The Experimental Analysis Of Tone In Xiang Dialect

Based on several represental Xiang dialect places such asChangsha city,Xiangxiang town, Changjiang town in Hengshan,Baiguo town in Hengshan, Baishui town of Qiyang and Pushi townof Luxi, this dissertation tries to study the tonal aspects ofXiang dialect with the theories and methods of experimentalphonetics. It consists of such seven chapters.Chapter 1, the introduction part, briefly reviews theprevious and current studies on tones of Xiang dialect, andintroduces the study' s aims, methods and theoretical basis.Chapter 2 to chapter 6 constitute the main body of thedissertation. Based on the experiment, Chapter 2 studies themono-syllable tones in Changsha dialect. The tone-value of alltones in Changsha dialect are yinping 33, yangping 213,shangsheng43, yinqu45, yangqu31 and rusheng224. It discoversby experiments that the first part of yangpingand rushing havethe feature of concavity, the tone system of Changsha dialecthas perfect symmetry and the difference in tones of Changshais obvious.Chapter 3 talks about the mono-syllable tones of dialectin Xiangxiang town. There are seven mono-syllable tones indialect of Xiangxiang town. And there exists the pattern ofthree types of pingsheng +shangsheng+ three types of qusheng.Yangping with nasal or liquid initial consonant tone iscompletely different from yangping with MC initial consonant and they belong to independent tones. And in addition,aspirated initial consonant qusheng, as an independent tone,is also different from unaspirated initial consonant qusheng.The tone of rusheng disappeared completely. The tone-values areyinping 44, yangping 214, ciyangping 334, shangsheng 31, yinqu445, ciyinqu 225 and yangqu 33. We suppose that the similar tonetypes and values between ciyangping and yinqu will change forthe sake of the clear meaning.Chapter 4 talks about the mono-syllable tones of Qianshanand Houshan dialects in Hengshan. The mono-syllable tone systemof Qianshan dialect has 6 tones: yinping 33, yangping 322,shangsheng213, yinqu 445, yangqu 334 and rusheng 214. The paperguesses that the similarity in the tone types and values betweenyinqu and yangqu may result in the fusion of the two tones. Themono-syllable tone system of Houshan dialect has 5 tones:yinping 45, yangping 22, shangsheng 44, yinqu 225/224, yangqu113. By comparative studying of the two, we find that thedifferences between the two dialects lie in the followingaspects: (1) tone classifications. Qianshan dialect hasrushengwhile Houshan dialect doesn't. (2) tone types. Yinpingin Qianshan dialect is flat tone; while in houshan is risingtone. Yangping in Qianshan is angle circumflex tone whosefirst-part fall; while in houshan dialect flat tone.Chapter 5 studies the mono-syllable tones and the toneSandhi of Disyllabic Sequences with non-Neutral Tones inBaishui Dialect of Qiyang. The tone system of Baishui dialecthas 6 mono-syllable tones. Its tone-classification and the tone-value are respectively: yinping 4453, yangping 231,shangsheng 453, yinqu 4232, yangqu 2143 and rusheng 442. Themono-syllable tones form a circumflex tone system. Itsprominent characteristic lies in that it appearsdouble-circumflex tone which was not discovered before in otherdialects. And moreover, the tone Sandhi of Disyllabic Sequenceswith non-Neutral Tones in Baishui Dialect change the firstsyllable not the second one because of the phonetic condition.The first syllable falls off one or two tonemes.The tone Sandhiis simplified.Chapter 6 does a study the mono-syllable tones in Pushidialect of Luxi. The tone system of Pushi dialect has 5mono-syllable tones. Its tone-classification and thetone-value are respectively: yinping 34, yangping 13,shangsheng 41, yinqu 213 and yangqu 55. The dissertation herefinds out that yinqu in Pushi dialect is a concaved tone withcreaky voice. Creaky voice is one feature which was notdiscovered in traditional study before.Chapter 7 comes the conclusion that the tone circumflex inXiang dialect is complicated and various; and there is a closerelationship between comparative time- length and tone types,which is an accompanying characteristic of tone types, therelation between traditional and experimental phonetic studyis close.