A Study On The Checked Tone In Lingchuan Jin Dialect

The present thesis takes the checked tone in Lingchuan dialect as the topic,and conducts field investigations,phonetic experiments,traditional historical analysis and nonlinear phonological analysis,with an aim to shed light on the synchronic as well as the diachronic patterns with regard to the checked tone.The checked tone,or Ru-sheng(literally the Entering Tone)in Chinese pronunciation,is a traditional term,referring to the distinct tone category besides Ping-sheng(the Level Tone),Shang-sheng(the Rising tone)and Qu-sheng(the Departing Tone)in Middle Chinese,which is characterized by a short duration and an abrupt stop.Taking another standpoint,it is equivalent to the checked syllables,which have one of the stops [p,t,k] as the coda.One of the most well-known historical processes in northern Mandarin dialects is the disappearance of the checked tone.However,despite being surrounded by Mandarin dialects,Jin dialects somehow managed to preserve the checked tone,albeit the exact form changed,to this day,and largely for this reason it is widely considered to be an independent dialect region.Lingchuan,which is a Jin dialect in itself but located at the intersection of Jin and Mandarin,has unique characteristics in this respect.As an initial approach,a field investigation is carried out on Lingchuan dialect to collect data and transcribe the morphemes that bear the checked tone,confirming the fact that all checked syllables in Jin Dialect Region now end in a glottal stop [(?)].However,phonetic experiments discover a decrease in the number of peak-shaped bursts and a weakening even fading in the energy of spikes in the coda,and a lengthening in the duration of the checked syllables,indicating the checked tone in Lingchuan is in the process of merging.Based on the Middle Chinese phonology,a number of morphemes with the checked tone are found to have already merged into smooth tones and there is a certain correlation between the vowel height and the number of remaining checked syllables.The evolution of the syllable coda is assumed to have started from the debuccalization of the three voiceless stops,followed by a vowel raising in the nuclei of the checked rhymes.The voicing and sonority of the onset consonants is also relevant so that the syllables with nasal initials merged at the fastest speed.Both the processes of checked syllable merging and smooth syllable checking are analyzed in the phonological framework of nonlinear representation theory.We claim that the syllable weight is determined by stress,rather than by syllable structure.In the merging process of stressed syllables,the glottal stop coda drops,and the shortened length of the syllable caused by the dropping is compensated by vowel lengthening.Surprisingly,against the historical trend of the checked tone merging,some smooth syllables in Lingchuan are found to be apparently checked in connected speech,primarily the unstressed syllables in function words.When it occurs,the nuclear vowels usually undergo some accompanying processes,such as insertion,dropping,or replacement.The initial consonants may exert influence,with voiceless initial syllables more vulnerable to checking.Smooth syllables become checked in unstressed position,when the syllable nuclei neutralize into the central vowel.