The clustering of LD using phonemicised transcriptions is more consistent with historical comparative analysis chapters 3 to 5 which shows that Yang’an is indeed an outlier and actually
belongs to the Kam branch rather than the Sui branch. To test the validity of the clusters in figure 7.9, we produced a multidimensional scaling MDS plot based on LD calculated using the phonemicised
transcriptions. This is shown in figure 7.10. In terms of the distance between the PandongYang’an clusters and the Sandong cluster, both MDS plots are extremely similar. A simple calculation of
arithmetic means shows that the average LD of Pandong from all other lects is more than the Yang’an average when using phonetic transcriptions, whereas it is less than the Yang’an average when using
phonemic transcriptions.
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The difference is too small to be statistically significant. Perhaps the most obvious difference between the two MDS plots is that SW very clearly groups with
Southern in the second plot whereas its position is much less certain in the first plot. In other aspects distinct Yang’an and Pandong clusters, clear clustering of the other three Southern lects, and a
subclustering of TZ, SD and ZH, the two MDS plots are virtually identical. We can conclude, then, that phonemicised transcriptions produce just as meaningful clusters as narrow, phonetic transcriptions when
using LD, and that in some respects clusters based on phonemicised data are clearer and correlate more closely with historical analysis. Similar studies must be done on a variety of languages and dialects to
determine whether this is a chance result for Sui or whether it is generally true for all languages.
Figure 7.10. MDS plot of LDs based on phonemicised transcriptions.
7.4.3 Sandong SD and Zhonghe ZH: the most representative varieties
We also calculated the mean Levenshtein distance between each lect and all the other lects, shown in table 7.5. SD and ZH have the lowest mean LD among all the lects, irrespective of which type of
transcription was used, thus they could be said to be the most “representative varieties” from the perspective of their pronunciation. This agrees entirely with our historical and lexical analyses, which
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Using narrow, phonetic transcriptions, the mean LD of Pandong PD, JL to other lects is 0.1520 and the mean LD of Yang’an TN, BL to other lects is 0.1477. Using phonemicised transcriptions, the mean LD of Pandong PD, JL to
other lects is 0.1169 and the mean LD of Yang’an TN, BL to other lects is 0.1189.
consistently show Central Sui, and the SD variety in particular, to be the most representative. Thus the choice of the SD variety as the basis for a standardised Sui language is indisputably the best one.
The table also shows that the most phonetically divergent varieties are Pandong in particular the JL lect and Yang’an in particular the BL lect. Difficulties in comprehension between these varieties and
Sandong dialect varieties are therefore unsurprising see chapter 8. Table 7.5. Low and high mean LDs across all data lowest and highest figures shaded in grey
SD ZH
DJ SJ
RL …
PD TN
JL BL
Phonemic LD:
0.0549 0.0566 0.0581 0.0632 0.0638 … 0.0951 0.0959 0.0978 0.1005 Phonetic
LD: 0.0865 0.0865 0.0891 0.0949 0.0942 … 0.1284 0.1240 0.1330 0.1270
7.4.4 Cluster determinants
Gabmap allows the user to mine their LD analysis for “cluster determinants”. Cluster determinants are words whose pronunciations are particularly distinctive within a certain dialect cluster and can therefore
be said to “determine” that cluster in relation to the other clusters. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of this feature for the historical linguist, we applied it to our phonemicised transcriptions.
A selection of Southern Sui cluster determinants are shown in table 7.6. For all of these words, the Southern pronunciation is exclusively used by the four Southern lects JQ, SY, SW and JR. The most
common Southern cluster-determining pronunciations were: ʔd- instead of l- in words such as ‘single’ and
‘wild boar’; q- instead of p- in words such as ‘dove’ and ‘leg’; qʰ- instead of h- in words such as
‘grandchild’ and ‘to fear’; x- instead of kʰ- in words such as ‘net’ and ‘crispy’; and odd-numbered tones
instead of even-numbered tones in words such as ‘pear’ and ‘house’. These are the same features that Castro 2011 used to argue that Southern Sui is a separate dialect cluster and are consistent with our
findings in chapter 5 section 5.6.2.
Table 7.6. Southern Sui cluster determinants English
Southern pronunciation Pronunciation in other dialects ‘single’
ʔdaːu³ laːu³, haːu³
‘wild boar’ ʔdaːi⁵
laːi⁵ ‘dove’
qau² pau²
‘leg’ qa¹
pa¹ ‘grandchild’
qʰaːn¹ haːn¹
‘to fear’ qʰo¹
ho¹ ‘net’
xe¹ kʰe¹
‘crispy’ xim¹
kʰim¹ ‘pear’
ɣai¹ ɣai²
‘house’ ɣaːn¹
ɣaːn² ‘smell, odour’
poŋ⁵ puŋ⁵
‘steam’ pʰoŋ¹
pʰjuŋ¹ ‘moon’
njaːn² njen², nin², njan¹
‘ox’ mo⁴
po⁴ ‘pancreas’
m̥a⁵ n̥ja⁵, hja⁵
‘to cry’ ʔŋe³
ʔȵe³, ŋe³, ȵe³, ne³ ‘to sneeze’
ʔjan⁵ jan⁵, jen⁵, jən⁵
English Southern pronunciation Pronunciation in other dialects
‘Dwa festival’ ta³
twa³, tuə³, to³ We also found several cluster determinants for Eastern Sui dialects DJ, SJ, RL. These are given in
table 7.7. Key pronunciations which can be used to delineate Eastern Sui are: ᵐb- instead of ʔbj- or mj- in
words such as ‘bored’ and ‘female’; ⁿdj- instead of ʔdj-, ȶ- or k- in words such as ‘left over’ and ‘seedling’;
and hj- instead of ɕ- in words such as ‘toilsome’ and ‘green’. The former two features are the same as
those we found for Eastern Sui in our historical comparison chapter 5, section 5.6.3. The latter hj- ɕ-
alternation was also observed among selected speakers of Central and Western dialects, so we do not consider it to be a good cluster determinant.
