Zhenning Buyi Language Speech Research

The Pu(?)ji Language in Zhenning ,Guizhou,a branch of North Tai,splits into three different dialectal areas due to geographical and administrative reasons, these three vernaculars spread continuously from southeast to northwest in the county. While diverting from the proto Pu(?)ji language ,they also present various levels of contact with one another in addition to a strong historical contact with the Chinese .Therefore, this is an ideal region for observation of language contact as well as language divergence .In this paper, This thesis studies Pu(?)ji Language mainly from two aspects.Firstly, our study centering on the evolution of phonemic system of Pu(?)ji language in Zhenning . our Research is carried out from two perspectives: on one hand, from a synchronic point of view. we compare three dialectal points, Liuma, Machang and the County Town of Zhenning,representing the three vernaculars in Zhenning County , so as to thoroughly describe the initial consonants, vowels and tones,three sub-systems of the phonemic systems of the three vernarculars in Zhenning County. leading to the reveal of the similarities and differences between the three vernaculars . In order to better grasp the similarities and differences between the three vernaculars, we also refer to the standard dialectal point of Pu(?)ji,Wangmo, and Guiyang a dialectal point of the Second vernacular. on the other hand, our study pushes forward along the route of diachronic route. After separating from the Common Prote Language ,the dialects in Pu(?)ji have been contacting with each other without disruption,while keeping a close relationship with the Zhuang Language. Therefore theis linguistic area presents us a more obvious picture of dialect differentiation. The diachronic research of Pu(?)ji language allows us to track the evolution of this language, as well as have a better understanding of the relationship with other languages in the same subgroup and the languages in the same family .Also our study is conducted from the evolution of consonants, vowels and tones repectively. To study these issues synchronically and diachronically enables us to grasp the overall development of the phonemic system of Pu(?)ji language.Secondly, Our attention focous on the evolution of language contact. By primarily probing into the phonetic systems of different levels of loanwords from Chinese language we have observed the phonemic evolution of Pu(?)ji language , and the sound change of Chinese and the Chinese dialects in surrounding areas of Pu(?)ji language. Pu(?)ji language and the Chinese dialects have kept in contact with no interruption since the Qin and Han dynasties, the ties between the two languages have been tightening since the Ming and Qing dynasties ,leading to the loan words flooding into Pu(?)ji language , accumulating layers of loan words from different periods, among them, some words are easy to determine their source ,however,some small parts of them are hard to be identified, which we have to label these words as"relation word"for future study. In this paper, we divide the load words from Chinese into four levels: ancient, medieval,near past, modern. each of them may be sub divided if necessary. leaving the hard- to -detemine"relation word" for further study.In this paper, by taking the methods of historical comparision, internal reconstruction,hierarchical analysis,experimental phonetics ,geographic dialect ,we try to reveal the route of the eolution of Pu(?)ji phonemic system and reconstruct the phonemic system of the prote Pu(?)ji ,and more ,to describe the characterics of the vonarculars of Pu(?)ji,reveal the layers of loanwords from Chinese,present the real sound characteristics of Pu(?)ji Language.This thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is a literature review of Pu(?)ji studies; chapter II discripts the profile of the three vernaculars of Pu(?)ji in Zhenning County. Chapter III compares the three phonemic systems of the three vernaculars; Chapter IV describes the evolution of Pu(?)ji phonemic system; Chapter V tries to stratify the layers of Chinese loanwords; Chapter VI is a thematic study on the source of aspirated sounds in Pu(?)ji, the origin of (?)-, a voiceless fricative of tongue edge, as well as the evolution of the stop finals in Pu(?)ji language. Chapter VII contains the conclusion of this article.