The Study On The Phonetic System Of Fenghua Dialect

Fenghua dialect is a dialect of Yongjiang,Taihu,Wu,which has high value of academic research.Based on the first-hand oral material of Fenghua dialect,this paper presents detailed description of its phonetic system.We can draw the conclusion that Fenghua dialect has 29 consonants(including a zero-consonants),41 rhyme(including 4 rhyme with independent syllable),and 8 tones.In order to show the phonological features of Fenghua dialect,we made contrastive analysis in both synchronic and diachronic way.By comparing the consonants,rhyme and tones of Fenghua dialect to the Qieyun system of the medieval,we can find a lot of phonological features of Fenghua dialect.For example:in aspect of consonants,Fenghua dialect,most of the ancient voiced consonants retained in Fenghua dialect.Consonants don’t differentiate in sharp sound and round sound.In aspect of rhyme,Fenghua dialect retained a lot of Ru rhyme,and abundant Nasalization.In aspect of tones,Fenghua dialect has 8 tones,each is either Yin or Yang.By comparing Fenghua dialect to the Mandarin,we can find a lot of unique features of Fenghua dialect.For example,in aspect of consonants,there is no difference between retroflex sound and initial sound in Fenghua dialect.In aspect of rhyme,there are lots of monophthongs and some nasalization in Fenghua dialect,and there is no difference between pre-nasal rhyme and post-nasal rhyme.In aspect of tones,there are difference in both tone pitch and types of tones between Fenghua dialect and Mandarin.We also analyzed the difference between colloquial and literary readings in Fenghua dialect.By comparing Fenghua dialect to Yuyao dialect,which is a close one,we can also find there are many similarity and difference between the two.consonants are almost the same,but rhyme and tones share much difference.For example,Hou Yun,Group Duan sounds as oeY in Fenghua dialect,and(?)in Yuyao dialect.In aspect of tones,Fenghua dialect shares both different tone pitch and types of tones with Yuyao dialect.By describing the phonetic system of Fenghua dialect and comparing Fenghua dialect with other phonetic system in a diachronic and synchronic way,we can better undersdand its phonetic features and status in Chinese dialect.