| dc.description.abstract | The research focuses on the Fengshun dialect in Bangkok, Thailand, investigating the phonetic and vocabulary difference performed by the emigrants of Fengshun County, Mainland China, who came to Bangkok and encountered the different spatial and temporal background from their motherland. Except Fengshun dialect, there are many Hakka dialects existing in Bangkok such as the Meixian dialect, Xingning dialect, Dapu dialect and others. These Hakka dialects have contacted with each other and mutually influenced while the Chaozhou dialect has also been widely used among most of Chinese people. No matter what kind of mother tongue these emigrants have, they share the same official language, the Thai language. Meanwhile, the frequent contact between different phonetics also results in various changes of these dialects.
The research is divided into six chapters. Chapter one is an introduction, illuminating the motivation and goal of the research, methodological approaches, references and geographical overview of the locations where the dialects are investigated. Chapter two gives explanation of the phonetic system and, based on the studied language materials, analyzes the consonants, vowels and tones of the Fengshun dialect in Bangkok to organize the dialect’s phonetic system. Chapter three explores the evolution and development of the Fengshun dialect in Bangkok by comparing the phonetic variations of today’s Fengshun dialect with the phonetics of the medieval Fengshun dialect according to the 16 vowels and four tones—level, rising, departing and entering. Chapter four deduces the phonetic characteristics of Bangkok’s Fengshun dialect and the local phonetic variation. Chapter five compares the vocabularies of the Fengshun dialect in Bangkok, Meixian dialect in Bangkok, Hepo dialect in China’s Jiexi County, Shuizhai dialect in Wuhua County and Raoyang dialect in Fujian, as a way of exploring the special vocabularies in the areas that have similar geographical backgrounds. Chapter six as a conclusion presents the results and deficiencies of the research.
The Fengshun dialect in Bangkok carries the following phonetic characteristics: (1) in terms of consonant: different pronunciations for the consonants of “ri,” “ying” and [j]-initial as well as “xiao” and “xia” initials. (2) In terms of vowel: correspondence of the first- and second-class vowels “o: a”; conservatization of “jian” compositions; existence of the fricatives in the third-class “zhi” and “zhang” compositions; proliferation of the fricatives in the second-class “jian” and “xiao” compositions of “xian” and “shan” vowels. (3) In terms of tone: exceptions such as that the voiced rising is pronounced as the dark level, that the sonorant level is pronounced as the dark level and that the entering with the voiceless consonant is pronounced in lower tone while the voiced consonant is pronounced in higher tone.
In terms of vocabulary, by comparing with the areas that have the similar geographical backgrounds, the research discovers that parts of vocabularies carry the local characteristics and have some connection with the Chaozhaou dialect. Based on the study results, the research concludes that, in terms of phonetics and vocabulary, the diverse linguistic background within Bangkok makes the dialects experience little phonetic variation and maintain their primitive appearances even after mutually contact and influence. | en_US |