The Phonology Of Circular Chain Shifts

The existence of synchronic circular chain shifts poses a thorny problem to rule-based phonology as well as the constraint-based Optimality Theories. Previous research on complex circular chain shifts mainly focuses on the tone circles in Southern-Min dialects of Chinese languages, which either involve some neutralization or a mid-level tone. A structure-preserving tone circle devoid of surface neutralization or mid-level tone is non-computable in previous rule-based serialism models. Yet, the tone circles in many Chinese dialects in Shandong province, particularly Dezhou Chinese and Jinan Chinese, serve as such examples.Based on the data gleaned from a fieldwork in Jinan, this thesis provides a non-linear phonological analysis of various tone sandhis in Jinan Chinese, and explores the possibility of a rule-based phonological account of the tone circles in Jinan Chinese and other closely related West Shandong Chinese dialects. The primary findings of this thesis are as follows.(1) The neutral tones in Jinan Chinese display rich interaction between morphology and phonology. Jinan Chinese has three types of neutral tones whose distribution is morphosyntactically conditioned. The first type (N1) occurs in nominal reduplicants, some compounds and phrases; the second type (N2) mainly occurs in verbal reduplicants; and the third type (N3) exclusively occurs in adjectival reduplicants. N1 is an underlyingly unspecified empty tone and obtains its surface tone through spreading; N2 is a derived empty tone and obtains its surface value through default tone assignment; and N3 is a prespecified low-rising tone. In addition, N1 triggers the circular chain shifts of the fully specified tone preceding it, whereas N2 and N3 cannot do so.(2) Empty-element analysis of circular chain shifts. This thesis proposes that a seemingly neutralization-free circular chain shift can be analyzed as a circular chain shift with neutralization between some point of the chain and an empty element. Specifically, with a neutralization between [55] and 0, a neutralization-free circular chain shift such as the Dezhou tone circle,55â†'213â†'21â†'42â†'55, becomes 55,(?)â†' 213â†'21â†'42â†'55, and the tone circle can thus be modeled by a series of counter-feeding rules in addition to a tone assignment rule, roughly like 55â†'(?),42â†'55, 21â†'42,213â†'21 and (?)â†'213. Likewise, Jinan tone circle 31,53â†'55â†'13â†'31 can be modeled by the same set of rules with a refinement of rule-ordering, i.e.55â†'(?), 31â†'53,53â†'55,13â†'31 and (?)â†'13. Since the empty set is a proper subset to any set, and an empty element is by definition inherent in every system, this proposal maintains the structure-preserving property of many chain shifting phenomena, and it also reflects the fact that chain shifts tend to occur along some scale.(3) The division between register and contour nodes in tonal structure. The sandhi phenomena in Jinan Chinese is consistent with Bao’s (1999) tonal structure model. The rules of Jinan tonology suggest that the register nodes and the contour nodes can independently constitute natural classes, and can trigger the OCP effects or be targeted by the effects. Noticeably, the Contour Spreading rule in Jinan Chinese provides evidence for the independence of contour nodes, and the spreading of the terminal nodes of tonal contour lends support to the branching structure of contour nodes.The architecture of this thesis is as follows. Chapter 1 states the research questions hereof and lays out preliminary answers. Chapter 2 surveys previous research on chain shifts in historical, morphological and phonological approaches. Chapter 3 presents the phonetic and phonological data of Jinan tonology. Chapter 4 details the derivations of Jinan tonology and discusses relevant implications. Chapter 5 concludes the thesis and points out some remaining issues in the understanding of circular chain shifts.