Guanzhong The Shandong Dialect Island Language Study

Guanzhong as a place name boasts a very long history, and may have meant different geographic ranges. Guanzhong used in this dissertation, however, refers only to the Guanzhong Plain, where Zhongyuan Mandarin is mostly spoken by the residents. The variety of Zhongyuan Mandarin consists chiefly of Guanzhong,Qinlong and Fenhe cluster but dozens of Shandong dialect islands exist. There were few study on Shandong dialect islands before. Our study takes eleven villages in the region as representative dialect spots, makes an investigation of the dialect of the old variation and a comparison of the dialect of Shandong with that of Guanzhong, in an attempt to uncover the features of the Shandong dialect islands and reveals the patterns of evolution of the Shandong dialect islands.The1st chapter serves as an introduction. It provides the definition of the geographic range of Guanzhong and the term of "dialect island", which first came into use in the early1980s and, when used in the study of language, must satisfy four essential requirements. It then makes a comprehensive review of the research on dialect island carried out within and without the province, points out the objective, significance and methodology, and explains the process and standard of choosing representative dialect spots as well as the interviewers.The2nd chapter makes a general survey of the the immigrants in Guanzhong from Shandong. It firstly expounds how the distribution pattern of Guanzhong dialects was influenced by the population change since the end of the Qing Dynasty to Minguo, and then analyses the reason why the population of Shandong immigrated to Guanzhong. The time, locale and line of such immigration, the settlement in Guanzhong and the removal, as well as some social customs and habits are introduced in order to bring to the light how the economy, religion and dialect in Guanzhong received their influence from the immigration. Lastly, it makes a study of the distribution, location and classification of the Shandong dialect islands.The3rd chapter selects11villages, i.e. Bafu, Baonanwa, Tanjia, Fenghuang Majia, Daqu, Xishi, Taiping, Xinli, Dali, Shandong, as representative dialect spots and makes a description of the phonological pattern. The4th chapter, then, makes a reflective study of the phonetic features of the Shandong dialect islands via a comparison with the middle Chinese sounds.The5th chapter selects6villages of Bafu, Fenghuang, Majia, Daqu, Taiping and Dali in order to make a comparison of the original dialects with Guanzhong dialects as far as the initial, final and tone are concerned. The comparison indicates that the photetic systems of the Shandong dialect islands retain some features of the original dialects but changes do occur. The change in the initial is most remarkable; then comes the tone; lastly the final. Change in the tone appears mostly in the value of some tonal categories, which almost remain invariant. Merging of tonal categories occurs but in a couple of Shandong dialect islands. Change in the final occurs but in several characters.Based on the comparison, the6th chapter first makes an analysis of the reasons for the sound change. The conclusion is that there are external cause as well as internal cause:the former being language contact; the latter being interaction and self-correction within the phonetic system. Since the sound change is unbalanced, levels of difference between Shandong dialect islands and Guanzhong dialects are considered to be an important cause. The sound change of Shandong dialect appears then in two aspects:change of the sound value and change of the phoneme, both of which belong to the superficial level.The7th chapter makes a special analysis of the vocabulary of Shandong dialect islands. It first gives a brief explanation of the lexical features of Shandong dialect islands, then selects129words for study from10villages of Baonanwa, Tanjia, Fenghuang, Majia, Daqu, Xishi, Taiping, Xinli, Dali and Shandong. A careful comparison shows that lexical differences occur mostly in the syllable, word-building and semantics.165words are then selected from two villaged (Fenghuang and Daqu) in order to make a comparison of the original dialects and the Guanzhong dialects. Another analysis is made of the grammar of Shandong dialect islands. In general, the vocabulary and grammar of Shandong dialect islands absorb some elments form the Guanzhong dialects while still preserve the features of the original dialects.The8th chapter analyses the language change of Shandong dialect islands in the contrext of the contact with Guanzhong dialcts. The change appears in the structure as well as in the function, in the form of loaning, diglot, withering and mixing. The last point made in the dissertation is that the Shandong dialect islands in Guanzhong is now just on the way of waning or declining.