Recent Changes Of Tone Sandhi Outcomes In The Chongming Dialect: A Test And Optimality Theory Analysis On Tri-syllabic Compounds

Inspired by Chen’s documentation of a potential change in contemporary Chongming, thisthesis aims to design a set of tri-syllabic compounds consisting of different combinations,giving rise to following different patterns as categorized by the Accent Rule proposed byChen (2000), and then test the actual outcomes of tone sandhi against Chen’s rules asuttered by native speakers of the Chongming dialect. Praat, a phonetic software, were usedto draw the pitch contour diagrams of those utterances on which the analysis in this thesisis based. Data from the analysis were interpreted in the Optimality Theory framework, thefindings of which are brief explained in this chapter. Additionally, we discussed onepotential reason for the Chongming dialect showing these tendencies towards anaccentual-like system, viz. the influence of nearby metropolis-Shanghai, which isundergoing a similar change.The first three chapters focus on the general introduction and background information.Chapter1provides an introduction to the background of the topic as well the target,orientation, and rationale of this thesis. Chapter2selectively reviews relevant literature,including those introduces the history of phonological and tonal study of Chinese dialects,especially tone sandhi studies. The basic and core idea of the Optimality Theory, which willbe used as the fundamental framework for data analysis, are also introduced in this chapter.Chapter3is devoted to an overview of the Chongming dialect: its usage region, similardialects and current status.Experiment designs, testing procedures and data analysis are dealt with in the last threechapters. Chapter4is used to describe the data gathered by fieldwork; how recordingmaterials were selected and prepared, how samples were collected and processed, andfinally how preliminary statistic results were obtained. Chapter5first gives an overview onthe preliminary conclusions that can be obtained based on the results list in Chapter4, thendips into the deep analysis of the gathered data, trying to find out the constraints relevant totone sandhi in the contemporary Chongming dialect. Finally, Chapter6concludes the thesiswith major findings as well as suggestions for further research.