The Segmental Phonology Of The Kunming Dialect

This thesis is the first to analyse the segmental properties of Kunming within the framework of Government Phonology (GP). The introductory chapter presents the motivation and aim of this thesis and a sketch of the key concepts of GP that are relevant to our discussion of the segmental phonology of Kunming. In the second chapter, I investigate the constituent structure of the minimal phonological word (MPW) in Kunming. A four-positional template is shown in contrast with the previous syllabic analyses. In the third chapter, the elemental representations of Kunming phonological expressions are explored, along with the spreading phenomena of phonological elements and the onset-nucleus co- occurrence restrictions. The fourth chapter expounds a comparative study of Kunming and two other Han dialects-Beijing and Yichang. This study reveals the similarities and the differences between Kunming and other Mandarins in particular. In the fifth chapter, I present a computer-modeling program to test the hypotheses of the Kunming phonology study. The program generates most of the Kunming phonological expressions, which to some extent proves the proposals of this study. Conclusions are made in the final chapter.