On The Development Of Quanzhou Dialectical Phrases Within Four Hundred Years Examples From The Drama "Man Tian Chun"

Vocabulary, as the most activating part of language, is in a constant changing state with the change of language. Vocabularies in Chinese language are also developing with the changing world. Plenty of historic documents are needed when we carry out studies on vocabulary development, however, drama as a living fossil that record language, is also invaluable in the study of Chinese language. Quanzhou is one of the birth places of Nanxi Drama where plenty of ancient dramas were reserved. Dated back to Song and Yuan Dynasties, they were all written in Quanzhou dialect. These local dramas provide abundant vivid linguistics materials for the study of Quanzhou dialect."Man Tian Chun"was written in Quanzhou dialect and was one of"Three collections of Hokkien Strings and Winds Dramas Published in Ming Dynasty". Published in 1604, it was proved to be the earliest dialectical drama. This paper sets the drama"Man Tian Chun"as its basic object, extensively collects the frequently used phrases appeared in the drama, analyzes the features and word-formations of these vocabularies, and summarizes the results and changes of dialectical vocabularies within the previous four hundred years.