| Language is on the constant change.Language contact and competition are important factors that influence the change of phonetic structure of dialects.On the one hand,evolution of a dialect is not only influenced by the imbalanced development of internal components within it,but also by language contact,language competition and non-linguistic factors.From historical linguistic perspective,this thesis studies language evolution by analyzing historical changes on phonetic structure and semantics of "xuan(?)" in Xi'an dialect."Xuan" is a frequently used word in Xi'an dialect with its unique phonetic structure,lexical meaning and grammatical functions.So far there has been no study made on the evolution of Xi'an dialect through a single word both at home and abroad.This study explores the evolution process of a single word "xuan" in Xi'an dialect from the perspective of historical linguistics,which is also helpful to understand language evolution specifically and comprehensively.The comparative method,descriptive method as well as literature review method are adopted in this thesis.It is divided into six parts.The first part briefly introduces the development of historical linguistics,Xi'an dialect and research background.Besides,the purpose and significance as well as the research questions and methods of the study are also illustrated.The second part summarizes the research progress,the main contributions that have been made in the field of historical linguistics as well as related studies on Xi'an dialect.In addition,the characteristics,strength and shortcomings of previous studies is referred to.In the third part,it specifically introduces theoretical bases.This thesis is mainly based on the theory of linguistic feature geometry,lexical diffusion and language competition.It pays attention to the imbalance within the phonetic structures of dialects,vocal organs and ways of articulation,etc.At the same time,external factors like history and society that influence language evolution are also taken into consideration.The theoretical bases of this part provide a comprehensive perspective to explore language evolution from both internal and external aspects,constructing a scientific guidance for the whole study.The fourth part firstly analyzes the phonetic structure of the word "xuan" in different historical periods from Qin and Han dynasty all the way to Mandarin period,and finds out the distinction in different periods.Secondly,the differences on phonetic structure between Xi'an dialect and its neighboring dialects are compared.Finally,the motivation for this change is explained from the perspective of interaction between elements within phonetic structure,language contact,language competition and nonlinguistic factors including history and society.The fifth part studies the semantic development pattern of the word "xuan" and its special usage in modern Xi'an dialect.In the sixth part,the results,implications,strength and weakness of this paper is summarized.It finds out that the phonetic structure of "xuan" from pre-Qin dynasty to Sui and Tang dynasty was relatively stable with only the nucleus changing all the time.From the five dynasties following Tang to Ming and Qing dynasties,its phonetic structure changed greatly with the initial consonant transforming from[z]to[s],disappearance of media,as well as the change on head vowel and nucleus.Besides,the semantics of the word also expanded through history but shrunk in practical communication with the popularization of Mandarin.It is also found that factors which motivate language evolution are not only related to the development of internal structure of language and interaction among elements,non-linguistic factors such as history and society are also taken into account.Based on the synchronic description of phonetic structure of dialects,this study also focuses on the diachronic interpretation of the motivation of language evolution. |
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