A Study On The Common Words In Manhua:a Language Contact Perspective

In this research,we selected 931 common words of Manhua(of which 852 samples are effective)and compared these words with their counterparts(when there are)in Cangnan Wenzhounese,Cangnan Minnan dialect and Fuzhounese.We also winnowed out the words in Cangnan Wenzhounese and Cangnan Minnan dialect that were borrowed from Manhua by taking both Rui’an Wenzhounese and Zhangzhou Minnan dialect as reference systems.We then labled and categorized our sample words of Manhua according to the rules we proposed;and we generated hypotheses from the results of categorization and tested them with Logistic Regression and other statistical tools.We have obtained three pieces of evidence in the results of categorization that reject the stances that Manhua has a Wu substratum or Minnan substratum;rather,the results support the opinion that it has a Mindong substratum.According to the results of the statistical testings,the 6asicity and the sharedness are the two significant variables that both reduce Manhua’s words/morphemes’ tendency of being influenced by Wenzhounese,whereas neither the part of speech nor the number of syllable(s)has significant influence thereon.In addition,we discussed briefly three special types of the samples that did not fit into the general patterns of categories.We attempted to account for the results of both the statistical testings and the results of categorization by proposing some hypotheses that require further evidence in the future.Finally,we revisited the topic of Manhua as a mixed dialect with a short discussion of the definition of hybridity/mixedness in terms of the lexical changes in the contact setting.