Phonology Of The Dialects In The Middle And South Of Hebei Province

This paper mainly describes the distribution of the characteristics of the dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province from the point of view of dialect geography, showing the differences among the dialects by linguistic atlas and discussing questions on the changing of Chinese over time. There are 6 chapters in this paper.The first chapter introduces the condition of the dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province as well as the significance of writing this paper, the method of study and the getting of the materials. According to The Chinese Linguistic Atlas, the dialects in he middle and south of Hebei Province including Huaicheng piece of Beijing Mandarin; Baotang piece, Canghui piece and Shiji piece of Jilu Mandarin; Zhengcao piece of Zhongyuan Mandarin; and Jin dialect .I hope this paper could provide materials to the study of Mandarin and Jin dialect and contribute to the study of dialect geography and the history of Chinese language. This paper was written according to the theories of dialect geography and historical linguistics, using the methods of disruption and comparison. The materials used in this paper were got in two ways, one is to investigate on the spot , the other is to use the achievements of others . The three lengthwise railways of Jingguang, Jingjiu and jinghu are used as geographical coordinates according to the situation of the middle and south of Hebei Province. 37 dialects along the railways are centered on and 80 others are referred to.The second chapter is about the initials. First, it introduces the general condition of the initials of the dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province briefly, then 5 questions are discussed.Ⅰ. Sharp and rounded sounds .The dialects which have the distinction of sharp and rounded sounds are mainly distributed in the middle and southern parts of this district. The initials of the rounded sounds in these dialects are the same and there are 4 types of pronunciations of the initials of the sharp sounds: ts ts^h s , tθtθ^hθ,t t^h s, in Guluying dialect, the initials of the finals with Medial -i- of group Jing divided into t t^h and t9 tθ^h irregularly. In most of the dialects, there are such thing that the characters of finals with Medial -i- or -y- of group Jing are mixed up with the rounded sound. This reflects the tendency of the mixture of sharp and rounded sounds.Ⅱ. The palatalization of the initials of the kaikou characters of the 2^nd division of jian xi. In the dialects of this district, most of the initials of the kaikou characters of the 2^nd division of jian xi were palatalized, but there are a few characters which have velar initials or have different pronunciations as literary language and vernacular respectively. The initials of 'geng geng ke ge (更_五-耕客隔) in the northern and eastern dialects experienced such special change asⅢ. The initials of Zhi-Zhuang-Zhang. In the eastern and southern part of this district, there are some dialects in which the classification and pronunciation of Zhi-Zhuang-Zhang are different from those of Putonghua and can be divided into two types. The classification and pronunciation of Zhi-Zhuang-Zhang of the two representative dialects of the two types respectively and a special dialect - Yongnian dialect are described here .There are some characters in group zhuang and a few of initial zhi-2nd whose initials are pronounced as initial group ts in Putonghua . In the dialects whose Zhi-Zhuang-Zhang are the same as those of Putonghua in this part, there are 16 such characters which are often used. Most of the characters have vernacular initial of group t(?). In the dialects whose Zhi-Zhuang-Zhang are different from those of Putonghua, these characters are pronounced as group t(?)- or group t(?)- according to the rule. But the finals of the characters of the entering tone usually have the vernaculars which are the same as the other dialects.Ⅳ. The characters of initial ri. The dialects in which the pronunciations of the characters of initial ri are different from those of Putonghua in this district are mainly in the south. There are 3 types of pronunciations of the characters of initial ri in group zhi: (?)(?) ,(?)(?), (?). And there are 5 types of pronunciations of the characters of initial ri except group zhi: (?),l-,(?)- &l-,(?)-& l-, z .Ⅴ. The initials of wei yi ying yun yi. Of the kaikou characters of the 1 st and 2nd division in initials ying and yi which are pronounced as 9- in Beijing dialect, there are 3 types of pronunciations of their initials in the middle and south of Hebei Province: n ,ηandγ. And there two types of pronunciations of the initials of wei yi ying yun yi whose finals are pronounced as hekouhu in Beijing dialect. The above two groups of initials have relations in geographical distribution.The third chapter is on the finals. First, the general condition of the initials is introduced and 3 languange phenomena are described.Ⅰ. The MC lax thyme. 5 questions are discussed in this part. 1. kaihekou. There are some characters which were pronounced as kaikou but now hekouhu and also some characters pronounced hekou but now kaikouhu in this district. These characters are mainly in group guo , groups xie & zhi , group long ,groups shan & zhen .The MC initials of most of the characters are of initial lai, the second large in amount are of group ni and group duan . In dialects whose initials of the characters of finals with Medial -i- or -y- in groups jing and &jian are the same, the pronunciation of the finals with Medial -y- or -i- usually affects the palatalization of the initials. 2. The characters with labial initials which have two kinds of finals as i and ei. The finals of the characters with labial initials in the 3rd and 4th division of kaikou of group xie, the 3rd and 4th division of kaikou of group zhi and the laxed 3rd division of rhyme zhi in kaikou group zhen, 3rd division of rhyme xi in kaikou group geng and 4th division of rhyme xi in group geng are divided into -i or -ei unconditionally and there are some characters which have different pronunciations of literary language and vernacular. 