Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (ABC Chinese Dictionary) (Chinese Edition)

449 Pages·2009·31.33 MB·English

by  Axel Schuessler

MINIMAL
OLD CHINESE
and LATER
HAN CHINESE
A Companion to
Grammata Serica Recensa
(cid:33)(cid:88)(cid:69)(cid:76)(cid:0)(cid:51)(cid:67)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:69)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:82)
ABC Chinese Dictionary
Minimal Old Chinese
and Later Han Chinese
ABC CHINESE DICTIONARY SERIES
Victor H. Mair, General Editor
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Axel Schuessler
Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion
to Grammata Serica Recensa
Axel Schuessler
Minimal Old Chinese
and Later Han Chinese
A Companion
to Grammata Serica Recensa
Axel Schuessler
University of Hawai'i Press
Honolulu
© 2009 University ofHawai'i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schuessler. Axel.
Minimal old Chinese and later Han Chinese : a companion to Grammata serica recensa / Axel Schuessler.
p. cm. - (ABC Chinese dictionary series)
ISBN 978-0-8248-3264-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Chinese language-Ancient Chinese. 600-1200-Phonology. 1. Karlgren. Bernhard. 1889-1978.
Grammata serica recensa. II. Title. III. Title: Companion to Grammata serica recensa.
PLl20l.S352009
940.54'4910943-dc22
2008061455
University of Hawai'i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and
meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Council on Library Resources.
Camera-ready copy prepared by the author.
Printed by Edwards Brothers. Inc.
CONTENTS
PREFACE ................................................................................................................. ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... xiii
GSC ENTRIES ......................................................................................................... xv
TRANSCRIPTIONS .................................................................................................. xix
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... xxi
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1
I APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF CHINESE .................................................. 1
1.1 Alphabetic records ........................................................................................ I
1.2 The comparative method and internal reconstruction ......................................... 2
1.3 The philological approach ............................................................................. 3
1.4 Segments of a Chinese syllable ....................................................................... 3
1.5 Ancient stages and dialects ............................................................................ 4
2 MIDDLE CHINESE AND THE QIEY(JN .............................................................. 5
2.1 The rime dictionary Qieyun ............................................................................ 5
2.2 MC notational systems .................................................................................. 6
2.3 Middle Chinese tones .................................................................................... 6
2.4 The QYS (MC) medials and 'Divisions' ~ ....................................................... 7
2.5 Problems with the Qieyun and Middle Chinese ................................................. 9
3 OLD CHINESE: PHONETIC SERIES .................................................................. 10
3.1 Composite graphs ....................................................................................... 10
3.2 The Xiesheng principle ................................................................................ II
3.3 Incongruous series ...................................................................................... 12
4 OLD CHINESE THROUGH INTERNAL RECONSTRUCTION ............................ 12
4.1 The distribution of QY initials ...................................................................... 12
4.2 MC initial y- .............................................................................................. 13
4.3 MC palatal initials ...................................................................................... 13
4.4 MC medial wand u ..................................................................................... 13
4.5 OC consonant clusters and *r ........................................................................ 14
4.6 OC syllable types A and B: QYS Div. III and medial yod .................................. 16
5 OLD CHINESE THROUGH THE XIESHENG SYSTEM ........................................ 17
5.1 I nitial consonants ....................................................................................... 17
5.2 Ch6ngniiJ doublets ...................................................................................... 20
5.3 OC sources of MC tones ............................................................................... 22
5.4 Summary of OC rimes ................................................................................. 25
5.5 Summary of OC initials ............................................................................... 26
6 MINIMAL OLD CHINESE: PRINCIPLES AND CRITERIA ................................... 27
7 LATER HAN CHINESE .................................................................................... 29
