The Acoustic Experimental Study On Mono-syllable And Bi-syllable Tone In Taoxu Pinghua Dialect In Guangxi Hengxian County

Hengxian County is located in the southeast of Guangxi Province. Hengxian Pinghua dialect, as a representative dialect in Guinan dialectal area of Pinghua dialect, has been not studied by many researchers. The research is usually achieved by adopting the traditional methods as speaking-listening method or comparison on four tones, the study also limited on the introduction in voice, and comparison with the ancient Chinese phonology, etc. With the expectation of furthering study in the depth and breadth of this field on the basis of the achievements, this thesis uses Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian as the Investigational object, and studies the tone of this dialect by means of acoustic experiments. This thesis is mainly composed of five sections.The first section is "Preface", reviewing on the acoustic experimental research achievements and progress of mono-syllable and bi-syllable in Chinese dialects and situation of study on speech aspects of Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County, and make a comment on the problem of current research, meanwhile, introduces the research content, objective and methods.The second section is" Phonology of Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County", briefly introduces the location of Taoxu town in Hengxian County, and outline the phonology of Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County and the characteristics of Initial\final and tone.The third section is "Acoustic experiments on mono-syllable tone in Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County", studies on mono-syllable tone from the two perspectives of pitch and duration. Firstly, the research methods and procedures of the experiments are stated. In the experiments the acoustic analysis is firstly conducted by the analysis software—Praat, the acoustic data are processed by the Praat scripts programs; and finally the traditional five degrees on tones of Taoxu Pinghua dialect are figured out through FO normalization on the basis of T-Value. The specific methods are as below, the acoustic data such as FO and duration are firstly collected; and normalization of these data is then conducted. The mono-syllable tone pattern got in the experiments is Yingping(阴平)34, Yangping(阳平)13,Yingshang(阴上)33,Yangshang(阳上)22, Yingqu(阴去)454, Yangqu(阳去)41,Shangyinru(上阴入)4,Xxiayinru(下阴入)33,Shangyangru(上阳入)2,Xiayangru(下阳入)22, this conclusion is not consistent with previous studies. The duration pattern of mono-syllable tone is Yingping>Yang-ping> Yingshang>Yangshang>Yingqu>Yangqu>Shangyinru>Xxiayinru> Shangyangru> Xiayangru.The fourth section is "Acoustic experiments on bi-syllable tone in Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County", studies on bi-syllable tone from the perspectives of pitch. We also state the research methods and procedures of the experiments. The acoustic data of bi-syllable tone such as FO is firstly collected; and normalization of these data is then conducted. And finally the traditional five degrees on bi-syllable tones of Taoxu Pinghua dialect are figured out through FO normalization on the basis of T-Value. And then, we discuss classifiably the situation of Sandhi of each tone type in bi-syllable tone on front and behind based on actual data and diagrams. From here, we generalize the Sandhi modes of bi-syllable tone. Finally, the types and condition of Sandhi of bi-syllable tone are explored. Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County have 100 groups of bi-syllable tones and 82 species of Sandhi modes, in which 66 groups have produced the phenomenon of Sandhi. The types of Sandhi have two:tone -me Sandhi and in-toneme Sandhi. The toneme Sandhi can be distinguished four types——dissimilation\ neutralization\ simplification\ Alternation itself, in which dissimilation is predominant. Yingqu(阴去)which is the tortuous tone type and yang-sheng shusheng tone are very unique.The last section is "Conclusion", summarized the conclusion of whole thesis, and point out its research value and meaning, Including the performance and characteristics of mono-syllable tone and duration in Taoxu Pinghua dialect in Hengxian County, the Sandhi modes and types of bi-syllable tone, and so on.