3. Finals of iai, uau and iε. - iai: in some dialects , the rhyme of the characters of jian xi of the 2nd division in group xie is different from that of the characters of group jing of the 3rd division in group jia . -uau refers to the finals with Medial -u- in rhymes xiao & hao in zhongyuanyinyun . In some dialects in this part, there are a few characters whose rhymes are pronounced as uau . -iε: the rhymes of the characters which are combined by initials of t(?) t(?)^h (?) (?)with final y in Beijing dialect are pronounced as -iεin Zhengding dialect, as is different from that of characters of jian xi of the 1st division in group guo belonging to rhyme Ge-ge in Zhongyuanyinyun . There are similar phenomenon in the dialects of Shenze, Xinji, Dongguang, Qiuxian,Weixian and Daming.4. In some dialects in the north and east of this district, the finals of diphthongs and triphthongs ai uai and au iau are monophthongized. 5. In most of the dialects in the east and south of this district, the nasal endings of the characters of groups of xian & shan are omitted, and the nucleus are nasalized. There is the same phenomenon in the nasal ending of the characters of group shen & zhen in a few dialects.Ⅱ.The MC entering rhyme.In the dialects in which there are no entering rhyme in this district, there are different pronunciations of literary language and vernacular of the finals of the characters of MC entering rhyme. The amount of the characters having vernacular are fewer in the south than in the north. The reason is that the literary pronunciation of groups dang &jiang came into the district very early and earlier into the south than into the north, and it had strong influence on the vernacular. The coming of the literary pronunciation of groups zeng & geng was much later and it has much little influence on the vernacular. The characters in group tong are mostly not often used in the daily life, so the characters which have vernacular are rare in each dialect generally. Besides, there are literary pronunciation of finals without Medial of the 1st division of rhyme duo in group dang of initial lai in some dialects in the middle of Hebei Province; group jing of hekou 3rd division in group tong and ru (褥) of initial ri are read -y in some dialects. The paper holds the view that this pronunciation should be regarded as old and literary. In the 4 dialects with entering rhymes in this district, the 3 have almost the same origin of the present day entering rhymes except Shahe while in which the entering rhymes have corresponding relationship with those of the other 3. There is the phenomenon of laxilization of the entering rhymes in each dialect. The rate of laxilization goes low from north to the south. Taking the point of view of the MC initials, the rate of laxilization of the voiceless entering rhyme is the lowest, that of the voiced sonorant entering thyme is higher, and that of the voiced obstruent is the highest.Ⅲ. er-wei and er-hua. There is a phenomenon that when er(儿) follows some rhymes, it is pronouned as er-wei in the dialects around Baoding. When er(儿) follows other rhymes and in other dialects, it is er-hua. The rhymes are much fewer after they melt with er(儿) in the dialects in this part than those in Putonghua.The fourth chapter is on tones. The general condition of tones of the dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province is introduced first, and then 3 language phenomena are described.Ⅰ. Mould and pitch of the tones. The mould and pitch of the tones of the representative dialects in this district and their distribution are described. Most of the first tones are falling-rising, and mainly located in the eastern of this district. The second tones of more than half of the dialects in this district are high falling. Generally, the third tone is half falling-rising and half high level. Most of the fourth tones are falling tone, especially high falling tone.Ⅱ. The MC entering tone. In the dialects without entering tone, most of the characters of the MC entering tone with voiced obstruent initials are read as the second tone. And there are some characters read as other tones in each dialect. The highest rate in reading the fourth tones centers on Bejing Mandarin and its neighbor Jilu Mandarin. In the dialects south to Xinle, the rate of reading the first tone is higher than in the north and east, The characters read the third tone are the fewest. Most of the characters of MC entering tone with voiced sonorant are read the fourth tone in each dialect. There is also the phenomenon that some characters are read other tones. The rate of read the 1st tone in the south is higher than in other dialects. The characters of ancient entering tone with voiceless initials are divided into four tones in Beijing Mandarin and Baotang piece of Jilu Mandarin, and most of them are read the 1st tone in Canghui piece and Shiji piece of Jilu Mandarin. The general tendency is that the rate of reading the 1st tone becomes higher southward. In the dialects with entering tone, there are some characters read other tones most of which with the voiceless initials the second tone, with the voiced sonorant initials the fourth tone.Ⅲ. In the dialects around Baoding, when the fourth tone is followed by a neutral tone, yinyang can be distinguished, as is caused by the origin of the voiced or voiceless If the initials.The fifth chapter is about some special pronounced characters. There are some characters whose initials, finals or tones are not read regularly. The reason is analyzed briefly here: influenced by the phonetic element or other characters, having other fanqie, influenced by other dialects, having had different pronunciation in the past, influenced by other dialects, to distinguish different meanings, etc.The sixth chapter is the conclusion.. 3 questions are diacussed.Ⅰ. There are questions on the division of the dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province before, this part re-divided the dialects.Ⅱ. Historic administrative division, natural geography and traffic lines all have influence on the dialect in this district, influence of the historic administration division is larger.Ⅲ. Dialects in the middle and south of Hebei Province are changed gradually in district. They become a continuous body.