Gong’an: The ‘Changing’ Yinping and Qusheng

In Gong’an, falsetto occurs in the MC Yinping group. While it is applied to produce some of the MC Yinping members or all of them in some varieties, it is not used in the other varieties. Besides the MC Yinping, the MC Rusheng and Qusheng of Gong’an varieties also demonstrate intense evolution by maintaining as independent tones or merging with others. The uni- and di-phonational tone systems co-exist in Gong’an, and their tone numbers range from four to six. The variants and variations of Yinping and Qusheng in Gong'an indicate a process of tonal adjustments after the disappearance of falsetto, which throws light on the tonal flip-flop between Yinping and Qusheng on the Jianghan Plain.