On the pronunciation of entering tone characters in Ganquan and Yanchang dialects in northern Shaanxi

In Ganquan and Yanchang dialects in Northern Shaanxi,the entering-tone characters in middle ancient times are read largely in non-abrupt tone nowadays,with the exception of some characters still retaining the original entering tone.In comparing Suide and Qingjian dialects,among others, on initial consonants and simple/compound vowels,this paper lists the characters still read in entering tone in the modern dialects,and sums up the types and laws in the evolution of entering- tone characters in northern Shaanxi dialects.It also discusses the context in which these entering- tone characters are preserved,and proposes a theory on the two dialects' attribution in dialectal classification.