A Study On Donghai Dialect In The Perspective Of Geographical Linguistics

Donghai lies in the northwest of Lianyungang. It’s the joining frontiers between two families of dialects-Central Plains Mandarin and Lower Yangtze Mandarin. So it has the characteristics of both Central Plains Mandarin dialect and Lower Yangtze Mandarin. It is quite worthy to study the transitional characteristics of Donghai’s dialect.This article adopts the method of geographical linguistics. We selected representative samples to investigate the91points of23towns in Donghai deeply and meticulously. Our survey content includes549rusheng characters,19voice contrasts,107vocabularies, and some custom entries. According to the collection and analysis of the survey items, we draw a number of dialect maps which were used to discuss the reason why these linguistic phenomena could emerge combined with other factors.This thesis finds that the development of the language in border region is not balanced. And, the geographical distribution of many language phenomena is not consistent. Some isoglosses of pronunciation characteristics and vocabularies are in line with the the fourth tone dividing line, both of which take on the north-south direction generally. However, some isoglosses of vocabularies present east-west direction.In addition, the standards of dialect division were discussed in the paper. In the author’s viewpoint, pronunciation is the most important classification standard. On this basis, we can refer to the vocabularies and other standards.Finally, we find that there is various and complex relations between the divide line of folkways and the language through our investigation and study of Donghai’s folk customs. Thus, we did some detailed study and necessary complement for the view that "The boundaries between different dialects often consistent with its cultural characteristics". In Donghai, there is inevitable connection between the divide line of customs and the language.