A Phonological Study Of Hongan Dialect In Hubei Province

Hongan county is under the jurisdiction of Huanggang City,Hubei Province,located in the northeast of Hubei Province.using the methods of field investigation,experimental phonetics and comparative analysis,this paper takes the dialect in the west of Chengguan town of Hongan County as the representative of Hongan dialect,and mainly focuses on four aspects: the phonology of Hongan dialect,the comparison between Hongan dialect and middle ancient pronunciation,the comparison between Hongan dialect and surrounding dialects,and the comparison between Hongan dialect and Gan dialect in Poyang and Yuexi to further study the phonetics of Hong’an dialect.The first chapter introduces the geographical region and administrative evolution of Hongan County,summarizes the population migration and dialect situation in Hong’an area,describes the current situation of Hongan dialect research and lastly introduces the research content,methods,significance and innovation points of this paper.The second chapter introduces the phonetic system of Hong’an dialect,including 23 initials,43 finals and 6 tones,describes the nature of the high Round Lip vowel behind the tip of the tongue of the (?) in Hongan dialect,and lists the connection style of initials,finals and tones of Hongan dialect.The third chapter compares the phonology of Hongan dialect with that of Guang Yun in the middle ages,summarizes the historical evolution law of Hongan dialect from three aspects of phonology.The main points are as follows: Devoicing;Middle ancient plosives and affricates in voiced initials can be read aspiraed;Zhi-set,Zhang-set and Jian-set merged together.In the aspect of finals,Yushe and Liu-she merged;Xian-she and Shan-she merged;Shen-she,Zhen-she,Zengshe and Geng-she merged;dang-she and jiang-she merged;In terms of tone,the ancient voiceless even tone now read upper even tone,ancient muddy and semimuddy even now read lower even tone.The ancient voiceless and semi-muddy rising tone now read rising tone,ancient muddy rising tone now mainly read lower departing tone.The ancient voiceless departing now read upper departing tone,ancient muddy and semi-muddy departing now read lower departing tone.The ancient entering now still mainly read entering,the ending all disappeared.The fourth chapter compares Hong’an dialect with Huangzhou dialect,Wuhan dialect and Kafang dialect in Xinxian County,and finds that there are many similarities between Hong’an dialect and Huangzhou dialect,followed by Kafang dialect in Xinxian County,which is quite different from Wuhan dialect.The fifth chapter is set to found that there are five remaining phonetic features of Gan dialect in Hong’an Dialect: ancient plosives and affricates in voiced initials can be read aspiraed.Zhi-set,Zhang-set,Jian-set and Xiao-set with three grade in close mouth have the same sound.Yu-she,Xie-she,Zhi-she,Shan-she,Zhen-she of Jing-set with three grade in close mouth now read final “i”.Xie-she,Zhi-she of Duan-set with one and three grade in close mouth now read fine final.Part of muddy entering now read lower departing tone.Finally,the chapter of "conclusion" is set up to summarize the whole paper.We think that both Hongan dialect and Huangzhou dialect belong to Huangxiao Pian of Jianghuai Mandarin,which is quite different from Wuhan dialect of Wutian Pian of Southwest Mandarin.The Kafang dialect in Xinxian County of Xinbeng Pian,the Central Plains Mandarin,has more characteristics of Huangxiao dialect.There are some remnants of Gan dialect in Hong’an dialect,most of which are originated from historical immigrants.