Sustainability of Ulanqab Jin: From Attitude to Phonology Restricted; Files Only
Huang, Yanlin (Spring 2024)
Abstract
Jin, a Sinitic language, is spoken in Northern China, including the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Over the centuries, Jin has spread due to population migration. However, like many other Chinese topolects, it now faces the risk of being influenced or even replaced by Standard Mandarin, the national official language.
The status of non-official topolects is relatively understudied, and Jin is no exception. This research aims to study the population of Ulanqab, a town in Inner Mongolia where Jin is a traditional language. The study consists of a 22-question survey about people's language attitudes and usage, and a wordlist containing 544 characters, 3 sentences, 3 questions, and 2 free speaking sessions.
The survey results and sound clips from 128 participants are analyzed quantitatively to identify potential correlations between certain traits and Jin. The findings reveal a decline in Jin usage within the Ulanqab population. This decline correlates negatively with education and urbanization, and its use is mostly confined to informal settings. Even daily Jin speakers display Mandarinization in allophones and loss in phonemes. This can indicate a foreseeing continuous decline of Jin.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1. Natural Language Change and Dialect Formation 1
1.2. Language Endangerment: 2
1.3 Chinese Topolects and their Current Status 4
1.4 Differentiation between Literary and Colloquial Reading 5
1.5 Motivation 6
1.6 Research Question and Hypothesis 7
Chapter 2: Background 8
2.1 Language Attitude in China 8
2.2 Jin Chinese and its Current Status 9
2.3 Jin in Inner Mongolia 12
Chapter 3: Methodology 14
3.1 Participants 14
3.2 Procedure 17
3.3 Analytic Methods 21
Chapter 4. Sociolinguistic Phenomenons in Ulanqab 22
4.1 Language Use 22
4.1.1 Language Use by Age 22
4.1.2 Language Use by Gender 26
4.1.3 Language Use by Degree Completed 30
4.1.4 Language Use by Income 33
4.1.5 Language Use by Location 35
4.1.6 Language Use by Language of Instruction 38
4.1.7 Self Evaluation of Language Proficiencies 40
4.2 Language Attitude 41
4.2.1 Language Attitude by Age 41
4.2.2 Language Attitude by Gender 44
4.2.3 Language Attitude by Degree Completed 46
4.2.4 Language Attitude by Income 50
4.2.5 Language Attitude by Location 53
4.2.6 Language Attitude by Language of Instruction 54
Chapter 5: Language Change in Ulanqab Jin 56
5.1 Consonants of Ulanqab Jin 56
5.2 Phonological Change 61
5.2.1 Variations in Nasal Velar Onsets 61
5.2.2 Variations in Voiced Alveolar Fricatives 62
5.2.3 Variations in Voiceless Alveolo-palatal Fricative and Affricate 63
5.2.4 Ying, Ning or Ngeng 65
5.2.5 Fenyinci 66
Chapter 6: Conclusions 68
6.1 Survey Interpretations 68
6.2 Phonology Interpretations 70
6.3 Conclusion 70
Chapter 7: Limitations and Future Studies 71
7.1 Recruiting Difficulty 71
7.2 Quality and Quantity of Survey Questions 73
7.3 Limitations on Wordlist 75
7.4 Further Studies 75
Appendix A: Survey Questions: 77
Appendix B: Wordlist Type 1 81
Appendix C: Wordlist Type 2 83
Bibliography 86
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File download under embargo until 24 May 2026 | 2024-04-16 12:07:57 -0400 | File download under embargo until 24 May 2026 |
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