A Century Of Lanzhou Dialect Research

Lanzhou dialects have been sporadically recorded in ancient literatures such as Dialect and Shuowenjiezi but the specialized research started late,the research monographs appeared in the late Qing Dynasty,so did the study of dialect phonetics.This thesis chooses three traditional works and six moderrn works of Lanzhou dialect phonetics to study.Based on the study of single phonology,this thesis explores the longitudinal phonetic evolution characteristics of Lanzhou dialects in the past 100 years.Meanwhile,the Lanzhou dialect is compared with the surrounding dialects to explore the relationship between Lan Yin Mandarin and Central Plains Mandarin.The Lanzhou dialect recorded by the three traditional works is rather vague and of a very small number,most of which are same with Beijing dialect.The six moderrn works reflect the evolution of the Lanzhou dialect from the 1920s to the present:in terms of initial,the Round-mouth characters of Zhizhuangzhang system in mediaeval times became[t],[t],[f]or[pf],[pf],[f]in old dialect,and recovered to[ts],[ts'],[s]in the new dialect;dentilabial has reduced;[n]spells with vowels started with i or y in Beijing dialect became[(?)]in Lanzhou dialect,[(?)]has faded away;[n],[1]mixed reading develop to not mixed;Blade alveolars mixed retroflexion has disappeared;[z]spell with[u(?)]in Beijing dialect has two different ways in Lanzhou dialect;the most of second-class open words of Jian system have two pronunciation.In terms of vowel,the Round mouth characters of[uo]in Beijing dialect became more in Lanzhou dialect;[o]reduced mixed situation;nasal vowels like[an]and[a(?)]hasn't front and back in Lanzhou dialect;some complex vowels in the old dialect into the single vowel,the new dialect restored to the complex vowel.In terms of tones,the old dialect kept Ru tone,the new dialect is different;the Lanzhou dialect and the surrounding dialects have something in common of Zhizhuangzhang system,Ri system words,Ni(niang)lai system words,the most second-class open words of Jian system,zero initial words,Yang rhyme and the evolution of tones of mediaeval times,but also have their own characteristics.Be affected by geographical relationship,economic,policy and other factors,the degree of dialect's contact is different.In short,the nine works reflect the evolvement characteristics of Lanzhou dialect,and also reflect the gradual shift of Lanzhou dialect to Beijing dialect.