Bao'ai Dialect (Volume 1, Volume 2)

Author: Li Fangguo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: The Poai dialect collected in this book belongs to the northern Tai dialects in his classification. According to Professor Li’s article “The Dialect of Poai: Phonology,” the informant, Mr. Guan Dengshi, is from the Poai area, where Mandarin and Cantonese are also spoken alongside the Tai dialect. In addition to Tai, Mr. Guan is fluent in both of these Chinese dialects. Professor Li mentions in the article that Mr. Guan is skilled at storytelling, speaking slowly and fluently with vivid intonation, which Professor Li considers rare in his fieldwork experience. In 1939, Professor Li conducted two months of research in a small village near Kunming, Yunnan, where he recorded a total of thirty-eight stories, along with twenty-four poems and eight riddles. Mr. Zhang Kun made significant contributions during the data organization process. The Poai Dialect has long been regarded as a foundational work in Dong-Tai linguistics. These works are descriptive linguistic studies, providing detailed and accurate descriptions of the language but with limited theoretical discussion, maintaining rigorous and practical content.