Title

The Southern Dialects of Shan-Xi: a ‘Qu-centrality’ Mode of Ru-sheng Transitions Deduced from Diachronic Information Surfacing in Contemporary Data

Author

Chung-yu Chen

Genre

Article  

Pages

205-231

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Language

English

Key words

Tone, Phonology, Dialectology

Abstract

      The main issue addressed in this paper on the southern sub-group of Shan-Xi mandarin dialects lies with an identification of a ‘Qu-centrality’ mode of Ru-Sheng transitions. Also put under scrutiny is a high-falling pitch 53, its shifting between the tonal categories of Shang and Qu in the great majority of the 101 dialects of Shan-Xi as well as its prominent presence at junction of most cases of border disputes between tones. This paper makes use of two studies, Hou et al . 1986 (field work started 1957) and Hou et al . 1993 (field work started 1986) which often contain differently described pitch values and differently classified tonal categories for the same dialects. Such inconsistencies are viewed as reflecting changes in progression, in this way, historical perspectives have been discerned from synchronic data that are separated by a space of 2 to 3 decades. Thus, this study is a methodological attempt to handle differently reported information on the same dialects with a view to exploring historical information form synchronic data.