The Comparative Study Of The Phonology Of Shilou Dialect In Shanxi Province

Shilou county lies in western part of Shanxi Province, is located at the southern foot of Lvliang mountain, the eastern bank of the Yellow River. The phonology features of Shilou dialect have much internal differences. It located at the junction of Fenzhou sub-dialect, Xingxi sub-dialect of Jin dialect, and on the shore of the Yellow River at the same time, therefore, its phonology has obvious features of transition, is worth researching.The paper focuses on speech as object, aims to reveal the inner differences of Shilou dialect.Through field surveys, grasp the basic phonology features of Shilou dialect fully, sums up the characteristics. Based on different phonology features, divides sub-regions reasonably. This article will view the corresponding regular pattern in ancient Chinese and the representative stations, the features of which are illustrated by means of comparative method, from the synchronic and diachronic perspective. Through discussing the relationship between different sub-regions, to sum up the similarities and differences. At last, with the analysis of external influencing factors, such as administrative divisions, geographic position, economy and civilization and so on, to explore the ascription of Shilou dialect, to explain the transitional characters that the formation cause of inner differences properly.The paper investigates 14 locations, and reveals comprehensively phonetic features of the initials, finals and tones, then on this basis to discuss the partition of Shilou dialect. It can be divided into the southeast, the southwest and the north, according to the consonantal final tail is “n” or “?”, the initial consonant of partial Jing-set is “?-set” or “?-set”, the characters of Zhi-system read “?” more than “t?” or less, the vowel tail of Liu-she is “u” or “?”, the main vowel of Xie-she reads “e” more than “?” or less. The southeast is represented by Chengguan dialect. The southwest is represented by Qianshan dialect. The north is represented by Caojiayuan dialect.The paper involves the phonetic description and phonological analysis of systems, tone sandhi, the connection styles of initials and finals, variant pronunciation in Chengguan, Qianshan and Caojiayuan dialects. On this foundation, it lists the features of the three representative sites and the corresponding regular patterns in ancient Chinese. The main differences among the sites are: the ancient rhyme tails “n” and “?” are mixed today; the “?-set” and “t?-set” have different merger rules; some finals have different corresponding regular patterns in ancient Chinese when exhaling with mouth opened or closed; “kk‘?x” can be spelt with “i” at one single site; some colloquial readings have big differences among the three sites; the height of the main vowel, the shape of the lip is round or flat and so on. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the variant pronunciation. It was classified into three types: literary and colloquial readings, different pronunciations and meanings, two readings or more. The type and pitch of the ancient high and level tone is almost as same as Tone 3 today, they are merged basically and be seen as Tone 1 now.Shilou dialect belongs to Xingxi sub-dialect of Jin dialect. It located at the junction of several sub-dialects, therefore, its phonology has obvious features of transition. The formation of internal differences is not only because of self-change, but also be affected by the factors of administrative divisions, geographic position, economy and civilization and so on.At present, researches on the phonology of Shilou dialect can rarely be found, say nothing of the analysis and study of the inner phonetic differences. The dialect materials provided in this paper is detailed, thus to made supplement to the previous studies, and to give a reference to the compilation of local chronicles and the study of local dialect. The phonetic features of different sites and different sub-dialects are described and compared all-round, from the synchronic and diachronic perspective. Simultaneously, integrating with the influence of the exterior factors, this paper determined causes of the inner differences, as to provide a basis for further study of Jin dialect.