The vower variations in vowels in the Sa Huỳnh subdialect (Đức Phổ county, Quảng Ngãi province)

Abstract

This paper describes the variation in vowels of local subdialect spoken in Phổ Khánh commune, Đức Phổ county, Quảng Ngãi province in central Vietnam by the discribing and comparing the phonetics of this subdialect to other subdialects of Quảng Ngãi dialect. Sa Huỳnh subdialect records very unique cases of variation of nucleus in rhymes, compared to other subdialects of Quảng Ngãi dialect. This study aims to clarify the complex phonetic change of a subdialect of Quảng Ngãi dialect, and at the same time point out the rule of sound change of the Nam – Ngãi subdialect area. Besides the evidence of the change of vowels which are the main change trends of the entire Nam – Ngãi subdialect area (such as diphthong vowel become monophthong, the change of monophthong when combined with labial or velar coda), Sa Huỳnh subdialect also shows complex changes of vowels in rhymes with final semi-vowels or stop consonants.