A Phonetic Study On Hakka Dialect In Xinyi,Guangdong

This paper studies the phonetics of Hakka dialect in Xinyi,applying comprehensive methods,which includes historical comparison,synchronic comparison,geolinguistics as well as experimental phonetics,to analyze the speech materials from six dialact spots.This paper includes six chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which briefly introduces the change of local administration and dialects of Xinyi.The newest status of Xinyi Hakka dialect study,the object of study,methods,the selected dialect spots,and empirical materials of this paper are also contained in the first part.The second chapter carefully describes the phonology of six dialect spots,as well as the phonological pattern of Hakka dialects in Xinyi.The third chapter describes the Hakka dialect in Xinyi in detail.With the middle Chinese sounds as the baseline,I provide the phonetic picture of Xinyi Hakka dialect.After the analytics of the internal similarities and differences of its initials,finals and tones,I summarize the special phonetic phenomena as the starting point of the following chapter.The fourth chapter is the monagraphic study on phonetics,mainly investigating the present pronanciation and historical evolution of the initials of Jing,Zhi,Zhuang and Zhang group of Hakka dialect in Xinyi,the geographical distribution and existing conditions of three medials [i u y],and the comprehensive situation of final with vowel[(?)].The initials of Jing,Zhi,Zhuang and Zhang group have converged in Hakka dialect of Xinyi,while the pronounciation of fricative is different.Baishi has two consonants[s (?)],and the words of Xin and the third division of the Sheng are basically pronounced[(?)].Based on the source of Hakka dialect in Xinyi and the distribution of [(?)] in Xinyi’s Yue dialect and Hakka dialect,I preliminary conclude that the initials of Jing,Zhi,Zhuang and Zhang group in Hakka dialect of Xinyi once could be divided into two groups.In Xinyi’s Hakka dialect,the medial [i] is distributed in the third and fourth divisions in the middle Chinese sounds.Its existence is related to the zero initial and the combination of initials and finals.The deletion of the medial [i] of the third and fourth divisions in the Zhi and Zhang group is related to the swallowing of the laminoalveolar.The medial [u] is distributed in the Hekou rhyme,and it is more retained in the Xiao,Xia,Ying and Yu as well as the word with zero initial today.The medial [y] is distributed in the third division of the middle Chinese sounds,which mainly came from the fusion of [i] and [u] in the middle Chinese sounds.However,the [y] of the third division in Dang rhyme groups is the result of its self-evolution and the contact between dialects.There are some finals with vowel [(?)] in Xinyi’s Hakka dialact,containing(?)i,(?)u,(?)m,(?)n,(?)(?),(?)p and (?)t,which possibly came from the Yue dialact of Xinyi.Their rhyme distribution and geographical distribution reflect the unbalanced influence of language contact.The fifth chapter summarizes the paper,proposing the internally divisive pattern of Xinyi’s Hakka dialect.The final part also includes limitations of this study,following by the possible future direction.