Evolution and Stratification of Phonetics in Chinese Dialects (Revised Edition)

Author: Wang Futan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Preface Since 1991, I have tried to introduce phenomena in Chinese dialects, such as phonetics and vocabulary, to students from the perspectives of their changing patterns and underlying causes. Because this involved practical aspects of current research on Chinese dialects, my focus gradually shifted to evolutionary patterns and the identification of different levels after several lectures. In 1996, my work was incorporated into the National Education Commission's Humanities and Social Sciences Research "Nineth Five-Year Plan" project, receiving financial support that allowed me to organize the lecture notes. The phonetic part described in this book is one of the sections. In recent years, many universities have invested in the development of Chinese dialectology. Outstanding work has also been done abroad, which can serve as a reference for us. However, Chinese dialects have their own soil, and I believe that Chinese dialectology should attempt creative exploration in theory and methodology. Only in this way can it, as a part of comparative linguistics, meet the needs of language theory construction and practical research on Chinese dialects. The ideas presented in this book are some preliminary concepts from this exploration. Although some sections are not fully elaborated, they are published here in the hope of receiving feedback from readers. The book consists of eight chapters. The first two chapters introduce phonetic changes in Chinese dialects caused by different reasons—phonetic evolution and foreign influence—and their manifestations. The former involves different phonetic forms of new and old varieties, while the latter includes phonetic layers with different origins, which need to be distinguished. The following three chapters, such as "Rhotacized Finals," deal with specific cases, introducing important dialect phenomena and exploring their patterns of formation and development. The chapter on "Proto-Minnan" is an analysis of a reconstructed ancient dialect phonological system based on the understanding from the first two chapters. The two chapters on dialectal zoning are included because they are related to the recognition of phonetic evolution and layers. The appendix is a summary I wrote in the fall of 1964 for a dialect survey internship course. The description and comparison of phonetics actually involve issues of evolution and layers. Although the observations from over three decades ago may be related to specific contexts (e.g., the prolongation of the initial consonant's occlusion phase during pronunciation) and some statements (e.g., the splitting of syllables into two due to the falling-rising tone in Xiaoyi dialect, or the reflection of yin-yang alternation in Wen-Bai reading in Jinzhong dialect) may need improvement, they are included as early observations for reference. Views cited from certain works are directly indicated in the text as sources. Quoted materials are not individually annotated; please refer to the reference lists at the end of each chapter. Wang Futan October 1997, Beida Chengze Garden