Table 7.7. Eastern Sui cluster determinants English
Eastern subdialect pronunciation
Pronunciation in other dialects ‘bored’
ᵐbja⁵ ʔbja⁵, mja⁵
‘female’ ᵐbjaːk⁷
ʔbjaːk⁷, mjaːk⁷, ʔmiek⁷, ᵐbiak⁷ PD, ᵐbiek⁷ JL ‘otter’
ᵐbjaːn³ ʔbjaːn³, mjaːn³, ᵐbien³, vin³
‘left over’ ⁿdja¹
ʔdja¹, ȶa¹, ka¹ ‘seedling’
ⁿdja³ ʔdja³, ȶa³, ka³
‘toilsome’ hjen⁶
ɕen⁶ ‘green’
hju¹ ɕu¹, fu¹
‘morning’ hj
ət⁷ h
ət⁷, ɕat⁷, ɕit⁷, ɕət⁷ ‘to eat’
ȶe¹ tsje¹, ȶin¹, tsjen¹
‘dry’ ɕiu⁵
siu⁵, kʰiu⁵ We found very few reliable cluster determinants for the Central and Western Sui cluster SD, ZH,
TZ, AT, TP, perhaps because this geographically central area exhibits many traits of a dialect continuum and has more phonetic heterogeneity. We found only three words which successfully delimit the Central-
Western lects as an individual cluster. These are given in table 7.8 alongside three other words whose pronunciations are homogenous across Central-Western and DJ Sandu county Eastern Sui. The key
phonetic determinant for the Central-Western cluster is
ʔd- instead of ⁿd-, k- or q- in words such as ‘bright’ and ‘clothes’. This sound originates in PKS ql- which became q- in Southern Sui and
ʔd- everywhere else, before
ʔd- ⁿd- Pandong, Eastern l- Yang’an, leaving ʔd- in Central-Western Sui only see chapter 5.
Table 7.8. Central and Western Sui cluster determinants English
Central-Western pronunciation
Pronunciation in other dialects ‘bright’
ʔdaːŋ¹ ⁿdaːŋ¹, qaːŋ¹
‘clothes’ ʔduk⁷
ⁿduk⁷, kuk⁷, quk⁷ ‘hard’
ʔda³ ⁿda³, qa³
‘snow’ ʔnui¹ also DJ
ʔni¹, nui¹ ‘bear’
ʔmi¹ also DJ ʔmje¹, mi¹
‘to cry’ ʔȵe³ also DJ
ʔŋe³, ne³, ŋe³, ȵe³ Cluster determinants for Pandong dialect are shown in table 7.9. The key cluster-determining
phonetic characteristic of Pandong is the diphthong u ə in words such as ‘axe’, ‘smoke’, ‘thorn’, and
‘lungs’. Again, most of these sound changes have clear explanations from a historical perspective chapter 5.
Table 7.9. Pandong Sui cluster determinants English
Pandong pronunciation
Pronunciation in other dialects
‘axe’ ku
ən¹ kwaːn¹
‘smoke’ ku
ən² kwan²
‘thorn’ ⁿduən¹
ⁿdun¹ ‘lungs’
pu ət⁷
put⁷ ‘bean’
tau⁶ to⁶
‘cup’ ȶuŋ¹
tsuŋ¹ ‘right’
va¹ fa¹
‘to keep warm by a fire’ pʰjaːu⁵
pʰjaːu¹ Yang’an Sui is particularly distinctive and we found many cluster determinants. A selection is given
in table 7.10. Tonal determinants such as in ‘book’ and ‘chilli pepper’ are common, plus there are a host of variant onset and rime pronunciations which can be used to determine this cluster.
Table 7.10. Yang’an Sui cluster determinants English
Yang’an pronunciation
Pronunciation in other dialects
‘book’ le²
le¹ ‘chilli pepper’
ljaːn⁶ ljaːn⁵
‘to write’ ve⁶
va⁵ ‘intestines’
laːi³ haːi⁴
‘to pull up weeds’ ne¹
ne² ‘bamboo’
pan¹ fan¹, van¹
‘rain’ pjən¹
fən¹, vən¹ ‘bored’
mja⁵ ʔbja⁵, ᵐbja⁵
‘flat thin’ maːŋ¹
ʔbaŋ¹, ᵐbaːŋ¹ ‘butterfly’
ma³ ʔba³, ᵐba³
‘low’ tʰam⁵
ⁿdam⁵, tam⁵ ‘to cook’
tuŋ¹ ɕuŋ¹, hjuŋ¹, ljoŋ¹, hjoŋ¹
‘to ask’ tsaːi³
saːi³ ‘to eat’
ȶin¹ tsje¹, ȶe¹, tsjen¹
‘to walk’ ȶʰaːm³
saːm³ ‘to hurt’
kit⁷ ȶit⁷
‘before’ qun⁵
kon⁵ ‘single’
haːu³ laːu³, ʔdaːu³
These examples of cluster determinants corroborate the findings of our historical comparative analysis in chapters 3 to 5. They also illustrate how cluster determinants can draw immediate attention
to key sound differences, providing an excellent starting point for historical analysis.
7.5 Results of Sui and Kam dialect comparison