THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE STRATA IN LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: THREE HAINAN MIN DIALECTS

Intrigued by the various special features displayed in three Hainan Min dialects, the author of this paper has tried to figure out the role of stratification in language development. I have identified three main phonological strata for the words under examination, and have pointed out that the proto-forms of the Hainan Min are not homogeneous in nature. Competition and diffusion among different strata do not always result in similar developments in every dialect. The same word may have been derived from an older stratum in one dialect, but from a new stratum in another. In my attempt to define the rules underlying the competition, I make use of the notion ＂basic words＂. The paper concludes with an observation that in order to adequately account for the development of Chinese dialects the traditional family-tree model needs further modification.