On the Evolution of Dialect Initial Consonants in the Zhongyuan Mandarin in Shanyang County from the Mid-ancient Pronunciation
With the Mid-ancient Pronunciation as a reference,this study explored the evolution of the dialect initial consonants in the Zhongyuan Mandarin in Shanyang County,Shaanxi Province,and summarized the characteristics of its evolution.Several trends have emerged:the devoicing of the MC voiced initials,a lack of distinction between jian-tuan sounds,no mixture between"Ni"and"Lai"ini-tial consonants,a clear distinction between flat and curled tongue sounds,partial palatalization of cer-tain sounds,a significant increase in the number of syllables with zero initials,the introduction of epen-thesis in initial Ying,and the influences of tones on some evolutionary processes.