Investigation And Research On Shaping Dialect In Yunnan Province

Shiping county is located in the Southern part of Yunnan province. Its dialect is classified into a Southern Yunnan sub-cluster of Southwest Mandarin. Consulting previous research, there are few books and papers focusing on Shiping dialect, plus it is rarely found in Yunnan dialect survey reports or local chronicles. Clearly, investigation of the Shiping dialect is needed for innovation. There are two selected investigation areas in this paper:Xiarenhe village and Gaoiawan village in Yilong town in Shiping. Based on first-hand data collected through fieldwork, this study aims to examine Shiping dialect in terms of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. More specifically, it gives detailed description and analyses of phonology and grammar, and also discusses the shaping of connotative meaning from the perspective of word formation. In addition, it lists the varieties of vocabulary and corpus of the dialect, marked with phonetic symbols. It then compares Shiping dialect with different languages, while at the same time points out some distinguishing features of the dialect. From a synchronic point of view, it makes a comparison between Shiping dialect and Mandarin in respect of initials, finals and tones of syllables, word formation,meaning, and grammar, i.e. notional words, functional words, special sentence patterns and sentence categories. According to a diachronic perspective, the comparison between Shiping dialect and ancient Chinese can demonstrate the sound differences between these languages, and explain some dialect words derived from historical documents, i.e. ancient Chinese dictionaries, rhyme dictionaries, Yuan drama and Ming-Qing vernacular novels. Overall, the investigation provides a reference point for a comprehensive recognition of Shiping dialect.