The Phonetic System Of Ningpo Dialect In The End Of 19^th Century Showed In The Ningpo Syllabary

The Ningpo Syllabary, published in 1901, is a monograph on phonetics of Ningbo dialect. P. G. von Mollendorff, the author of the book, was an exceptionally talented linguist and had made a significant contribution to language studies of Chinese. In 1897, Mollendorff was transferred to Ningpo. While serving in the Commissioner of Customs, he studied in the local dialect and compiled the book. In the book, Mollendorff made a decent description of Ningpo phonetics as well as a proper analysis, which makes him the best one among the foreign researchers of Ningpo dialect at that time.The introduction of the book gives a detailed description of the phonemes. After that, comes the syllabary which has no clear tone marks. Then follows a list of colloquial words, for which no characters exist. At last a radical index summarizes the work. The syllables in the book are in accordance with the system of Romanization which makes it a valuable material of Ningpo dialect in 19th century.This paper reconstructs the phonetic system of Ningpo dialect in 19th century by organising the records of Ningpo Syllables and the description from the introduction,and then compares the phonetic system of Ningpo dialect in the end of: 19th century with Medieval pronunciation. At last this paper concludes the characters of the phonetic system of Ningpo dialect.This paper is divided into 6 parts:Preface introduces the meaning, the previous researches and the method of the study.Chapter 1 introduces the background and progress of the researches in Ningpo dialect by foreigners at the end of Qing Dynasty,the author and the compiling systemChapter 2 depicts the detailed phonetic system of Ningpo dialect in the end of 19thcentry.Chapter 3 compares the initial system and the vowel system of Ningpo dialect in the end of 19th centry with Medieval pronunciation.Chapter 4 concludes the characteristics of the phonetic system of Ningpo dialect in the end of 19th centry.Chapter 5 gives an evaluation to the book and concludes the whole research.At last,the paper get the conclusion that, The Ningpo Syllabary is an outstanding work about phonetics of Ningbo dialect. With the opening of the Ningpo city, the phonetic system was changing in the end of 19th centry.In addition, there are translation of the introduction, syllabary of Ningpo dialect in the end of 19th centry, and the table of comparison between Ningpo dialect in the end of 19th centry with Medieval pronunciation.