Linguistic Contact Study Of Jinxiang Dialect In Wenzhou

The Jinxiang dialect is a unique one spoken by the residents in the Jinxiang Township of Changnan County,Wenzhou.Its origin can be dated back to Jinxiang Garrison established in 1387(Hongwu 20).The garrison brought forth a large number of military migrants from Jiangsu,Anhui and Ningbo of Zhejiang.For the convenience of communication,a new language,the Jinxiang dialect emerged as a result of the interaction and integration between the migrants and local residents.Since then,the Jinxiang dialect has been the language used by military men in the garrison and their family members for more than 600 years.Jinxiang Dialect is an insular in the Wu language-spoken area,affected inevitably by the local “barbarian” language or Man dialect that had exited for long.It was regarded as part of the Min-language spoken in the east part of Min,with a mixture of the southern Wu language.It is similar to Ou Language in terms of initial consonant,tones and vocabulary.The Wu legacy of the Jinxiang dialect is more complicated,with both the features of the southern Wu and northern Wu,as well those of the official Jiang-Huai language.This dissertation is written on the basis of a field investigation of the linguistic life in Jinxiang township.It focuses on the vocabulary of the Jinxiang dialect and conducts a comparison of the vocabulary of Jinxiang dialect and those of Ningbo dialect,Man dialect and Wenzhou dialect to discern the similarity and dissimilarity of the languages as well as their engagement and outline the development of the Jinxiang dialect.The dissertation consists of six chapters.Chapter 1(Introduction)briefs the Jinxiang Garrison and Jinxiang dialect,outlines the subject matter of dissertation and existing literature;Chapter 2 is an investigation report based on questionnaires and interviews;Chapter 3 compares the basic vocabulary of Jinxiang,Ningbo,aboriginal and Wenzhou dialects with a view to summarizing the characteristics of the Jinxiang dialect and its vocabulary constituencies;Chapter 4 employs the quantitative statistical methods to discern the similarity in vocabulary of the dialects and their engagement;Chapter 5(Miscellaneous)outlines the linguistic features of the Jinxiang dialect and the prospect of its development.The dissertation has three appendix: Questionnaire on Linguistic Life in Jinxiang,Interview Records,and a Comparison Table for Jinxiang,Ningbo,Man and Wenzhou dialect..The main points of this dissertation is that the Jinxiang dialect is most similar to Wenzhou dialect in terms of vocabulary and engagement.Based on the investigation,the Jinxiang dialect insular is a community of dual-languages(Putonghua and dialect)and multiple-dialects(Jinxiang dialect,Man dialect and Minnan dialect).