A Research On The Variation Of The Use Of Time Expression 后晌/xou³¹ （?）aη³¹/ In Zibo Dialect

Zibo dialect belongs to Jilu Mandarin of Shandong dialect.The time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/in Zibo dialect is the inheritance of the ancient word,and its meaning is“evening”.With the promotion of Putonghua and the improvement of people’s educational level,the time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/has undergone variations and changes to some extent.The study is guided by language variation theory and speech accommodation theory,using the method of interview and natural observation to collect the naturalistic conversation corpus of 46 local subjects in Zibo.The corpus is recorded and analyzed through EXCEL（2010）and GOLDVARB X.The study mainly pays attention to three questions:1)What are the variations and changes in the time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/in Zibo dialect?2)What are the linguistic and social factors that constrain the change of the time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/?3)What are the causes for such variations and changes?The results show that with the popularity of Putonghua and the development of mass media,the contact between Putonghua and Zibo dialect has become more and more frequent,and Zibo dialect is more and more affected by Putonghua.The time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/has undergone variations and changes to some extent in Zibo dialect and three variants referring to“evening”have existed in Zibo dialect.They are后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/,晚上/uan²¹³（?）aη²¹³/and晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/.And among them,后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/is the old variant,while晚上/uan²¹³（?）aη²¹³/and晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/are new variants.In two new variants,晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/is the standard form and the other new form晚上/uan²¹³（?）aη²¹³/can be regarded as the transitional form between后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/and晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/.In overall distribution,the frequency of use of the two new variants is higher than that of the old variant,and the frequency of use of晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/is higher than that of晚上/uan⁵⁵（?）aη³¹/,but the use of the old variant still accounts for a certain percentage.The internal factor and social factors both have influences on the variation of the time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/.On the one hand,the internal factor of the language affects the variation of后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/.When it collocates with typical dialect words such as“夜来”,后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/will not change,and when it collocates with standard words such as“明天”and“今天”,后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/will change into two new variants.In addition,social factors such as age,gender,occupation all have impacts on the variation of后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/,while the social factor of the educational level does not affect it.From the specific situation of use,young people use the two new variants more,and adolescents play a leading role in the changes,while the elderly like to use the old variant more.Females are more inclined than males to use two new variants.Students and company staffs use the new variants more frequently,while farmers prefer to use the old variant.It is because people have a strong speech accommodation to different language varieties.Putonghua is a variant with a higher social status,which makes people adapt to Putonghua to meet the needs of communication.As a result,the time expression后晌/xou³¹（?）aη³¹/in Zibo dialect has been continuously changing towards Putonghua.This research not only enriches the research of Zibo dialect in the aspect of lexical variation but also deepens people’s understanding of Zibo dialect,which is helpful for people to improve their awareness of protecting dialect and local culture.