Abstract: This thesis discusses the structural change of syllable pattern from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese and from Middle Chinese to modern Mandarin. Referring to the theory of "distinctive features", especially two pairs of features, i.e. acute vs. grave and plain vs. flat, we provide several cases to exemplify the effect of acute or grave initial consonant or medial on final main vowel, and the effect on each other of initial consonant and final main vowel. These cases show the significance of structural analysis for Chinese historical phonology.

Key words: structural analysis, distinctive feature, Chinese phonology, acute vs. grave, plain vs. flat