Research On The Phonological Evolution Of Changshu Dialect

North Wu has the most wide geographical distribution in Wu dialect. Due to the continued effect of northern Mandarin, it is widely accept that north Wu doesn’t preserve the most features of ancient Wu, but Changshu dialect maintain many features which makes it a valuable dialect for academic study. The reasons is caused by the Yangtze River, its special geographical location lead to less language contact and inconvenience, therefore, development speed is relatively slow.The former has made some research achievements, but there is lack of any thorough and systematic of the phonological evolution and historical strata of Changshu dialect and nobody do the work about the difference and consistence of Changshu dialect. In this thesis, relying on the previous and recent field works of ours, we will describe the pronunciation of Changshu dialect, to clarify the historical strata and try our best to explain the phonological evolution. Then, we will return the results to north Wu research.The thesis includes eight chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. We introduce research background, aims, methodology and the paper source materials and other relative issues.Chapter 2 is on the topic of the phonologic system of Changshu dialect and the main phonetic features in detail. We also made a syllable chart. After that we discuss the phonetic changes in Changshu dialect.Chapter 3 is discussed the initials evolution. This is the main content of this paper, and it is also an important difference between Changshu dialect and other north Wu. It includes the phonological development of labials, dentals and velars. Especially, we discussed the palatalization of Jian 见 and Jing 精 group, found some exceptions to the pronunciation of the words and analyzed the historical strata of Xia 匣 initial. The modern reflexes of Zhi 知, Zhuang 庄 and Zhang 章 initials in north Wu is come to talk about.In chapter 4, we propose the evolution of Guo 果 group, rhyme Yu 鱼 & Yu 虞, rhyme Ma 麻 & Jia 佳, the closed finals of Xie 蟹 & Zhi 止 groups and rhyme You 尤 & Hou 侯. We included the changes which are conformed to the rule of evolution, meanwhile, we also discussed the special pronunciations and their raletively layers. For example, the pronunciation of "须" in Changshu dialect represent the early Yu 虞 group. According to discuss the evolution, we not only focus on the main layer of modern pronunciation, but also pay attention to the other layers. Take rhyme You 尤 & Hou 侯 for example and the relatively pronunciations are discussed in detail. At last we compared the present situation to the ancient Chinese phonology.Chapter 5 is devoted to the phonological evolution of Dang 宕 & Jiang 江,Zeng 曾 & Geng 梗, Tong 通 groups. As for rhyme Yao 药 & Jue 觉, we could see the example that is the early reflex of these two group in Wu dialect. Then, we discussed the literary and colloquial layers of Zeng & Geng. The closed finals reflex of Tong group division 3 with medial -i-, the development of abrupt final and the phenomenon of “梦” is discussed.In chapter 6, we pay attention to the tonal evolution in Changshu dialect, list the examples of the tonal development.Chapter 7 discussed the consistency and difference of Changshu dialect. We compared with the cities which are next to Changshu, then draw the dialect maps to see the features of Changshu dialect more clearly and from multiple angles to discuss the historical evolution.Chapter 8 is the conclusion of this article. On the basis of the previous discussion, we have the summary, meanwhile, we pointed out the deficiency and research prospects.