Geographical Linguistics Research About The Sounds Of Local Dialect In The Border Areas Of Anhua And Lianyuan, Hunan Province

This thesis takes the sounds of dialect in the Anhua-Lianyuan border region in Hunan province as the study subject. The eastern regions of Anhua county are adjacent to the northern regions of Lianyuan city geographically. People on the both sides of the border land speak Eastern region dialect( also called Meicheng dialect) and Lantian dialect respectively. There has been no controversy that Lantian dialect belongs to the Loushao sub-group of Xiang group. However, the group that Meicheng dialect in Anhua should belong to has aroused many controversies.In fact,it belongs to the Loushao sub-group of Xiang group. As the dialect in the border region is significantly influenced by Meicheng dialect and Lantian dialect and Qiaotouhe dialect that belong to the Lianyuan dialect, and the differences among these dialects are huge, the dialect in the border region is complicated itself. As for the dialectology in the border region, a conclusion is drawn after field investigation and data analysis that the main boundary line that separates Meicheng dialect and Lantian dialect in the Anhua-Lianyuan border region is still in consistency with the administrative division. Yet some villages are exceptions. Dialects used in villages Yushui, Long’ao and Jiuze of Anhua county should be categorized to Lantian dialect and the dialect spoken by people in the Hujiacun village of Lianyuan city should belong to Meicheng dialect.First, the thesis learnt the characteristics of Meicheng dialect and Lantian dialect through information research and preliminary field investigation and worked out the items to be surveyed. Then the thesis conducted a comprehensive survey on the phonetic faces of 20 natural villages lying in the Anhua-Lianyuan border region through the field interview. Based on the findings, the author drew 23 maps showing the phonetic similarities and differences among the 20 natural villages visually and analyzed the survey results, thus determining the very sub-group the dialect of each natural village in the border region belongs to and establishing the dividing line of dialects in this region with accuracy.