A quantitative model in dialect subgrouping: The case of modern Wu dialects
Lu, Zhiji
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/20091
Description
Title
A quantitative model in dialect subgrouping: The case of modern Wu dialects
Author(s)
Lu, Zhiji
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Cheng, Chin-Chuan
Department of Study
Linguistics
Discipline
Linguistics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Language, Linguistics
Language, Modern
Language
eng
Abstract
This thesis is intended to present a new model for the comparative study of dialects with the quantitative measurements, and under this new model, the subgrouping of the Modern Wu dialects, one of the major groups of Chinese dialects, is carried out, based on the syllable initials.
An overview is given on the previous approaches in the literature of the dialectology--namely, the traditional approach, structural approach and generative approach. Each approach has been applied to the case of the Wu dialects to accomplish the task of subgrouping. But none of them can overcome the difficulty of synthesizing the isoglosses, since they ignore the concrete processes of sound changes, and thus fails to determine the degree of associations among a number of related dialects. To study the sound change in process, based on the theory of lexical diffusion, initials a new route for quantitative study into dialect comparison.
Following the methodology in Hsieh (1977), Cheng (1982), Lu and Cheng (1985), Cheng (1986, 1988), Lu (1986a, 1987a, 1987b, 1987c, 1988, 1989, 1990), the thesis proposes a new model, namely, the systematic quantitative comparative model. Since sound change is carried out by means of lexical items, the comparison of quantity of the influenced lexical items in the course of sound change will reveal the degree and scope of sound change in process. Under this new model, the syllable initials of more than 2,700 characters pronounced in 33 localities of the Wu dialects are collected and grouped with the reference of the Ancient Chinese to provide a large database for the systematic comparison. Then, the procedure designed for dialect comparison, which includes correlational analysis, cluster analysis and principal components analysis, is followed to carry out the subgrouping of these 33 localities. The results are presented and discussed.
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