I engaged myself in the investigation of the phonetic system of Ju-kao dialect, for this dialect is my native language and I used it to talk with my parents in my family.
This report was divided into two parts: The first part is a phonetic and phonological study of the dialect of Ju-kao. The second part is a comparative study of it with historical phonology, Wu dialect and Eastern Mandarin.
Ju-kao is a district of the province of Chiang-su, and its dialect is spoken between the two large dialect groups of Wu and Eastern Mandarin. I hope to determine which group this dialect should belong to.
On the basis of my pronounciation, I conclude that in the dialect of Ju-kao there are sixteen consonant phonemes, eight vowel phonemes and six tones as follows:
Consonant phonemes:
/ p p' m f
t t' n l
ts ts' s r
k k' N h /
Vowel phonemes:
/ i i, y u
e o
□
a /
Tones:
1) The low level tone (」 11).
2) The high rising tone (□ 35).
3) The high glide tone (□ 424).
4) The mid-high tone (□ 44).
5) The short mid-high tone (□ 44).
6) The short high rising tone (□ 35).
From the above-mentioned comparative study, I determined this dialect belong to Wu dialect, and have some influence by Eastern Mandarin.