An Optimality Theory Analysis Of Tone Sandhi In Yongzhou Dialect

Language,being the medium through which cultures are transmitted,can be thoroughly studied to enable individuals to comprehend the local culture in a better way.Chinese,as a tonal language with many dialects,has been a focal point of phonological research.Due to the advancement of phonological theory,the study of tone sandhi phenomenon has changed from strictly descriptive research to interpretative investigations.Moreover,the use of experimental phonetics enables a meticulous delineation of tones,thus promoting further theoretical analysis.Yongzhou sits in the southern part of Hunan Province.Furthermore,most research on Yongzhou Dialect is still descriptive.In recent years,some academics have used experimental approaches to explore tones.Nonetheless,only a handful of investigations have concentrated on tone sandhi and utilized phonological theory to explicate this phenomenon.This thesis employs experimental phonetics to gather data on citation and disyllabic tones in Yongzhou Dialect,and subsequently applies Autosegmental Phonology and Optimality Theory to analyze tone sandhi.This study,which involves a comprehensive examination of the tonal system in Yongzhou Dialect,demonstrates that this dialect contains a total of five tones: Yinping(33),Yangping(23),Shangsheng(44),Yinqu(24),and Yangqu(214),and the tonal representation can be theorized as T1 [MM],T2 [LM],T3 [HH],T4 [LH],and T5[LLH].Out of the 25 possible combinations of disyllabic tones,only six remain unchanged,while the remaining combinations can be categorized into three patterns:right-hand tone sandhi,left-hand tone sandhi and two-way tone sandhi,which exhibits a complex situation.Based on the actual phonetic realizations of Yongzhou Dialect,this thesis proposes the following constraints and hierarchical arrangement: DEP,H-Stab,*2SR,TRI,*R.XX >> ID-T >> *2SLL >> *X.HH >> IDTS.The application of Optimality Theory can provide a satisfactory account for the combinations of tones in disyllabic sequences,as well as the emergence of tone sandhi,which is shown to be a result of the interaction among these constraints.