33.1034, Diss: Chinese; Genetic Classification; Historical Linguistics: Yutian Tan: ''Diss Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches''

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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-1034. Sun Mar 20 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.1034, Diss: Chinese; Genetic Classification; Historical Linguistics: Yutian Tan: ''Diss Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches''

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Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2022 03:17:46
From: Yutian Tan [tanyutian at gmail.com]
Subject: Diss Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches

 
Institution: Ohio State University 
Program: Department of East Asian Languages and Literature 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2017 

Author: Yutian Tan

Dissertation Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches 

Dissertation URL:  https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_olink/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accessio

Linguistic Field(s): Genetic Classification
                     Historical Linguistics

Language Family(ies): Chinese


Dissertation Director(s):
Marjorie Chan

Dissertation Abstract:

Siyi Cantonese is spoken in the southwestern Pearl River Delta region of the
Guangdong Province of China. It has not received much attention from
researchers, especially with respect to its internal variation. This
dissertation fills this gap and conducts a detailed study of the varieties
spoken at seven Siyi dialect points. The study is conducted from both
synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The seven Siyi dialect points are
Doumen, Jiangmen, Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping, Enping, and Heshan. Quantitative
methods, such as Levenshtein distance, cluster analysis and multidimensional
scaling (MDS), are employed to measure dialect distance and visualize the
classification results. In the synchronic study, classifications among the
seven Siyi dialects are conducted by using phonological and lexical criteria.
In the phonological classification, dialect distance is calculated at the
segment-tone and feature levels. For each level, three phonological traits are
adopted as the classification criteria: 1) consonants and vowels; 2) tones;
and 3) combination of consonants, vowels and tones. In the lexical
classification, 63 lexical items from the Swadesh list of 100 core vocabulary
items are adopted as the classification criteria. Two major findings can be
observed from the cluster trees and MDS maps of the synchronic classification
results. First, Heshan is the most marginal member within Siyi; second, with
Heshan excluded, the remaining six Siyi dialects can be divided into two major
clusters. Cluster 1 consists of Taishan and Kaiping, while Cluster 2 consists
of Xinhui, Jiangmen, Doumen, and Enping. Within Cluster 2, Enping is
phonologically the most marginal member, whereas Jiangmen is lexically the
most marginal member. As is evident in the synchronic classification,
historical, social and geographical factors have affected phonological and
lexical traits in the territory where Siyi dialects are spoken. The diachronic
study of Siyi dialects contains two major sections. The first section presents
two examples of historical sound changes in Taishan and Xinhui dialects. The
first example is found in the sibilant initial consonants and a set of three
sound changes from postalveolar to alveolar that can be observed in affricates
and fricatives. The second example of sound change deals with the syllabic
nasal, with its place of articulation changing from velar to bilabial. The
diachronic classification uses seven historical sound changes in a specific
group of Siyi’s initial consonants as the criteria. The diachronic result
divides Siyi into two major clusters: Cluster 1 consists of Kaiping, Heshan,
Taishan, and Doumen, while Cluster 2 consists of Jiangmen, Xinhui, and Enping.
The members of Cluster 1 generally have a closer relationship to one another
than do the members of Cluster 2. A diachronic tree is constructed that plots
the genetic relationship of the seven Siyi dialects. I propose that the
arising time of the parent of Kaiping and Heshan is potentially from the 17th
to the 18th century, whereas the arising time of the parent of Taishan,
Kaiping and Heshan is potentially from the late 15th to the 17th century; this
is determined by reviewing the decreeing history of some Siyi districts.




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