An Optimality Theoretic Analysis Of Tone Sandhi In Shanxian Dialect

By using the method of experimental phonetics, this thesis is concerned with giving a detailed description of tone sandhi in Shanxian dialect, and then give a phonological analysis of tones in citation form, tone sandhi in disyllabic sequence (reduplicates and neutral tone excluded) based on OT.Chapter One of the thesis gives a brief geological and historic introduction of Shanxian and its dialect, especially the initials and finals in Shanxian dialect.Chapter Two of the thesis aims at stating a literature review of the previous research including the previous studies on tone sandhi in the framework of OT, especially previous studies on tone sandhi in Shandong dialects and previous studies on tones in Shanxian dialect.Chapter Three of the thesis presents the experimental procedure and results. Two aspects (tone in citation form, tone sandhi in disyllabic sequence except reduplicates and neutral tone) were investigated with the help of Cool Edit Pro2.0and Praat4.4.20(phonetic experimental software) to analyze the recorded speech materials. The study shows that Shanxian dialect consists of four citation tones:T1(13), T2(52), T3(33), T4(423). The tone sandhi in disyllabic sequence (reduplicates and neutral tone excluded) can be listed as follows:(1)T2+T4→T1+T4(2)T3+T3→2+T3(3)T4+T4→T1+T4Chapter Four of the thesis analyzes the tone sandhi in Shanxian dialect from phonological interpretation to phonetic facts based on OT. It turns out that OT can best explain the specific rules in Shanxian dialect in terms of constraints’ranking on optimal candidates. OT can give an accurate analysis of tone sandhi in Shanxian dialect. The tone sandhi in disyllabic sequence (reduplicates and neutral tone excluded) also can be presented in the following ways:(1)HL+HH→LH+HH(2)LL+LL→HL+LL(3) HH+HH→LH+HHChapter Five of the thesis is the conclusion.