A Study On The Phonetic Characteristics Of Anyang Dialect

Anyang, located in the northern part of Henan province, is the hometown of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty. According to the introduction of" Jinyu’s Partition"(1986) and " China’s Linguistics Atlas"(1987), the Anyang dialect belongs to Jinyu’s Handan dialect and Xinxiang dialect. Since Anyang lies in the intersection of Henan, Hebei and Shanxi province and it is a transtion zone from Jinyu to the Zhongyuan Mandarin, Anyang dialect features also gradually get the attention of many scholars. But few people describe the whole phonetic system of Anyang dialect. This paper carries on a detailed investagation towards Anyang dialect systematically and introduces the basic phonetic features of Anyang dialect. It makes an emphasis on the evolution of initial groups of Zhi,Zhuang,Zhang and ancient entering tone words in Anyang dialect and tries to explain its law and reasons, which provides a basis for the research of Anyang dialect and Jinyu.This paper is divided into four parts:Firstly, the first chapter introduces cultural and geographical enviroment in Anyang and generalizes the accurate system of initial consonant, compound vowel and tone in detail. It also makes a comparison between phonetic system and medieval phonology of Anyang dialect, which summarizes phonological features of Anyang dialect.Secondly, in the second chapter, in the evolution of Jing zuzi and Zhi xizi in Anyang dialect, the author conducts a survey on the pronunciation of initial groups of Zhi,Zhuang,Zhang to three generations of Anyang city. It is discovered that Jing zuzi with hong pronunciation and Zhi xizi have merged into one group of initial consonant with old and new pronunciation in Anyang dialect.Through consulting relevant information on Zhi xizi’s pronunciation in Anyang’s surrouding areas such as Xiuwu,Huojia,Jiyuan and Qinyang and so on, the author makes a detailed investigation of Zhi xizi’s pronunciation in Wen county dialect and explores the diachronic evolution of Zhi xizi in Anyang dialect.Besides, the third chapter studies entering tone characters. After detailed investigation, the author concludes the existance state of entering tone characters and vanishing tail vowel in entering tone in Anyang dialect. In order to explore the law ofvanishing tail vowel in entering tone, the thesis not only sums up the old and new entering tone characters’ pronunciation in Anyang dialect from diachronic perspective, but also it compares with neighboring dialects from synchronic perspective. Thus, the reason for vanishing tail vowel in entering tone is well analyzed and explained.Lastly, it’s about the description of sound changes in Anyang dialect. The thesis summarizes all the phenomenons of sound changes in Anyang dialect. For example, the combined sound of word and word of the partials. It also sets examples of various sound assimilation and phonetic weakening.