現代婁底方言尖團音小考

Abstract

The Jianyin and Tuanyin are important parts of Chinese language. In thisarticle, these two components were analyzed with respect to their inclusion intheGreat Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects - Loudi dialect. Acomparison of pronunciation was made between the modern Loudi dialect andMandarin Chinese. The reason for comparing modern Loudi dialect withMandarin Chinese is that the modern Loudi dialect can distinguish betweenJianyin and Tuanyin. Ancient Jian(見) initials and Ancient Xiao(曉) initials ofSishiyishenglei(四十一聲類)’s front-open vowels are pronounced as [tɕ]⋅[tɕ‘]⋅[dʑ]⋅[ɕ]⋅[ʑ], exclude voiced consonants, the process of transition is analogousbetween modern Loudi dialect and Mandarin Chinese. Ancient Jing(精) initialsof Sishiyishenglei(四十一聲類)’s front-open vowels are pronounced as [ts]⋅[ts‘]⋅[dz]⋅[s] like their ancient pronunciations, that were different from Mandarin Chinese. Very few words of the Ancient Jing(精) which was belonged to Jianyin, have been changed into Tuanyin. According to the central government of China, people must learn and use Mandarin Chinese. Over time, and with increasing education levels, the differences between Jianyin and Tuanyin within the Loudi dialect will disappear. This will reslut in current pronunciations of Jianyin and Tuanyin becoming more and more similar to Mandarin Chinese.