Geographical And Social Research On The Dialect In Xiacengpu Town,Jiangyong County Of Hunan Province

This dissertation studies the dialects of Xiacengpu by means of geogrpahical linugistics and sociolinguistics.It uses field survey method to make a complete investigation and comparation about the phonetic vocabulary and use of21dialect villages and a neighborhood committee.Hoping that it will add some fresh materials for the future study.In the aspect of geographical linguistics,we can see the villeges’differences and regular in phonetic through the map. In the aspect of voice,most of the voice features in the dialects of Xiacengpu is the same,yet there are differences.The differences mainly reflected in the following aspects:(1) tone quantity;(2)the merger of Zhuo-shang(浊上);(3) the merger of Zhuo-qu(浊去);(4) the pronunciations of Duan-mu(端母);(5) the pronunciations of Jing-zu(精组);(6) the pronunciations of Zhizhuangzhang-zu(知庄章组);(7) the distinction on Jian and Tuan(尖团);(8) the pronounciations of the first-class and second-class of Xie-she(蟹摄);(9) the pronunciations of Hao-yun(豪韵) and Yao-yun(肴韵) in Xiao-she(效摄).(10) the pronounciations of the first-class and second-class of Shan-she(山摄);(11) the pronounciations of the third-class and fourth-class of Shan-she(山摄).In the vocabulary,there is no different parlance about "swing""dad" in Xiacengpu,but there are many parlances about animals.Some verbs have both old and new parlance,such as "stab""bend""drill".The old parlance is keep the archaism and the new is later arise.Some words who are not susceptible to outside influence have many parlances because of the affect of immigrant. Early immigrants make different parlances passed down from generation to generation.From sociolinguistic perspective,Xiacengpu is a bilingual district.Mandarin is the most important language,but sometimes,they also use dialect and Putonghua.From the result we get by survey,more and more people use the Mandarin and Putonghua,the number of people who use dialect is decreasing, but dialects will not be endangered. Social factors,including age, gender,nation and cultural background, led to the social mutation of Xiacengpu dialects.