Author: Shuxiang You

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13:

This dissertation examines the phonological system of the Fuzhou dialect within the framework of prosodic phonology. It is divided into three parts. Chapter I and Chapter II belong to the first part. Chapter I presents a short introduction to the Fuzhou dialect and a brief review of some previous studies on this dialect. Chapter II introduces the theory of prosodic phonology, and provides the descriptive background on the phonological system of the Fuzhou dialect. The second part is composed of six chapters. From Chapter III to Chapter VIII, I discuss one by one, in detail, different prosodic constituents in terms of their definition and role(s) in the Fuzhou dialect, including the syllable, the foot, the prosodic word, the clitic group, the phonological phrase, and the intonational phrase. The third part (Chapter IX) summarizes the discoveries and conclusions drawn in this dissertation. There are three major issues regarding prosodic constituents discussed in this dissertation: (a) whether these constituents exist and play a role in the phonological system of the Fuzhou dialect; (b) how to define the domain formation of these constituents in the Fuzhou dialect; and (c) what kinds of Fuzhou phonological phenomena make crucial reference to these constituents as the domain of application. The second part of this dissertation is a detailed investigation of these issues. First of all, on the basis of the discussion of Fuzhou phonological rules, including phonological tone sandhi (TS), morphological tone sandhi (MTS), final alternation (FA), final change (FC), and initial consonant lenition (CL), this dissertation provides empirical evidence for the existence of most universal prosodic constituents in the Fuzhou dialect. Second, through the analyses of these prosodic constituents, this dissertation proves that the domains of different constituents in this dialect are defined by making use of different types of phonological and non-phonological information. Third, this dissertation demonstrates that different Fuzhou phonological phenomena refer to different prosodic constituents as the domain of application—a particular phenomenon may be triggered within one domain while blocked within another, and one phonological phenomenon that applies within more than one domain may exhibit different degrees of application. Moreover, I propose a restriction on rule application for the Fuzhou dialect, which suggests that when a domain is contained in another domain, a given phenomenon specific to the external domain may not freely be triggered within the embedded domain. With its focus on the prosodic phonology of the Fuzhou dialect, this dissertation not only explores the phonological system of this dialect, but also probes the interactions between phonology and other components of the grammar of this dialect. Thus many aspects of this dialect, such as its phonology, morphology, syntax, and even semantics, are all discussed in this dissertation. As the first attempt to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Fuzhou phonological system from the perspective of prosodic phonology, I hope that this dissertation will provide a thorough description and analysis of the phonological system of the Fuzhou dialect, and will further our understanding of prosodic phonology in general.