Un dialecte du nord Jiangxi : Wuning

Abstract

The dialect of Wuning city is spoken in the Xiu river valley in northwestern Jiangxi. In it, the voiced obstruent initials of Middle Chinese have undergone an unusual type of devoicing: aspirated in a subset of tone B, unaspirated elsewhere, with a difference in tonal treatment between the aspirated and unaspirated sets of reflexes in tone B. The division 3 palatal medials are preserved after Middle Chinese palatal sibilants and retroflex stops ; the old vowel contrasts between rimes ^'^ and Щ , .$ . and /^ , **& and ^- are in part preserved ; the lexicon is also conservative.