Chinese Dialect Geography: Distinguishing Mandarin and Wu in Their Boundary Region 江淮官话与吴语边界的方言地理学研究.
Richard VanNess Simmons, with Shi Rujie 石汝杰 and Gu Qian 顾黔.
This volume is an atlas and analysis of the findings of a multi-year project investigating the boundary between Wu and Jiang-Hwai Mandarin dialects that was supported by the Luce Foundation. It includes:
• A village-by-village examination of the transition zone between Mandarin and Wú dialects in Jiāngsū Province. This is the most finely detailed a picture of the boundary between dialects that has ever been drawn.
• A clear and incontrovertible test and confirmation of the thesis that Mandarin and Wú dialects can be identified and defined by their adherence to their own common dialect systems.
• Detailed data and descriptions of various transition zone types that characterize the boundary between Mandarin and Wú: gradual wave zones, abrupt boundary zones, mixed regions, and dialect islands.
• Over 80 color maps that plot dialect data from over 400 sites and illustrate the transition zones across several counties from southeastern to southwestern Jiāngsū.
• Delineation and description of the Chinese dialect transition zones through a detailed look at the isoglosses, isogloss bundles, vowel shifts, and lexical diffusion found within them.
• A concrete illustration of, and phonological explanation for, the development of voiceless aspirated obstruents in Mandarin dialects from an historical voiced form.
• A description and outline of the Common Southern Jiāng-Huái phonological system.
分别从语音、基本词汇、语法特点等方面，选择了对内具有代表性对外具有区别民生的、有利于进行比较研究口语词汇，反复斟酌，数易其稿，设计了两种词汇调查表：439个词的简表和1900个词的详表。一方面可以调查方言词汇，另一方面可以通过词汇的口语音，整理出语音系统，从而全面真实地反映当地方言的实际情况和历史层次。有些音或者一些特殊的语音现象只残存在某些口语词中，如果只用字表去调查就可能遗漏，因而此举可以弥补单字音调查的不足。这也正是我们决定采用词汇调查表，而不直接用字表去调查的原因。我们在词汇表的设计过程中，为了记录到方言完整的音系，充分考虑了方言音系代表序，因此词汇调查表里实际上隐含了一个常用字表。
