A Research On The Variation And Change Of The Use Of Affix Zei (?) In Pingjiang Dialect

Local dialects interact with Putonghua frequently, which leads to language change,embodied in phonological, morphological, syntactical level respectively. There is a special affix zei(?) in Pingjiang dialect, which can be added to address forms, general nouns, verbs and adjectives to signify connotations as “love” or “favorite”. As Putonghua exert great impact on Pingjiang dialect, the use of affix zei(?) begin to change.Under the guidance of theory of language contact and variation, based on study of affixes, 90 natives are involved in this study. The present study aims to examine the change of use of affix zei( ?) through methods like tape-recorded interviews, observation and 338 tokens are gathered. Finally, systematic analysis is conducted to process the data through Gold Varb X and Excel(2010).This research mainly focuses on the following three questions: 1) What are the changes of the use of affix zei(?)? 2) What are the sociolinguistic patterns of the change? 3) What are the attitudes of local people towards this kind of change?It is observed that traditional expressions with affix zei( ?) decreased sharply while correspondent forms in Putonghua increased. Both linguistic factors and social factor contribute to such changes. From the perspective of change of use of affix zei(?), change from GN + zei(?) to GN of Putonghua take places most frequently, followed by change from AF +zei(?) to AF of Putonghua, change from verbs + zei(?) to verbs of Putonghua, change from adjectives + zei(?) to adjectives of Putonghua. And also, change of use of affix zei(?)presents regularity, females instead of males are more favorable to the changed forms as females are more sensitive to language changes and more inclined to apply standard forms.The highest frequency of such changes occurred in the group aged 19-34, among which informants with university education or above tend to use more altered forms while local residents who haven't received college education prefer traditional forms with affix zei(?).Besides, natives prefer changed forms in public places and they tend to use more traditional forms in private circumstances. Most of the local residents hold positive attitude toward the change whereas a small number of informants dislike such changes. Females and studentsshow a preference for the changed forms, whereas, locals aging above 35 behaves rather conservatively.In some aspects, the change of use of affix zei(?) reflects the change of society. This research aims to observe the change of use of affix zei(?), which not only deepens people's understanding of affix zei( ?) in Pingjiang dialect and local culture, but also enlightens researches on protection of local dialect and culture.