Phonological Evolution Of Linfen Dialect In The Past A Hundred Years

Linfen lies in south of Shanxi Province. Linfen dialect belongs to a vernacular of Pingyang sub-dialect of the Central Plains dialect. Until now, the study on Linfen dialect concentrates on plane description without historical study. This paper focuses on the study of the phonological development of Linfen dialects in the past 100 years, which is helpful to study the evolution of Linfen dialect and its development and enrich the study on phonological history of Shanxi dialect.At the beginning of the 20th century, the Sweden Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren(1889-1978)investigated Linfen dialect.In his work "Study on Chinese Phonology " in first, second, third volumes is scattering to the Linfen dialect research results. These research findings supplies important reference for our study on the developing history of Linfen dialect. Besides, the author consults the relevant materials on the history of dialects and Linfen phonology in recent years. Based on them, the author made a field survey on the phonology of Linfen dialect on mid and late 20th century and compared it with the findings of Mr.Karlgren.This paper discusses the phonological evolution of Linfen dialect in the past 100 years from three aspects: consonants, vowels and tones by employing historical comparative method and field-work method. According to the author's research, Linfen dialect is getting close to standard Chinese pronunciation; consonants have an unmarked change; vowels show an increasing presentation in records and change little on middle and later stage. The categories of tone are invariable and the changed intonation system is similar to that of standard Chinese pronunciation. Linfen dialect developed steadily in the early and mid 20th century; influenced by movie and television program, Linfen phonology made quick progress in the late 20th century, and showed some features of standard Chinese pronunciation. Meanwhile, the basic phonology system of Linfen dialect remains the same, though some new speech sounds appear. In conclusion, the evolution of Linfen dialect will be a very long process.