The Phonetic Research On Dialect Of Wuhu County In Southern Anhui Province

Wuhu county, south of the lower reaches of Changjiang River lies in the south-eastern Anhui Province. Its dialect covers the boarderland of Jiang-huai mandarin Hongchao area and Wu dialect Xuanzhou area, including the local dialect and the immigrant dialect. "The local dialect", spoken by local people, mainly covers 19 towns, such as Fangcun, Dainan, Wanzhi, Heping and so on; "The immigrant dialect", spoken by immigrants from northern Anhui Province in the late Qing Dynasty, mainly covers tha towns of Yitai and Tianming. With comparatively fewer research fruits of the dialect of Wuhu County, the academic circle has just defined its adscription and made a preparatory description, without further and overall discussion and study. This essay aims to describe and analyse the two dialects mentioned above and reveal their language characteristics. On that basis, firstly we will discuss the adscription problem of "the immigrant dialect", and then, by analysing the contemporary pronunciation of ancient vocied initial of "the local dialect", we will come to a fact that its basic feature of Wu dialect has faded over time, which questions its division of sub-area of Wu dialect Xuanzhou area.One purpose of this essay is to describe the basic situation of the dialect of Wuhu County, and reveals its phonics characteristics, based on the research into its language itslf. The other is to probe deeply into the adscription issue of the local dialect and the immigrant dialect. With the help of "Chinese Dialect investigation word table" compiled by the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, we will investigate the phonics of the local dialect and the immigrant dialect in Wuhu County. Based upon the research, we will seek further and overall description and analysis. Description, comparison, quantitative analysis and some other approaches have been comprehensively made use of in this essay. To begin with, we make a detailed description about the phonics system of the local dialect and the immigrant dialect in Wuhu County, including the initials finals and tones, initial and final, combinations of the initials finals and tones, so that we can present their phonics appearance objectively; Secondly, we will reveal the phonics features of the local dialect and the immigrant dialect in Wuhu County by comparing them with the phonology system of the medieval times. Thirdly, we make a quantitative analysis of the contemporary pronunciation of ancient vocied initial of the local dialect; Finally, we reach a conclusion that the immigrant dialect is attached to Jiang-huai mandarin Hongchao area, while the local dialect's basic feature of Wu dialect is not so obvious compared with the old times, namely, it has faded over time. It has the nature of mixed dialects and is closer to Jiang-huai mandarin. At the same time, the idea that the local dialect should be divided into the Tongjing sub-area of Xuanzhou area deserves further consideration.This essay consists of five chapters:The first chapter is introduction. Firstly, in this chapter we generally explain the current research situation of Jiang-huai official dialect Hongchao area and Wu dialect Xuanzhou area; Secondly, the research purpose, significance, methods and procedures are presented later; At last, we mainly introduce the geopolitical locations of Wuhu County, inheritance and innovation of its organizational system, immigration, summary of its dialects and investigation spots. The second chapter mainly focuses on the phonics system of the local dialect in Wuhu County. In this chapter we describe and analyse Yitai dialect which represents the immigrant dialect and two other dialects---Dainan and Heping dialects which represent the local dialect. Meanwhile, we emphasis on their initials, finals and tones (including the tones of single characters and the continuously changing tones of the combination of two characters); relationships of initials and finals; relationships of initials, finals and tones. The third chapter is about the comparison with the dialect of Wuhu County and the phonology system of the medieval times. In this chapter, we compare the phonology system of the dialect in Wuhu County (one representative of the immigrant dialect and two representatives of the local dialect) to the phonology system of the medieval times in initials, finals and tones, and then conclude the phonics characteristics of the representatives of the local dialect and the immigrant dialect. What's more, we try to discuss the adscription issue of the immigrant dialect. The fourth chapter is to analyse the contemporary pronunciation of ancient vocied initial of "the local dialect". In this chapter by analysing the contemporary pronunciation of ancient vocied initial of the local dialect, especially Dainan dialect and Heping dialect, we will come to a fact that its basic feature of Wu dialect has faded over time, which questions its division of sub-area of Wu dialect Xuanzhou area by the academic circle. It has the nature of mixed dialects and is closer to Jiang-huai mandarin. The fifth chapter is conclusion, which sums up the research fruits of this essay. The appendix of this essay is the syllable table of Yitai dialect, the syllable table of Dainan dialect and the syllable table of Heping dialect.