The Investigation And Research Into The Phonetic Variations Of The Characters With Ancient Entering Tones In The New Dialect In The Urban Area Of Pingdingshan

Central Plains Mandarin is quite different from Putonghua in tones distribution and vowels pronunciation of some characters ancient entering tones. The differences are important signs distinguishing Central Plains Mandarin from Northern Mandarin (Putonghua). In recent years, the pronouncing of the characters with entering tones in Central Plains Mandarin is under rapid evolution in the dialect of the youth of the urban district of Pingdingshan. The dialect is fast approaching Putonghua, especially in terms of vowels and tones of some characters with ancient entering tones, according to the survey of the characters with ancient entering tones in the dialect in the urban area of Pingdingshan City from the perspective of sociolinguistics. In the course of the evolution, the characters with ancient entering tones in the dialect, which are classified differently in Putonghua, tend to be in agreement with the phonetic system of Putonghua in their consonants, vowels and tones. The evolution has obvious regularity and gradation: vowels are more active than tones; vowels can change alone, but tones must change with vowels changes, or tones never evolve alone without vowels evolution. This simultaneous evolution shows the addition and overlap of different phonetic levels in the course of evolution, which is the result of evolution of some phonetic forms of local dialects competing with Putonghua in different periods of time. Phonetic variations are sudden in the course of evolution. but gradual in vocabulary spread, because the new phonetic elements need gradual adjustments in the whole structures after they are into a different phonetic system. The theory of vocabulary spread regards phonetic variation as a whole process: from the beginning, to the change, and to the completion of a phonetic variation. Language is a dynamic substance, which can continuously incorporate many chronological micro-systems into a large organic system.