A Phonetic Study Of Laowu Dialect Of Yi Language

Laowu people is a subgroup within theYi nationality that lives in Dali prefecture,Yunnan province.They call themselves as “Nisu” and non-Laowu refer to them as“Laowu”.Until now,almost no one has studied Laowu dialect yet.Laowu dialect is worthy of careful study;although there are only around twenty thousand people who use the dialect,it has its own special phonetic features and by knowing it,people can understand the Yi language of China better.In accordance with historical records and the geographical location of Laowu people,this thesis confirms that the Laowu dialect belongs to Nasu dialect group by using diachronic comparison.The ancestors of the Laowu people left the Nasu area in Wuding Countymore than 700 years ago.So Laowu remains some common innovations with Nasu,but also has its own special phonetic features.This thesis takes the Laowu dialect from Tuanjie township of Yunlong county of Dali prefecture as its main object of study.The phonetic system and phonetic features of Laowu dialect will be analyzed and the answer of which dialect of Yi language it belongs to will be confirmed in this thesis.The thesis is composed of five parts.Chapter One has an introduction to the background information about Laowu people including the history,living condition and population distribution and a general overview about the previous studies on Laowu dialect.The research object and materials and the ways and means for this thesis are also described in this chapter.Chapter Two lists the phonological system based on phonological analysis.The phonologicalc system of Laowu dialect includes29 consonants,18 vowels and 4 tones.Chapter Three analyzes the phonetic features of Laowu dialect.This chapter shows an apparent time study of two tone changes-in-progress in Laowu dialect.Other phonetic features of consonants and vowels of Lawo dialect are also introduced in this chapter.Chapter Four analyzes the relationship between Laowu dialect and Nasu dialect by using diachronic comparison.In this case the question to which Laowu dialect belongs can be solved.The last chapter is a brief conclusion.