The Comparative Phonology Of Bingzhou(Jin) Dialects

Bingzhou dialects, which form a subgroup of Jin dialect, are distributed in the middle part of Shanxi Province. In this paper, Jiaocheng, Pingyao, Qixian, Taiyuan and Xiaoyi are chosen as the representatives of Bingzhou dialects. Then Proto-Bingzhou dialect is reconstructed in this paper, based on the comparison of the phonology of these five dialects through the comparative method. The changes which occurred in the five dialects are also discussed in this paper.There are three chapters in this paper, and the second part is the main body of this paper.The first chapter includes a brief introduction to Bingzhou dialects, the review of previous research on this topic, the significance and purpose of this research, and the study method of this paper.The reconstruction of Proto-Bingzhou dialect is given in the second chapter. The phonology of Proto-Bingzhou dialect is discussed as three parts:initials, finals and tones. This paper is based on the correspondence rules among the five dialects, and the proto-Bingzhou dialect is reconstructed with historical comparative method after excluding the literal forms,. According to the reconstruction, the answer to some disputes is given in this paper, while the result of reconstruction supporting some previous researches.The third part is the summary of the reconstruction, and some further discussions on the application of comparative method to the research of Chinese dialects.