An Optimal Ity Theoretic Account: Tone Sandhi In Raoping Dialect

Raoping dialect is a kind of Chaoshan dialects. It is used in the eastern andsouthern areas of Raoping County, belonging to the Taiwanese language branch inFujian dialect. Based on the investigation and the knowledge of experimentalphonetics, the paper described a detailed phonetic system of the Raoping dialect. Itincludes the characteristics of the Raoping dialect. The paper has a detailedexamination on three different types of tone sandhi which are general two wordsgroup, reduplication words group, and three words group of the Raoping dialect.From the point of phonology, the paper uses the Optimality Theory to explain sandhirules of the Raoping dialect.The paper is divided into five chapters: The first chapter introduces the situationof current. The second chapter introduces the general situation of the Raoping County,including geography, population, language usage, phonetic system, and comparedwith the Qie Yun in the tone of the division. The third chapter investigates in generaltwo words group, reduplication words group, three words group tone sandhi. Thefourth chapter introduces Optimality Theory, which is used to analyze the Raopingdialect tone sandhi. The fifth chapter is the conclusion, as a summary of the paper andother related issues.Through investigation, we found that the two words group tone sandhi is thefoundation of tone sandhi in the Raoping dialect. All the other kinds of tone sandhicomply with the rules. The Optimality Theory, using restrictive conditions as the coretheoretical system, provides us with new ideas and helps us to correct a tendency thatwas emphasizing recording and description rather than explanation in the previousChinese studies. Therefore we can explain the tone sandhi phenomenon of theChinese dialects better from point of the synchronic and the language commonality.