A Study On The Phonetic Variation Of The Yi-Initials In Anyang Dialect

Anyang dialect belongs to Jin dialect in northern Henan Province,the transitional zone between Jin dialect and Central Plains mandarin.Although Anyang county belongs to Henan province geographically,the people of Anyang do not speak Central Plains mandarin.Under the influence of Putonghua and strong Jin dialect,the new Anyang dialect based on immigrant dialect has formed in the Anyang speech community.In language contact,the pronunciation of Yi-initials in Anyang dialect has also undergone certain variations and changes.Guided by koineization and speech accommodation,this study collected the natural corpus of 52 local people in Anyang County through sociolinguistic interview and participant observation.Then the data were transcribed and analyzed with the help of Excel(2019)and Gold Varb X.The study is mainly concerned with three research questions.What variations and changes occurred in the pronunciation of Yiinitials in Anyang dialect? What is the influence of social and linguistic factors on the phonetic variation of Yi-initials? What are the causes for such phonetic variation?It found that the old form of Yi-initials has disappeared in Anyang dialect,and there are five new variants of Yi-initials,including [?] initials,zero initials,[n] initials,[?] initials,and [v] initials.Among them,the [?] initial is regarded as a new initial after the convergence of Yi-initials and Ying-initials.In most cases,the old form changed to the standard variants [n] initials and zero initials.The [?] initial is a transitional form in changing towards the standard variant zero initials.Generally speaking,the standard variants are used more frequently than the conservative variants,and the pronunciation of Yi-initials is getting closer to Putonghua.Social factors such as age,educational level,gender,and network strength significantly impact the phonetic variation of Yi-initials.Teenagers prefer to use standard variants of Yi-initials;females are more willing to use standard variants than males.Besides,there is a positive relationship between educational level and the use of standard variants and a negative relationship between network strength scale and the use of standard forms.In addition,according to markedness level,the phonetic variation of Yi-initials changed from the velar [?] with the highest markedness to the labial [v],alveolar [n],and glottal [?] and zero initials.The rule of chain shift also promoted the phonetic variation of Yi-initials in two directions,“[?] initials → [v] initials / [?]initials → zero initials”.From the perspective of syllable structure,Yi-initials change to [?] initials in the open-mouth vowels,[v] and zero initials in the closed-mouth vowels,[n] and zero initials in the even-teeth vowels,and zero initials in the round-mouth vowels.From modern times to today,the pronunciation of Yiinitials has undergone a diachronic evolution of “ [?] initials → [?] initials →[?]/[v]/[n]/ zero initials”.Anyang dialect is immigrant koine.The phonetic variation of Yi-initials in Anyang dialect is caused by the contact of different Chinese dialects,speech accommodation of immigrants,and language simplification in koineization.The wide application of digital media and the popularization of Putonghua accelerated the phonetic variation of Yi-initials in Anyang dialect.This study reveals the simplification of the initial system in Anyang dialect,which is helpful to understand the changing trend of Chinese.It provides a substantial corpus for future research and references for dialect protection policies and Putonghua promotion policies.