Translation: Southern Wu 4.6
Translation of chapter 4 section 6 of 曹志云 (2002) 南部吴语语音研究. The original is at the bottom.
4.6 Semantic tone change
In contrast with phonological and grammatical tone change, semantic tone change uses tone change to achieve a particular semantic purpose. In Southern Wu, diminutive tone change is representative of semantic tone change. The majority of dialects select a high tone to mark diminutives, showing that there is close relationship between tone level and diminutive semantics. For example, in Qingyuan dialect, “农” is pronounced with citation tone ①L [52] ([noŋ52]) when is means person, and when it is pronounced with diminutive tone [55] ([noŋ55]), it means “picture”. Diminutive tone change is discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.
Besides diminutive tone change, the phenomenon of “internal winding” also displays the semantic function of tone change. In Southern Wu, tone-internal winding is rather common. Here we take a few examples from Tangxi dialect (which do not include cases of semantic distinctions that arise from differences between phonological tone change and grammatical or diminutive tone change).
| 毛 | mə11 | n. feather |
| mə24 | v. drizzle | |
| 木 | mɔ113 | n. wood |
| mɔ55 | adj. numb | |
| 扦 | tshie24 | v. poke in |
| tshie52 | n. fence | |
| 坑 | kha24 | n. a canal |
| kha52 | 1) n. a gutter; 2) v. drain | |
| 爷 | iɑ11 | father (in compounds) |
| iɑ52 | grandfather | |
| 腰 | iə24 | waist |
| iə535 | kidney | |
| 老师 | lə113-11zɿ24 | craftsman |
| lə113-52sɿ24-0 | teacher | |
| 大农 | dɤ341-113nɑo11-0 | adult |
| dɤ341-11nɑo11 | elders, esp. grandparents | |
| 后日 | əɯ113-11ȵiei113 | after |
| əɯ113ȵiei113-0 | the day after tomorrow | |
| 六月 | lɔ113ȵiɤ113-0 | 1) June; 2) summer |
| lɔ113-11ȵiɤ113 | summer | |
| 清楚 | tshei24-33tshu535 | clear |
| tshei24tshu535-0 | clean, refreshing | |
| 前后 | z-sie11-33əɯ113 | before and after |
| z-sie11-33əɯ113-24 | anyway |
Unedited OCR of original:
语义变调跟语音变调、语法变调相对而言，是利用声调的变化来达到特定的语义目的的现象。在南部吴语中，小称变调是一种典型的语义变调。多数方言均选择高调作为小称调，说明调值和小称意义之间具有密切的联系。例如庆元方言，“农”读本调阳平〔52 ] ( [ noiJ52 ] )时义为“人”，读小称调［551 ( [ nor355 ]）时就是“画儿”的意思。小称变调问题将放在第五章里专门详细讨论。
除了小称变调以外，声调的“内部曲折’，现象也是声调语义功能的‘一种表现。在南部吴语里，声调的内部曲折现象比较多见。这里举一些汤溪方言的例子（不包括因语音变调与语法变调、小称变调的不同而区别意义的情况）。
毛ma 1‘名词：鸡一
m324动词，下（毛毛雨）：毛毛雨儿一来罢下起毛毛雨来了木M3 113名词：树一
mo55形容词，（冻致）麻木：脚冻冻一扦tslie24动词，插：一花
ts’ie5“名词，篱笆：一堵一
坑kh扩4名词，较大的水道，多指洗涤用的水道
kha52①名词，较小的水道。②动词，排（水）：点儿水一出去爷iall父亲：一娘
1×52爷爷
腰1a24腰部
1a535肾：猪一
A ZQO11形容词，庸碌无能：一货笨蛋
ZQ034‘一；iao 4‘名词，精液
弄1×0341窗
1xO24泛义动词，搞：一点儿钞票用用loll窗，含诙谐义
老师la 11，一，1 Z12‘工匠：剃头一
la113-525124-0教师：王一
大农dy34‘一“3nao11-0大人、成人：一欺小农儿，大人欺小孩儿
dy34，一‘Inao“长辈，多指公婆：渠眼里无一个她眼里没有尊长后日。w113-11 T)6iei113以后
aw113r}iei113-0后天
六月10 113 aiy113-0①六月份。②夏天
1×113-11 r& 113专指夏天
清楚tShei24-33tShu535清楚：账算一
tShei24tShu535-0清新、整洁：渠房里顶一他的房间最清洁前后Z-Sie11-33 aw113前和后：弗顾一不顾前不顾后
Z-Sle11-33 aU-1 113-24副词，反正：一来得及个，摇慌反正来得及，别急