An Experimental Study On The Vowel System Of Nanjing Dialect

The study focuses on an acoustic analysis of the vowel system of new-style Nanjing dialect. The dialect reflects the main features of Hongchao sub-dialect in Jianghuai mandarin.There are abundant investigatory records about Nanjing Dialect available, and most of them are traditional researches on old Nanjing Dialect. However, there have been wars and migrations in Nanjing during the past few decades, and the oral system of new Nanjing people is getting stable and representative now, especially for those born in the late80s or early90s. The study object of this dissertation is new-style Nanjing Dialect, the "new" refers to the dialect that is spoken by native Nanjing people who were born in the late80s or early90s.Chinese is a typical syllable-based language, and its phonetics and phonology research can not be separated from Chinese syllable structures.In this dissertation, the47finals in new Nanjing Dialect are divided into V、VN and V? based on their different syllable structures. The acoustic properties of vowels (monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs) in different phonetic environments are discussed respectively in different chapters. The results of the standardized analysis suggests that the vowel system of male and female are closely similar and thus gender would not bring difference in phonogy to vowel system of new Nanjing Dialect. The analysis of segment structure, formant data and vowel ellipses suggests that there are12monophthong phonemes (/i/、/(?)/、/y/、/ε/、/a/、/o/、/(?)/、/u/、/(?)/、/u/、/(?)/、/(?)/、/e/and2diphthong phonemes (/ei/、/(?)u/) in the vowel system of new Nanjing Dialect. Among them, the monophthong phoneme/e/cannot form a mono final and needs to be combined with/i/or/y/.All the "Nanjing Dialect" in this dissertation refers to the "new Nanjing Dialect" unless there is a special explanation. This dissertation belongs to the Speech and Language Research of Chinese Dialects project of the Language Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences together with A Phonetic Study of the Vowel System in Hefei Dialect written by Wan Liyang. The profile of vowel experimental research and the database are accomplished by Miss Wan and me together.