A case study of dialect contact of early Mandarin

Four descendants of Ming dynasty Nanjing Mandarin, namely, Tianjin, Yunnan, Tunpu and Jun, differ in the preservation of the phonological features in their common ancestral language. This paper discusses and compares the features of Nanjing Mandarin as preserved in these four dialects and considers the linguistic, social, psychological and geographical factors that influenced the divergent paths. The common features and individual differences resulting from the preservation or discard of features in the ancestral language are directly connected with the presence or absence of these factors.