A Study Of Phonetic Comparison Among Linwu Dialects In Hunan Province

Linwu County is the southern gateway of Hunan Province. Guiyang State Annalsrecords:“Linwu is the most ancient county among south Chu State.”Linwu is a typicalbi-dialects county in South Hunan Province, surrounded by the Southwest Mandarin,Xiang Dialect and the Hakka and Gan Dialects. Residents speak to each other in localdialects internal, while in Mandarin (a kind of Southwest Mandarin) external. Linwudialects are classified as Xiangnan Slice according to Chinese Language Alias, whichis indeterminate among Chinese dialects system. To point from the major categories,scholars used to divide Linwu dialects into five types: Jietou Dialect, Maishi Dialect,Chujiang Dialect, Fenshi Dialect and Shatian Dialect. Large differences exist in eachtype so that people in different dialect district cannot communicate with people inother ones. The investigation and study on Linwu dialects is mainly based on a singledialect or point, which lack a comprehensive comparative study.From the phonetic point of view, this paper analysis the similarities anddifferences of the Five Type dialects in Linwu comparatively. The differences in initialconsonant are smaller, but in vowel they are significant. From the aspect of evolutionof yangsheng(阳声) finals, the Five Types can be divided into two types: one is JietouDialect, Chujiang Dialect and Fenshi Dialect, which evolutes quickly and thoroughly,the other is Shatian Dialect and Maishi Dialect. From the aspect of presentpronunciation of the words from MC Geng(梗), it is divided into two types: One isShatian Dialect and Maishi Dialect, which exists lots of literary and colloquialreading, while in Jietou Dialect, Chujiang Dialect and Fenshi Dialect are basically noexists of this phenomenon. From the aspect of MC Rusheng(入声), it is divided intotwo types: one is Jietou Dialect and Fenshi Dialect, in which MC Rusheng(入声)remains, while MC Rusheng(入声) has disappeared in Shatian Dialect, Maishi Dialectand Chujiang Dialect.Through a comparative study, the Five Types can be divided into two types: oneis Shatian Dialect and Maishi Dialect, the other is Jietou Dialect and Fenshi Dialect.Located in the border of these two types, Chujiang Dialect can be classified into thelatter one or as a mixed dialect. But still, we will not classify Linwu dialects into twotypes, but agree with the Five Types, which is the traditional division by scholars. Forone thing, people in each dialect district cannot communicate with people fromanother dialect district in local dialects. Furthermore, to discuss the division of Linwudialects or classification to other Chinese dialect system in depth, more work shouldbe done from the aspect of grammar or lexical study.