The formation of Lingnan linguistic traits : typological structures and diachronic issues

Abstract

This thesis explores and analyses the many phonological/phonetic and morpho-syntactic features commonly shared by the various languages spoken in Lingnan, China, and explores the diachronic process of their formation over time, as well as their areally typological characteristics, in order to reveal the essence of Lingnan as a linguistic area. It is structured within the context of two research questions. One is how have the linguistic areal features of Lingnan been formed and what are the contributions of these traits to the determination of the nature of Lingnan as a linguistic area? For this issue, our main task is to find areal features that are relatively sufficiently weighted, reflect the direction of development in the terminal centuries, and are most centered in Lingnan, to constitute evidence for such a linguistic area. The other is which type of linguistic area Lingnan is, and what its essence is as a linguistic area. In terms of methodology, this thesis is mainly based on Lyle Campbell’s series theories of areal linguistics, emphasizing that geographical boundaries should not be set for areal features, but rather that each areal trait itself should be traced and explored, and the weight of each areal trait should be determined from the perspective of typological complexity as far as possible; In addition, the thesis combines a typological approach with a historical and diachronic perspective in order to analyse the process of the formation of Lingnan’s areal linguistic traits and to rationalise the essence of Lingnan as a linguistic area. Through a systematic analysis of over a dozen sound and morpho-syntactic traits in several representative language varieties of Sinitic and Kam-Tai, two research questions are finally answered as follows. First, the sole syllable structure CVXT shared by the mainstream Lingnan languages is an exclusive feature that is sufficiently weighty, represents a trend that has developed over the last few centuries, and is mainly distributed in this region, while most of the other linguistic traits are either not weighty enough or are distributed far beyond the Lingnan region, representing earlier features that have been diffused across China and Mainland Southeast Asian continent. Second, Lingnan as a linguistic area has a dual nature that reflects different periods of the historical diffusion of linguistic areal features. In terms of most areal traits, it constitutes a TSA (trait-sprawl area) as advocated by Campbell (2017: 28), which is essentially a borderline and overlapping area between the Mainland Southeast Asian linguistic area and the Sinitic linguistic area, reflecting the language changes caused by early language contact. However, if we look at a number of exclusive linguistic areal traits represented by the sole syllable structure CVXT which is a typologically complex feature, it belongs to LASS (linguistic area sensu stricto) advocated by Campbell (2017: 28), that is, it has arguably developed into a separate linguistic area in its own right, reflecting contact-induced changes of intra-Lingnan languages during the terminal centuries.