The Evolution Of The Entering Tone Characters In The Middle Ages In Modern Chinese And The Dialects Of Zhengzhou-Xi'an

The changes of tones from Middle Chinese to Modern Chinese and modern dialects vary greatly.Especially the changes of entering tones.Even though in the same area——Zhongyuan Mandarin(????),which has lost its entering tone,there are also many differences among the internal dialects.In order to understand the changes of phonological characters more clearly,this paper selects 407 most commonly used phonograms for investigation.We will study on the evolution of entering tone words from Middle Chinese to Modern common language,as well as the differences of Zhongyuan Mandarin.The investigation of this paper is mainly divided into two levels:one is the evolution of commonly used entering words from the Middle Chinese to the modern common language.The paper analyzes the variation law of the main vowels of entering finals,the weakening methods of the three ancient final stops from the Middle Ages to the modern times,the weakening order and the exceptions of the entering tone's distribution.The second is the evolution of commonly used entering words from Modern common language to Putonghua(???)and Zhongyuan Mandarin.This paper selects the entering words in the four local dialects of Zhengzhou,Luoyang,Lingbao and Xi'an,which in the core area of Zhongyuan Mandarin,and compares the differences in the two aspects of vowels and tones.In order to describe and explain the phonetic features of the entering tone words in the dialects from Zhengzhou to Xi'an.The study will also pay attention to the differences of its pronunciation in the four local dialects.Then we will summarize the geographical distribution of their phonetics features.We find that the evolution of the entering tone words can be divided into two stages:one is the evolution from the Middle Ages to the modern common language.During this period,the three ancient final stops have been weakened into glottal stop——only the effect of closing sound remains;The second is the evolution from the modern common language to the Putonghua and dialects.In the dialect of Zhengzhou to Xi'an,the rhyme and the tone of the glottal stop have been completely disappeared during this period,and they are mixed with the Yinsheng rhyme(???).In the study of its evolution from the Middle Ages to the modern common language,we take the changes of the main vowels and the ancient final stops of the entering tone words as the objects of investigation.Comparing their pronunciations in GuangYun(??)and Zhongyuan(????)respectively.Through analyzing the changes of main vowels of the entering tone words,finding that the changes of entering finals from the Middle Ages to the modern common language are gradual,and the rising of main vowels is generally prevalent in the evolution process.Through analyzing the result of statistics which the differences of the various rhymes in GuangYun and Zhongyuan Yinyun,finding that the three kinds of final stops——[-p],[-t],[-k]are not merged at the same time,but have experienced the development process which is mergeing with each other?weakening into the glottal stop and to disappear.By analyzing the phenomenon of the two rhymes reappearing and the different assignments in Zhongyuan Yinyun,we find that the evolution level of the entering tone words in the modern Mandarin——which belonged to final stop of[-k]have been changed into the Yinsheng rhyme completely.There are many exceptions which the entering tone words changed into the other three tones in Zhongyuan Yinyun.We have analyzed these exceptions one by one,and believe that the distribution of these exceptions not only reflects the principle of similar values which the adjustment of the entering tone words,but also shows that the phenomenon that the voiced entering tone words changed earlier than the voiceless.To analyzing the changes of entering tone words in modern dialects,we mainly investigate the distribution of the medieval Chinese entering tone words from the dialects of Zhengzhou,Henan Province to Xi'an,Shaanxi Province,which belong to the Zhongyuan Mandarin.In order to facilitate the clarification of the evolutionary clues of the entering tone words,we compare Putonghua with the dialect of Zhengzhou,Luoyang,Lingbao and Xi'an.After comparison,it is found that the entering tone words which have voiceless consonant and sub-voiced initials are mainly change into Yinping tone(???)in the dialect of Zhengzhou to Xi'an.At the same time,with the westward movement of the geographical position,the number of entering tone words change into Yinping tone gradually increases.There are big differences between the four local dialects and Putonghua.The difference between Zhengzhou and Luoyang dialects is small,the difference between Lingbao and Xi'an dialect is also small,but the biggest difference of number appears between Zhengzhou and Xi'an.The entering tone words in every local language are assigned according to the principle of similar value adjustment.The specific distribution exceptions that appear in local dialects are not only influenced by powerful dialects,but also by the strength of the initials and the place of initials' pronunciation.Even the finals and main vowels can affect the distribution of tones.Lingbao dialect is the vernacular which influenced by the strength of initials most obviously among four local dialects.Judging from the difference of the specific distribution in the four local dialects,the vowels with higher vowels are easier to assign different tones in different dialects.In the four local dialects,the main vowels generally became higher after the vocalization of the glottal stop disappeared.At the same time,with the westward movement of the geographical position,the phenomenon of vowel raising became more and more prominent,but the main vowels of Luoyang dialect have appeared more centralization in the sound.The main vowels which are[o]?[?]or the vowels with a final ai in Putnghua are quite different in the dialects of Zhengzhou to Xi'an.These differences are due to the different sources of the sounds in the Middle Ages,and are concentrated in the evolution of the She of Dangjiang(???)and Zenggeng(???)in the Middle Ages:the main vowels in Zhengzhou to Xi'an area which are derived from the Dangjiang are read as[o],the entering tone words which are derived from Zenggeng are read as[?]in Zhengzhou dialect and[ei]in Xi'an dialect.In addition,from the perspective of language contact,Zhengzhou dialect is most affected by Mandarin.Finally,we summarize these differences between the pronunciation of the entering tone words in Putonghua and the four local dialects,and on this basis,we propose some methods that are useful for recognition of the phonological words from the two aspects of vowel and tone.