A Study On The Tones Of The Middle Region Of Yunnan Dialect

The Middle Region of Yunnan Dialect refers to the Southwestern Official Dialects of Yunnan Province,mainly found in Kunming,Qujing Yuxi,Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture,Pu’er and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.Twenty one dialect dots in the Central Yunnan dialect were investigated.The acoustic features of the tones at each point were analyzed and compared with those recorded in historical documents to explore the acoustic features,co-temporal variation,trajectories of historical evolution,and causes of the Central Yunnan dialect.The experimental results show that the Yin-ping is a medium-level tone,the Yang-ping is a medium-falling tone,the Shang-sheng is a high-falling tone,and the Qu-sheng is a pure low tone,which constitutes a "level-fall-fall-low" pattern.The results of the gender grouping experiments show that female speakers have a higher tonal range and shorter duration;the results of the age grouping experiments show that young speakers have a higher tonal range and shorter duration;the results of the regional grouping experiments show that speakers in the old city area have a higher tonal range and longer duration.The variation in the tones of the new Kunming dialect is as follows: the Yin-ping tones tend to flatten or descend,the duration of the Qu-sheng tones shortens,and the tone pattern changes from forward-concave to falling.The degree of variation is: female > male,young > old,and old urban > old suburban.The single-character tones of the old urban and female speakers are more similar.There is no significant intergenerational evolution in the Yang-ping and Shang-sheng tones.The evolution trend of the Yin-ping tone is from rising to level or falling.And the evolution of the Qu-sheng tone is from a rising tone to a pre-concave tone,then a pre-concave tone to a concave or falling tone in a purely low tone.Among the dialects of the Southwest Official Dialects,the Kunming dialect evolves rapidly.Among the four tonal categories of the Central Yunnan dialect,the Yang-ping tune is the most stable as the middle-falling tone.The purely low tonal pattern of the Qu-sheng tones serves as a transformational channel for the evolution of tones in the pattern.Its evolution is realized as "low concave-low flat-low descending," a clockwise inverse V-chain evolution.