Voice Of The Yanfu Regional Dialect Research

This dissertation is the direct result of the writer's thorught investigation and careful analysis of the phonetic phenomena of the typical dialects in the area of Yanfu, Jiangsu province.Yanfu Dialevct, belonging to Yanghuai Dialect, is a subdivision of Eastern Mandarin. Owing to the particular locality of Yanfu, Yanfu Dialect possesses some distinct characteristics, which cannot be found in the dialects of the neighbouring areas, nor in the South or North Dialect. For instance, the existerce of [ts] group in Yanfu Dialect. The general palatalization of [t ] in the medieval Jian system among the various dialects in China, is palatalized into [ts] in Yanfu area. However, this phenomenon is mainly confined to Xie and Zhi type. In addition, [ts] group can be found in Yangcheng, Jianhu, South of Sheyang in the Duan group, similar to the inland of Tongtai which also shares this feature.The classification of the modern pronunciation of medieval Han and Shan type is an important characteristic of Eastern Mandarin with the exception of the Entering-tone. The medieval Han and Shan type of Yanfu Dialect falls into three categories, the formation of which is attributable to the pronunciation weekening that leads to the disengaging of the Head-vowel and the tail-vowel. Moreover, the nasalization vowel as a resulf of the nasalization of the main vowel leads to the mixture Yang vowel with Yin vowel. In addition, the Head of the compound vowel in the closing Rhyme of Xie and Zhi type varies with the change of in geographical position from the south to the north. And the medieval Yu rhyme such as [u][iu][y] are all existent in Yanfu Dialect.All the characteristics mentioned above of Yanfu Dialect attest to the complexity of its historical evolution as well as the academic value of investigating and studying it.