Northern dialect. Since the phenomenon is so obvious in Yue dialect that it becomes the regional representative characteristics. This paper also proves that this phenomenon has nothing to do with MC Chongniu. Appendix Four provides the information sources which this paper refers to and the profiles of the informants.