A Study On The Phonetics Of Lintong Dialect

Lintong locates in the middle of Guanzhong Plain, on the east part of Xi’an city. The Guanzhong Plain includes most part of Shaanxi province and the adjacent area of Gansu, Ningxia and Henan province. Historically, Guanzhong Plain were separated into two parts, named East part and West part. Traditionally, east part is recognized as "Dongfu", and west part as "Xifu". Dongfu borders with Shanxi province and Xifu next to Gansu province. The dialect of Lintong is classified as the Guanzhong type of Zhongyuan Mandarin. With urban development, change of the population structure and dialects contacts, Guanzhong dialect is going though continuous changes, making it especially valuable and meaningful to do research on.This dissertation, collects the first-hand materials by doing fieldwork, investigates Phonetic system of three diapoints, probes into the rules of diachronic changes and the rules of changes of the phonetics by revealling their shared phonetic features and the differences among them. Six chapters are included in this paper.Chapter One introduces Lintong anthropogeography, history and population, the dialect’s classification, and the history of past researches on the dialect, illuminates the values and methods of the research and briefly narrates the native speakers and the symbols used.Chapter Two and Chapter Three reveals the differences among three diapoints in Lintong dialect, including initials and finals. On the basis of phonetic system investigated, this chapter also aims to a horizontal comparison and vertical study of some phonetic phenomenon, including the evolvement of "Duan-Jing-Jian"consonant groups before "Qi-Chi-Hu" final sounds, the erosion of nasal finals, the drift of "Jian-Tuan", making conclusions that the longer vowel is, the more likely they will lose nasal finals.Chapter Four comparing Lintong dialect historically with both the ancient Chinese and Tang dynasty, synchronically with other mandarin dialects, aims to provide an overall view of the evolvement of Lintong dialect. Chapter Five probes the synchronical change of the phonetical system, including the sound-linking of words.Chapter Six is table of homogeneous word of Lintong dialect.