An Experimental Analysis on Degree Adverb “Hen” of Yuanjiang Dialect Xiang Chinese

Abstract

This paper examines the phonetic properties of the degree adverb “hen” in Yuanjiang dialect (YJD hereafter) with empirical data from local people. Three sets of parameters, i.e. fundamental frequency (F0), duration and tone value (T-value), were analyzed. The degree adverb “hen” in YJD can be used as not only an adverbial but also a complement, and the sound of “hen” varies with syntactic functions and semantics. The results show that “hen” as an adverbial can be read as both “[xei45]” which means “very” and “[xei21]” which implies nearly no practical meaning, and that “hen” being a complement is uttered as “[xei41]”, indicating the meaning of “very” but carrying higher degree and stronger intonation than “[xei45]”. According to phonetic experiments, the sound change of “hen” in YJD lies in the change of tone value without transforming the initial consonant and vowel. Such phonetic phenomenon of ‘‘hen” in YJD is neither literal and colloquial readings nor tone sandhi, but a polyphonic phenomenon caused by internal inflexion.