LINGUIST List 33.1034
Sun Mar 20 2022
Diss: Chinese; Genetic Classification; Historical Linguistics: Yutian Tan: ''Diss Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches''
Editor for this issue: Sarah Goldfinch <sgoldfinchlinguistlist.org>
Date: 07-Mar-2022
From: Yutian Tan <tanyutian
gmail.com>
Subject: Diss Title: Classifying Siyi Cantonese Using Quantitative Approaches
E-mail this message to a friend 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:
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.
Page Updated: 20-Mar-2022