Abstract: A thorough description is made of Xiaonan dialect’s phonetics by means of on-the-spot investigation and the methodology of descriptive linguistics. According to the methodology of comparative linguistics, a comparison is made diachronically between Xiaonan dialect and phonetic pattern of Middle Ancient Period and a comparison is also made synchronically between Xiaonan dialect and Hankou dialect, between Xiaonan dialect and standard Chinese. These comparisons lead to the conclusion that in the system of consonants, vowels and tones, there are correspondent laws between Xiaonan dialect and phonetic modes of Middle Ancient Period, and so are made between Xiaonan dialect and standard Chinese. Therefore the phonetic features of Xiaonan dialect are exposed to us.
The article is divided into the following parts:
In the introduction, it mainly tells something about the cultural and geographical background and the survey of Dialect in Xiaonan area.
The first part is about the description of the system of consonants, vowels and tones and the combinatory rules of consonants, vowels and tones in Xiaonan dialect.
The second part is about the tables of Chinese characters with homophone. There is a comparatively fuller collection of the commonly-used characters in Xiaonan dialect. There is also a collection of non-standard forms of Chinese characters and some sounds without the forms of Chinese characters in such a dialect.
The third part is about the description of the laws for consistent tonal modification, light tones, variant pronunciation of one character in the vernacular and classical Chinese, and the phonetic phenomenon with Chinese sound “-er” not as an independent syllable but as the combined syllable with the pre-positioned retroflexed vowels. A large list of exemplary words is offered here to make it much clearer.
The fourth part is focused on the detailed comparison between Xiaonan dialect and the phonetic pattern of Middle Ancient Period in such three aspects as consonants, vowels and tones to show the correspondent laws in the forms of detailedly-made tables.
The fifth part is focused on the detailed comparison between Xiaonan dialect and standard Chinese in such three aspects as consonants, vowels and tones to show the correspondent laws in the forms of detailedly-made tables.
The sixth part is devoted to the summarization of Xiaonan dialect’s phonetic features in such three aspects as consonants, vowels and tones on the basis of the comparison between Middle Ancient Period phonetic patterns, standard Chinese and Hankou dialect.
The seventh part is about the discussion on three problems with the expectation of further study.
Key words: Xiaonan dialect; phonetic system; characters with homophone; allophone; variant pronunciation of one character in the vernacular and classical Chinese; synchronic study; diachronic study; phonetic features.
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