The Mechanism and the Direction of Syllabic Final Variants of the Eastern Min Dialects
Based on the recent phenomenon of final variants in the town of Minqing Bandong(坂东)in eastern Min dialects,through acoustic analysis,we find that the final variants have different length structures between different tones.On the basis of the acoustic analysis of diphthongs in two representative dialects in southern and northern zone of Min dialects including Fuzhou(福州),Lianjiang(连江),Ningde(宁德)and Zhouning(周宁),we propose that the influence of tones on vowel duration comes first,subsequently the change of the vowel length leads to an increase or decrease in its loudness.Therefore,it may also be said that the tone affects the length of the vowel and that the relative loudness of the vowel is related to vowel length.So the tone,the length and loudness of vowel are the three factors which constitute the mechanism of the e-mergence of final variants.Finally,with reference to the common characteristics and historical evolution of eastern Min dialects,the article summarizes the basic rules of final variants in two types,i.e.the head com-ponent expansion and the end component expansion whereby the final variant developing in different directions according to the different tone condition.
eastern Min dialectsfinal variantsmechanism and the direction of sound change
万方数据
维普
