Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book studies Jin dialects in Northern Shaanxi with a focus on the dialects of seven counties along the Yellow River from north to south, they are: Fugu, Shenmu, Jia County, Wubu, Suide, Qingjian, and Yanchuan. There are extremely valuable language resources in northwest China. As the most ancient dialects in northwest China and “Mountain Dialects of Northern Dialects”, Jin dialects in Northern Shaanxi hold unique value to researchers. Dialectal description is synchronic and static while dialect comparative research belongs to historical linguistics. Diachronic studies analyze the findings from studies of modern Chinese and verify some important grammatical features and elements.