Typology of the Ru tone development in the dialect border area in Northeast Jiangsu

Phonetic change of the Ru tone and its extinction was a significant event in the history of Chinese phonology.Therefore,investigating the development of the Ru tone in modern Chinese dialects will contribute to the historical study of Chinese phonology as well as to the present state of Chinese dialects.The geographical varieties of dialectal features usually reflect the development of language.Especially in the dialect transition zone,many varieties of linguistic features have been produced,and then have disappeared.We can reconstruct the process of language development through observing the synchronic distribution of these dialectal varieties.Lianyungang city,which locates in Northeast Jiangsu and comprises several counties under its jurisdiction,such as Ganyu,Donghai,Haizhou,Guanyun,is a dialectal border area of major dialects: Jianghuai Mandarin,Zhongyuan Mandarin and Jiaoliao Mandarin.It is also a transition area where the Ru tone is tending to disappear.In this area,we can witness various types of the Ru tone changes,which are also diversified and complex in terms of manner and direction of their changes.From the aspect of phonological category of tones,we can distinguish three types of the dialects: 'northern dialect','southern dialect' and 'border dialect',besides,there are also two situations to be discussed independently.From the aspect of phonetic value of tones,we can distinguish four types of its system: A,B,C and D.Especially we will focus on the two topics;the short tone and the long tone existing in the B and C types,besides those in the D type;the distinction of yinping,shang and ru tones.For both topics,we will demonstrate the complexity of phonetic tone values based on the results of the phonetic experiment.In addition,some related topics such as the merger of rhymes having the Ru tone,de-Ru tone changes and alternative readings are also worthy of our attention and discussion.The changes in terms of tone categories,their phonetic values as well their rhymes interrelate with each other,exhibiting the diversity of the Ru tone changes in this region.