Zhangjiajie In Hunan Dialect Speech Research

Zhang Jiajie(张家界)locates in the northwestern part of Hunan province where people speak Southwest Mandarin, because of its complicated ethnic composition and special geographic location, the dialect spoken in Zhang Jiajie has a lot of differences compared to the common Southwest Mandarin, with the dramatic transition. From the perspective of diachronic and synchronic, this paper aims to analysis the phonology of Zhang Jiajie dialects by using static depiction, charts, statistics and comparative methods, etc. The present research reveals the main phonetic features, the general evolvement and tendency of Zhang Jiajie dialects.Combining with the previous views, it hopes to investigate to which the dialect groups they belong.This paper is divided into six parts:Chapter One briefly shows the geography, the history, the population, the nations, as well as the dialects used there. It also introduces the present studies on the Chinese dialects in Zhang Jiajie, etc.Chapter Two lists30phonologies of Zhang Jiajie dialects.Chapter Three compares the phonologies of Zhang Jiajie dialects with the phonology of Middle Chinese, and makes a comparison between Zhang Jiajie dialects and Middle Chinese comprehensively.The relatively important point is the present pronunciations of Ru-sheng(入声)in Middle Chinese:In the large eastern and western area of Zhang Jiajie, Ru-sheng (入声)has combined with other tonal categories and these areas basically have four tone categories. Ru-sheng(入声)have reserved in the middle part on the border land of four counties, it includes five tonal categories.Chapter Four analyzes several evolvements in initials, finals and tones.I. Initials:1. The pronunciations of Middle Chinese Fei(非)Fu(敷)Feng(奉)and Xiao(晓)Xia(匣) with Hekouhu (合口呼)initials have mixed totally in Zhang Jiajie dialects at present. This confluence is mainly caused by the medial or main vowel "u". 2. The initials of Middle Chinese Bang (帮)Fei(非)Jian(见)-groups andZhi(知)Zhang(章)-groups read in labiodental initials pf/pf in Zhang Jiajie dialects at present is a later phonetic evolvement caused by the influence of "u" labiodental.3. In the most of the places, level-lingual and cacuminal can be distinguished. Pronunciations of Middle Chinese Zhi(知)Zhang(章)-groups read "ts/ts’/s" and Zhuang(庄)-group read "ts/ts’/s" or "ts/ts’/s" with a pretty clear trend which from "ts/ts’/s" to "ts/ts’/s".II. Finals:1."(?)" comes from the3rd Division with Hekou(合口)of Middle Chinese, it can be divided into two types:the finals from Jing(精)Jian(见)Xiao(晓)-groups are different from Zhi(知)Zhang(章)-groups and the finals from Jing(精)Jian(见)Xiao(晓)-groups are the same as Zhi(知)Zhang(章)-groups.2. There are three pronunciations which from the Xie(蟹)rhyme-groups at the first and second division words, from "ai" spoken in the central city of Sangzhi (桑植)and Cili (慈利)to "ε" spoken in the Zhang Jiajie city. The diphthongal finals have changed into simple vowel. There are two layers for pronunciations "(?)/ε" in Furongqiao (芙蓉桥)and Mahekou (马合口)villages of Bai People in Sangzhi county."(?)" is the Colloquial Layer and "ε" is the Literary Layer. The phenomenon is evolving in terms of the path of Vowel Raising.3. It can be divided into two types on the pronunciation of Nasal Ending at present: the Chinese character "三" is the same as "桑san",and "三san" is different from“桑saD”Most of the characters from Shen(深)Zhen(臻)Zeng(曾)Geng(梗)rhyme-groups are spoken as the front nasal consonant "-n" at present. It’s easier to occur that nasalization in the situation which front and low vowel plus back nasal consonant "-rj". In the dialect of Furongqiao and Mahekou, for example,“帮”is spoken as "po",“装”as "(?)", and it is least likely to lose the back nasal consonant "(?)".HI. Tones:1. Because of the similar tone pitch, the Shang-sheng(上声)words with Voiced Obstruent and Qu-sheng(去声)with Voiced Initials have mixed with Ping-sheng(平声)with Voiceless Initials in Xiejiaya(谢家垭)village and Yuanguping(沅古坪)town in Yongding (永定)district.2. The Qu-sheng(上声)words with Voiceless Initials have mixed with Ping-sheng(平声)with Voiced Initials in Cili (慈利)county,19towns of Sangzhi (桑 植)county,1town of Wulingyuan (武陵源)district,1town of Yongding(永定) district. It is believed that this phenomenon appeared in recent years because of the similar tone pitch and it has no relationship with "the transition from Qing-qu(清去)to Yang-ping (阳平)”in Gan dialects of Jiangxi in terms of given materials and dialects spoken at surroundings presently documented in "Reports on Dialects in Hunan". The confluence have not completed yet but have already begun to polarize and some characters are pronounced Yang-ping(阳平)in the Colloquial Layer and Qu-sheng (去声)in the Literary Layer due to the influence of dominant dialects surrounded.3. Nearly half area of Zhang Jiajie at present, Ru-sheng(入声)have been reserved (including the main city of Zhang Jiajie), but it has no Entering Endings. In certain dialects which have no Ru-sheng(入声),Ru-sheng (入声)in Middle Chinese have mixed with Qu-sheng (去声)in Middle Chinese and they pronounced as Qu-sheng (去声) or mixed with Qing-ping (清平)in Middle Chinese pronounced as Yin-ping (阴平)at present.Chapter Five introduces briefly the origin of Bai in Hunan Province and its distributions. After compared the some phonetic features of Chinese dialects spoken by Bai People in Zhang Jiangjie and DahepingC大合坪) village in Yuanling county, these two places made up over95percent of the Bai population in Hunan with Bai Language and the Hakka-Gan dialects of Jiangxi. It is found that the Minjia dialect (民家腔)in Sangzhi which is the typical Chinese dialect spoken by Bai People in Zhang Jiajie is not as scholars contended. The Minjia dialect in Sangzhi remains much of the Substratum of Bai Language as previous views, but in accordance with the Jiangxi dialects, especially Gan dialects, and this is fits with their migration routes.Chapter Six generally concludes the phonetic characteristics of the Zhang JiaJie dialects, and also considers the language sense of the local people and the opinions of the previous researchers about these dialects. This chapter divides the Zhang Jiajie dialects into two sub-groups according to the criteria of "whether the Middle Chinese Qu-sheng can be classified as Ying or Yang":The first sub-group has the characteristics of dividing the Chinese characters of Middle Chinese Qu-sheng (去声)into present Ying(阴)and Yang(阳)，which is relatively coordinated with the sub-group of northern Hunan Province of the Hu-guang group which belongs to the Southwest Mandarin categorized by the "Research of Chinese Mandarin Dialect of (2010)."The second sub-group has the characteristics of being close to Wuhan dialect in its four tone values, which is comparatively coordinated with the general language features of the central Hubei Province sub-group of Hu-guang group in Southwest Mandarin Dialect.