7.1 Phonemes .................................................................................................. 29
7.2 No consonant clusters .................................................................................. 29
v
CONTENTS
7.3 Palatalization of certain velar consonants ....................................................... 29
7.4 Tones and vowellength ............................................................................... 29
7.5 LHan Final -s ............................................................................................. 30
7.6 Vowel bending or warping ........................................................................... 30
8 HAN PERIOD SOURCES ON PHONOLOGy ....................................................... 31
8.1 The Shuowen jiezi ........................................................................................ 31
8.2 Sound glosses ............................................................................................. 32
9 INTERPRETATIONS OF IRREGULAR PHONETIC COMPOUNDS ....................... 34
9.1 Premises .................................................................................................... 34
9.2 Illustrations for premises and assumptions ..................................................... 35
10 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 39
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 40
oeM rime *-a YU bit ~ff~ ................................................................ 45
2 OCM rime *-ak Du6 bit ~~ ............................................................... 64
3 OCM rime *-alJ Yang bit ~$ .............................................................. 75
4 OCM rime *-;) Zhfbit Z ff~ ............................................................... 91
5 OeM rime *-;)k Zhi bit ~~ ............................................................... 107
6 OeM rime *-;)lJ Zheng bu ~~ .......................................................... 114
7 OeM rime *-e ZhfbiJ ~~ .............................................................. 119
8 OCM rime *-ek Xfbit ~ff~ ................................................................ 129
9 OeM rime *-elJ Geng bit :fJ!:ff~ ............................................................ 135
10 OeM rime *-0 H6u bi! 1~ff~ ............................................................. 145
II OeM rime *-ok Wlibu ~~ ........................................................................................................................ 156
12 OeM rime *-OlJ Dong bi! *~ 162
13 OeM rime *-u You bi! ~ff~ ............................................................. 170
14 oeM rime *-uk JUI! bit ~ff~ .. ·················· .. ············· .. ······················· .. · 185
15 oeM rime *-UlJ Dong bu ~~ ........................................................... 190
16 oeM rime *-au Xiao bu ~~ ........................................................... 193
17 OCM rime *-auk Yao bit ~~ ............................................................. 205
18 oeM rime *-ai Ge bu ~ff~ (I) .......................................................... 210
19 OCM rime *-oi. *-wai Ge bu ~$ (2) .......................................................... 219
n
20 OCM nme *-et, *-es Yue- bu fH?ff~ (I) ................................................ 225
21 OCM nme *-at, *-as Yue-n bu F.l ~ff~ (2) ................................................ 230
22 OCM rime *-ot, *-wat, *-os, *-was Yue-n bu F.l ~'€l'~ (3) .................................. 239
23 OCM rime *-en Yuan bu 5tffil (I) ...................................................... 244
24 OCM rime *-an Yuan bu 5ttf~ (2) ...................................................... 251
25 oeM rime *-on, *-wan Yuan bu 7C~ (3) ...................................................... 264
26 oeM nme *-i, *-;)i Zhfbu g~ffiI .............................................................. 275
27 OCM rime *-;)i Wei bu 1t&$ (I) ........................................................ 286
28 OCM rime *-ui, *w;)i Wei bu t~:g~ (2) ........................................................ 290
29 oeM rime *-it, *-i(t)s Zhi bu ff:g~ .............................................................. 296
30 oeM rime *-;)t, *-;)(t)s Wu bu ~~ (I) ........................................................ 305
31 OCM rime *-ut, *-u(t)s WU bu ~:g~ (2) ........................................................ 311
vi
CONTENTS
32 OCM rime *-in Zhen bu ~ $ ............................................................ 3 16
33 OCM rime *-:m Wen bu 3<:f§~ (I) ....................................................... 325
34 OCM nme *-un, *-w:m Wen bu 3<:f§~ (2) ....................................................... 333
35 OCM nme *-ap, *-ep He bu ~W .............................................................. 341
36 OCM rime *-am, *-em Tan bu i\iRf§~ ............................................................. 346
37 OCM rime *-;}p, *-ip Qfbu t.JlIW ................................................................ 354
38 OCM rime *-;}m , *-im Qfn bu 1fW ............................................................. 359
GSR NUMBER = GSC NUMBER ............................................................................... 369
PINYIN INDEX ....................................................................................................... 375
TABLES
Table I-I: MC Div. 3/3 without OCB medial *r ....................................................... 21
Table 1-2: OCM final *-s ..................................................................................... 24
