A Study On Phonology Of Taizhou Dialect

Taizhou is located in central Jiangsu Province,on the north of middle and lower Yangtze River,adjacent to Yangzhou in the west,Nantong in the east,Yancheng in the northeast,and Zhenjiang,Changzhou,Wuxi and Suzhou across the river in the south.Taizhou dialect belongs to Jiang-Huai MandarinTong-Tai,which is in the transition zone between Jiang-Huai MandarinHongchao dialect and northern Wu dialect.On the basis of the first-hand data obtained from field investigation,this thesis describes and summarizes the phonetics and phonology of Taizhou dialect in change,and analyzes the special phonetic variation phenomenon of Taizhou dialect by means of synchronic comparison,diachronic comparison and sociolinguistic methods.This thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter 1 is the introduction,which introduces Taizhou’s geographical location and historical background,sorts out the research status and deficiencies of Taizhou dialect,and explains the research content and research plan of this thesis.Chapter 2,Taizhou dialect phonetic system,outlines the basic appearance of Taizhou dialect pronunciation by describing the Taizhou dialect tones and rhythm system based on the phonological system of elderly speakers,and analyzes the synchronic phonetic variation such as continuous tone change,soft tone,erhua,word end tone change,the differences between literary and colloquial readings,etc.Chapter 3,a comparison of Taizhou dialect and Middle Chinese phonetics,compares the Taizhou dialect with Middle Chinese phonetics from the diachronic point of view,meanwhile compares it with the dialects of surrounding areas at the synchronic level,and summarizes the correspondence of phonetics between Taizhou dialect and Middle Chinese.Chapter 4 discusses the phonetic variations of Taizhou dialect,analyzes the characteristics of middle-aged and young Taizhou dialect phonetics,compares the phonetic systems of the old,middle and young generations on this basis,and makes a diachronic comparison with the phonetics recorded in the local dialect chronicles,summarizes the similarities and differences between the old and new phonetic systems in Taizhou dialect.At the same time,in view of the opposition between the [i][(?)] finals in Taizhou dialect,on the basis of traditional dialect studies,combined with sociolinguistic research methods such as questionnaires,interviews,covert observation and other research methods to investigate and analyze the phonetics of these two finals variation.Chapter 5 is the conclusion,which summarizes the research conclusions and shortcomings of this thesis,and points out the key points to be studied in the future.