Research On Evolution Of Yang Rhyme/Entering-tone Rhyme Tails Of Wu And Min Dialects In Modern Times

This paper selects 12 representative points of Wu and Min dialects to analyze evolution of rhyme tails and conduct theoretical analysis by applying rhyme books,missionary literature and modern dialect materials.The main contents are as follows:1.The diachronic evolution of Yang rhyme/entering-tone rhyme tail in Wu and Min dialects since modern times is collated.The sources of [-m/-p],[-n/-t],[-?/-k],[-?] tails and nose rhymes in Wu and Min dialects are concluded.Further,the derivation of Yang rhyme/entering-tone rhyme and the Mediaeval non-Yang rhyme/non-entering tone rhyme in Wu and Min dialects are analyzed,of which the derivation of Yang rhyme and Mediaeval non-Yang rhyme in the modern dialect can be divided into three circumstances.One,the Mediaeval Yang rhyme is pronounced as “Yin rhyme” in the modern Chinese dialect;two,the Mediaeval Ying rhyme is pronounced as “Yang rhyme” in the modern Chinese dialect;three,the Mediaeval Ying rhyme is pronounced as “nose rhyme” in the modern Chinese dialect.In our view,those derivations are closely related to lost tail,underlying voice and assimilation of nasal initials of syllables.The derivation of entering tone and Mediaeval non-entering tone in modern dialect can be mainly divided into two circumstances,including “disappearance of glottal coda in entering tone” and “an abrupt change of the level tone”,of which “disappearance of glottal coda in entering tone” is caused by the lost of entering tone and mixture with Yin rhyme,while “an abrupt change of the level tone” is related to the light tone,word-formation,word form,part-of-speech,pronunciation of ancient or mediaeval entering tone.2.The rules of rhyme tail evolution are concluded from three aspects,including“degree of rhyme rail retention”,“evolution relation of Yang rhyme/entering tone” and“type of rhyme tail evolution”,of which the type of evolution can be divided into“three-type rhyme tail” and “one-type rhyme rail”.The first class refers to Southern Min Dialect's literary pronunciation layer;the second class refers to the Eastern Min,Northern Min Dialect,Wu Dialect and the colloquial layer of South Min Dialect,which may be related to the contact of Chinese and non-Chinese.3.The reasons and exception of disappearance of rhyme tail are further explored.The disappearance of rhyme tail can be attributed to two elements.From the perspective of internal reasons,the rhyme evolution involves various elements of voice,which is especially closely related to primary vowels.Generally speaking,the low primary vowels with a large opening degree will have changes in rhyme tails easily.In some circumstances,the rhyme tail may disappear.Of course,the self-adjustment of characteristics and phonology of initial consonants and rhyme tail will also affect the evolution of rhyme tail.From the perspective of external reasons,lingual(dialectal)contact as well as authoritative dialect will also lead to changes of rhyme tail.Besides,this thesis also analyzes the interconversion of [-m/-p],[-n/-t],[-?/-k] existed in the modern Wu and Min dialects,which may be caused by “dissimilation”,“assimilation”,“apperception”,“exegetic reading” and “other sources” etc.4.The levels of evolution of rhyme tail in Wu and Min dialects are analyzed by referring to Chen Yuanquan(1973)'s researches.In our view,the literary pronunciation of Southern Min dialect retains rhyme tails including [-m/-p],[-n/-t],[-?/-k] in the Medieval Times,while Shantou dialect in the modern times has rhyme tails including [-m/-p],[-?/-k].The [-n/-t] tail experiences a period to be merged with [-?/-k] tail.However,the rhyme tail of Eastern Min,Northern Min and Wu dialects as well as the colloquial pronunciation of Southern Min dialects experienced merge and fall-off periods.5.The theoretical analysis on rhyme tail evolution is conducted from the perspective of lexical diffusion and lingual contact.This thesis mainly analyzes the rhyme tail evolution in Shanghai dialect as well as Ch?ao-chou dialects.The usage of [-n] and [-?] in the A Collection of Phrases in the Shanghai Dialect is collated to discover many characters and words with the same phonological status.What's more,one word has different rhyme tails,which reflects “evolution of front nasals towards back nasals” and“merge of entering-tone rhymes [-k] and [-?].Meanwhile,the disappearance of [-n/-t] tail is a kind of diachronic evolution in the Shantou dialect,which is firstly occurred after low vowel [a],then expanded to high vowels [i] and [u] etc and later done via lexical diffusion.This diachronic evolution can still be seen in different dialects in the present Ch?ao-chou regions,which is a reflection of diachronic phonetic changes on the synchronic level.The influence of phonological(dialectal)contact on rhyme tails is mainly reflected on its regional characteristics.This thesis mainly analyzes the contact evolution of Yang rhyme/entering tone rhyme tails in Northern Min Dialect Region and South Wu Dialect Region,Northern Wu Dialect Region and Mandarin Dialect Region,Puxian Dialect Region and Eastern Min Dialect Region as well as South Fujian Dialect Region,of which the rhyme tail evolution in Northern Min Dialect Region is affected by Southern Wu Dialect.Of course,those two regions show some similarity in rhyme rail evolution,which also provides some research or reference materials for “Wu-Min relationship” that is widely discussed in the educational circle.However,the Northern Wu Dialect is close to that in the Mandarin region,whose rhyme tail evolution is greatly affected by Mandarin dialect.Puxian dialect is the same as Southern Min dialect at the first place with three sets of rhyme tails and nose rhymes,but the establishment of Xinhuajun in the Song Dynasty made Puxian dialect to be separated from the administrative jurisdiction of Quanzhou.Later,it was affected by the Eastern Min dialect by simplifying the consonant ending as[-?] [-?] tails.