Table 1-3: Karlgren's voiced final *-g .................................................................... 24
Table 1-4: LHan vowel bending ............................................................................ 30
Table I-I: OCM rimes *-al), *-ak, *-a in QYS categories .......................................... 45
Table 2-1: Comparison of OCM rimes *-al), *-ak with *-el), *-ek ................................. 64
Table 4-1: OCM rimes *-;}l), *-;}k, *-;} in QYS categories ........................................... 91
Table 7-1: Comparison of OC *-i, *-e and *-ai in QYS Divisions .............................. 119
Table 8-1: OCM rimes *-el), *-ek. *-e in QY S categories ......................................... 129
Table 10-1: oeM rimes *-ol), *-ok, *-0 in QYS categories ........................................ 145
Table 13-1: OCM rimes *-ul), *-uk, *-u in QYS categories ........................................ 170
Table 16-1: Comparison of OCM rimes *-auk, *-uk, *-(i)au, *-(i)u ............................. 193
Table 17-1: Comparison ofOCM rimes *-ek, *-ak, *-auk, *-uk .................................. 205
Table 20-1: OCM rimes *-en, *-et, *-e(t)s in QYS categories ..................................... 225
Table 21-1: OCM rimes *-an, *-at, *-a(t)s, *-ai in QYS categories .............................. 230
Table 25-1: OCM rimes *-on / *-wan, *-ot / *-wat, *-oi / *-wai in QYS categories ........ 264
Table 26-1: OCM rimes *-i, *-;}i, *-ui and *-;) in QYS categories ................................ 275
Table 28-1: OCM rimes *-un / -w;}n, *-ut and *-ui / -w;}i ........................................... 290
Table 30-1: OCM rimes *-~n, *-;}t. *-~(t)s. *-~i in QYS categories .............................. 305
Table 31-1: oeM rimes *-ut, *-W;}t. *-wit, *-ui, *-u(t)s. *-w;}i, *-W;}(t)s, *-wi(t)s ........... 311
Table 32-1: OCM rimes *-in, *-it, *-(t)s, *-i in QYS categories .................................. 316
Table 33-1: OCM rimes *-in, *-:m, *-it, *-;}t ............................................................ 325
Table 34-1: OCM rimes *-un, *-w;}n, *-win, *-ut, *-W;}t, *-wit.. .................................. 333
Table 35-1: oeM rimes *-am, *-ap, *-em, *-ep in QYS categories ............................. 341
Table 38-1: oeM rimes *-;}m, *-;}P, *-im, *-ip in QYS finals ..................................... 359
vii

PREFACE
Bernhard Karlgren's Archaic Chinese (= Old Chinese, OC) as presented in his standard work
Grammata Serica Recensa (GSR) of 1957 has long been outdated. This present manual is an
attempt to update GSR with a relatively simple "Minimal Old Chinese" (OCM, for OC
Minimal) which incorporates those features on which there is broad agreement among
investigators today. Though this manual can be thought of as a Grammata Serica Recensa
update, T will refer to it as Grammata Serica Companion (GSC) for short.
The perception of the mysterious nature and confusing state of OC has been shaped by
several factors. First, GSR does not present the data in a transparently organized fashion, so
that only patient scrutiny reveals what the OC system is, behind Karlgren's bewildering
diacritics and phonetic symbols. The ordinary user has to take Karlgren's, or anyone's,
authority at face value. Secondly, the experts' arguments are so specialized and arcane that
only the initiated are in a position to follow them. The Introduction to this manual attempts to
provide an overview over some of the terms and issues, demystify OC if you will, so that
outsiders may have some notion of the data, sources and theories on which expert arguments
are based. Thirdly, superficially scholars do not seem to agree on much, because they debate
unclear issues and not the many features of OC on which there is a tacit consensus. Further
more, old settled issues in Middle Chinese (MC) and OC phonology are periodically raised
again so that the non-expert must conclude that almost all about OC is still up in the air.
Since the publication of GSR, historical linguists have tried to simplify and systematize
Karlgren's reconstructions, have suggested emendations or their own OC systems which
sometimes look as different from each other as if they were different languages. Compare, for
example, (P: = Pulleyblank):
Karlgren GSR Baxter 1992 Sagart 1999 Pan 2000 OCM
'today' A-- , kL;)m k(r)j;)m -im krfum bm
'remember' ~ ni;)m nims [am;)_ ]anem-s mqlrnms nfms
'offspring' r tSt;)g tsj;)? btsi? splfu . tS;)?
'plum' * li;)g rj;)? b-rfu . r;)?
'offense' ~ dz'w;)d dzuj? sblul' dzQi?
'think, be' '1'& dLw;)r WJIJ bt(;) )-wij wi
'little bird' 1£ ~Lw;)r btum P: kwj;)l tui
After Karlgren, the field seems to have fallen apart. The occasional user of OC material
probably finds it difficult or impossible to tell which OC proposals are just an author's latest
theories, ideas and speculations, and what is actually widely accepted. For the purposes of
1
OCM, we will attempt to separate generally agreed OC features from more speculative and
probing hypotheses - however valuable and insightful they may be - which are often
presented in such definitive language that an unsuspecting reader may think he now has the
OC language in front of him to work with.
Witness comments like this by the Indo-Europeanist Douglas Adams: "There are a number of
1
'competing' systems of [OC] reconstruction (Karlgren, Pulleyblank, Li) whose inherent likelihood and
mutual interrelationships can baffle the outsider" (JIES 23, 3£4, 1995: 40 I).
ix