A Comparative Study Of Phonology Of Dialects In The Border Area Of Chishui And Hejiang

The border area between Chishui and Hejiang is located in the northwest of Guizhou Province and the southeast of Sichuan Province.According to the Language Atlas of China(2nd Edition),the Chinese dialects in the border area between Chishui and Hejiang belong to the Minchi sub-cluster of the Xishu cluster of Southwest Mandarin.There have always been many research results on the pronunciation of single dialect in Chishui and Hejiang areas,while the research results on the pronunciation of regional dialect are relatively lacking.Under the influence of historical immigration,administrative divisions,mountain and river situation,traffic routes and other factors,the dialects in the junction of Chishui and Hejiang have both similarities and differences.This paper compares the pronunciation of several dialect representative points in the border area of Chishui and Hejiang,and discusses the influence of physical geography and human geography factors on the dialect pronunciation in this area.Taking the pronunciation of Chinese dialects in the border area of Chishui and Hejiang as the research object,this paper describes the phonological system of representative dialects at the junction of Chishui and Hejiang through field investigation,and compares the similarities and differences between the dialects at the junction of Chishui and Hejiang from the synchronic and diachronic levels,and probes into the reasons for the strong consistency of dialects’ pronunciation in this region and the geographical distribution causes of the differences in dialects’ pronunciation.Firstly,the paper describes the phonetic system of six representative dialects in the border area of Chishui and Hejiang,namely Datong,Wanglong,Changqi,Fubao,Fengming and Jiuzhi.On this basis,the paper further discusses the phenomenon of lexical tone,the law of retroflex sound change,and the phenomenon of assimilation,dissimilation,elision and combination in the internal sandhi.Secondly,the paper compares the phonological system of the six representative dialects with that of Guangyun in the Middle Ages,showing the ancient and modern phonological correspondence of the local dialects and the similarities and differences at the synchronic level.Through the investigation of historical documents and geographical conditions,the strong consistency of dialect pronunciation in the border areas of Chishui and Hejiang should be closely related to the historical immigrants with similar sources and the closely linked geographical pattern.Finally,the paper presents the geographical distribution of dialect phonetic differences in the border area of Chishui and Hejiang through the drawing of dialect map,and discusses its causes from four aspects: the ancient role of remote geographical location on the phonetic characteristics,the connecting role of river valley on the phonetic characteristics,the blocking role of mountains on the phonetic characteristics,and the role of administrative center in maintaining the stability of the phonetic characteristics.At the same time,according to the historical background of Southwest Mandarin and the phonetic characteristics of the dialects in the border areas of Chishui and Hejiang,the dialects in the border areas of Chishui and Hejiang should be originated from the Mandarin brought by immigrants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,and have some connection with the Jianghuai Mandarin.