Rounded and unrounded vowel layering in zhenshe hekou cognates in the Yue dialects = 臻攝合口字在粵語今讀元音圓唇及展唇層次的分析研究

Abstract

Zhēnshè is one of the sixteen finals in the Guǎngyùn system. The pronunciation of its hékǒu (rounded) cognates is intricate in Yuè Dialect. Previous research on Guangzhou dialect indicated that the vowel property can be either unrounded or rounded in a word of Zhēnshè hékǒu Division-I with coronal initial. The same group of words with bilabial initials share the same property, such as [pɐn1] for奔 ‘to run’, [pʻun2] for 盆 ‘basin’, and [pʻɐn5] for 噴 ‘to spray’, reflecting a mix of unrounded and rounded vowels in this group of words in Guangzhou. On the other hand, earlier research pointed out that Zhēnshè hékǒu turned into unrounded in other Yuè dialects. This study aims to summarize the vowel features of Zhēnshè Hékǒu cognates in Yuè dialects and examine the property as well as the induction of sound change that led to the foregoing mix. By comparing 10 representative Yuè dialects, it was found that the mix of unrounded and rounded vowels of Zhēnshè Hékǒu cognates is a common characteristic of Yuè regardless of the phonological environment. Chosen Yuè varieties in Guangxi showed variants with either an unrounded or rounded vowel in a single Zhēnshè Hékǒu word. These findings proposed that the sound change of Zhēnshè Hékǒu in Yuè is contact-induced. This study further scrutinized the phonological traits of 1) ancient cognates in Zhēnshè Hékǒu which are actively used in modern Yuè but obsolete and 2) the cognates of substratum in Yuè, to analyze the strata of Zhēnshè Hékǒu in Yuè. On the content of historical contact, it is found that the reflexes of Zhēnshè Hékǒu in Yuè consist of three strata, in ascending order colloquial rounded stratum, unrounded stratum, and literary rounded stratum, in which the unrounded stratum caused the mix of unrounded and rounded vowels in this bunch of words in Yuè. With the analysis of the geographical pattern of the reflexes, it is indicated that the unrounded stratum, which might be formed in Tang or Song dynasties, spread from other Hàn dialects in the North of Yuè to cover the rounded stratum, and the literary rounded stratum is still diffusing westward the Pearl River Delta, covering the unrounded stratum. Regarding modern contact, immigrants from the Pearl River Delta can be the rationale for the variants with either an unrounded or rounded vowel in Guangxi. This study offers a methodological contribution to the analysis of language strata and sound change. It provides the feasibility of applying dialect geography in the investigation of language strata by distinguishing different stratum with different diffusion patterns. It expands the methodology by demonstrating the use of ancient cognates and cognates of substratum in strata studies.