Preliminaries To The Application Of Contemporary Phonological Theories To The Studies Of Chinese Phonology

Studies on historical phonetic change of Chinese is traditionally called Chinese phonology in China. The birth and every leap in the research methodology of this discipline are all based on the assimilation of advanced theories and methods from abroad. Since the 1970s, after a thirty-year-old rapid development and self-improvement, the contemporary western phonological theories have gained considerable momentum and developed into a vigorous discipline. At present, while translating and introducing new theories of contemporary phonology, some phonologists have already begun to apply some of the western theories to practice. For instance, achievements have been made in the researches of mandarin and dialects in synchronic sound patterns. However, similar applications to the study of diachronic Chinese phonology are rare. Therefore, it is imperative to explore new research methods and develop train of thought, so as to update the research methodology of Chinese phonology.This paper presents a survey of the historical origin and development of contemporary phonological theories, and attempts to apply some important theories of contemporary phonology to the analysis of some problems in traditional Chinese phonology, in the hope of incorporating contemporary phonological theories into the study of traditional Chinese phonology. Four aspects are studied in this paper: the study of non-linear syllable theory of the analysis ofdengyunxue of the syllabic structure of Chinese character, the study of the distinctive feature theory of the four types of the articulation of initials, the study of the markedness theory of the devoicing of the fully voiced initials and the study of the feature geometry theory of the correlates between the devoicing of the fully voiced initials and tonal change. Through our studies, conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) Contemporary phonological theories can be used to elucidate the principle of Chinese dengyunxue; (2) Contemporary phonological theories can be used to explain the historical phonetic change of Chinese; (3) Different theories and methods of contemporary phonology should be applied to deal with different problems of Chinese phonology; (4) The application of contemporary phonological theories to the study of the historical phonetic change of Chinese is helpful to test and verify the universalizability of these theoretical hypotheses...