Readers 读者
On the tonemic system and bianyin in the Fuzhou dialect
福州方言的声调系统和变韵
Hihsao Hirayama 平山久雄
Abstract 摘要
This article is an analysis, from the phonemic point of view, of the vowel alternations occurring with some tonemes called Bianyin in the Fuzhou Dialect. The author divides the tonemes of the dialect into the glottalized and unglottalized groups, and presumes that the glottalization, originally being a device to distinguish the lower falling tones from the higher, made the vowels lower or back, thus resulted in the Bianyin. He divides the Bianyin into the phonetic Bianyin and the phonemic Bianyin, the former being only phonetic variations of vowels, while the latter having already evolved to morpho-phonemic alternations. The phonemic Bianyin will be maintained even after the glottalized tonemes lose their glottalization and change to high tones, the Bianyin in some Northern Mindong dialects would be an example. Finally, the author offers some critical remarks on the opinion that would treat Bianyin as a case of lexical diffusions.
Subject Keywords 关键词
Fuzhou dialect 福州方言 Bianyin 变韵 Glottalization 紧喉 Phonemic interpretation 音位解释