Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction

449 Pages·2014·7.55 MB·English

by  William H. Baxter

Old Chinese

Old Chinese
A NEW RECONSTRUCTION
William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offices in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
© Oxford University Press 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baxter, William Hubbard, 1949–
Old Chinese : a new reconstruction / William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–994537–5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Chinese language—to 600—Phonology.
I. Title.
PL1201.B39 2013
495.17—dc23 2013013080
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
{ CONTENTS }
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 What is Old Chinese? 1
1.1.1 The traditional approach to Old Chinese reconstruction 2
1.1.2 A broader approach 3
1.2 Methodology 4
1.2.1 The nature of linguistic reconstruction 4
1.2.2 Our approach to reconstructing Old Chinese 6
1.3 Plan of the book 8
2 The evidence for Old Chinese 9
2.1 Middle Chinese 9
2.1.1 Sources for Middle Chinese 9
2.1.2 Our notation for Middle Chinese 12
2.1.2.1 The Middle Chinese tones 14
2.1.2.2 The Middle Chinese initials 14
2.1.2.3 The Middle Chinese finals  16
2.2 Old Chinese rhyme evidence 20
2.3 Evidence from the Chinese script 26
2.4 Modern Chinese dialects 32
2.4.1 The Mǐn dialects  33
2.4.2 The Hakka (Kèjiā 客 家) dialects 33
2.4.3 Wǎxiāng 瓦 鄉 or Xiānghuà 鄉 話 dialects 34
2.5 Early Chinese loanwords in other languages 34
2.5.1 The Vietic languages 34
2.5.2 The Hmong-Mien languages 35
2.5.3 The Kra-Dai languages 36
2.6 Traditional Chinese texts explicitly discussing language 37
2.6.1 The substitution of 云/員 yún for 有 yǒu in early texts  38
2.7 Tibeto-Burman 40
3 An overview of the reconstruction 42
3.1 Onsets: main hypotheses 42
3.1.1 Pharyngealized onsets in type-A syllables 43
3.1.2 Uvular initials 43
3.1.3 Preinitials as the source of Proto-Mǐn voiceless resonants  46
3.1.4  Loosely attached preinitials as the source of Proto-Mǐn “softened” stops  46
3.1.5  Tightly attached preinitials as the source of Proto-Mǐn aspirated 
voiced stops 47
vi Contents
3.1.6 Preinitials (tight or loose) as the source of Vietic softening 47
3.1.7 Prenasalization from Old Chinese nasal preinitials in loans to
Hmong-Mien 48
3.1.8 *N-r(ˤ)- and *m-r(ˤ)- as sources of MC d- and y- 48
3.1.9 Preinitial *t- plus velars as a source of Middle Chinese Tsy- initials 48
3.2 Rhymes 50
3.3 Root structure, word structure, and affixation 50
3.3.1 Root structure 50
3.3.2 Affixation  53
3.3.2.1 The *N- prefix  54
3.3.2.2 The *m- prefixes  54
3.3.2.3 The *s- prefixes  56
3.3.2.4 The *t- prefixes  56
3.3.2.5 The *k- prefixes  57
3.3.2.6 The *<r> infix  57
3.3.2.7 The *-s suffixes  58
3.3.3 Word families 59
3.3.4 Related roots 60
3.4 The nature of the pre-Qín script 62
4 Old Chinese onsets 68
4.1 The evolution of Old Chinese initial consonants: major processes 68
4.1.1 Pharyngealization 68
4.1.2 Palatalization 76
4.1.3 Retroflexion  80
4.1.4 Secondary voicing 81
4.2 Applying the comparative method within Chinese 83
4.2.1 Proto-Mǐn  84
4.2.1.1 Proto-Mǐn initial stops and affricates  85
4.2.1.2 Proto-Mǐn resonants  91
4.2.1.3 Mǐn affricates corresponding to Middle Chinese fricatives  92
4.2.2 Early loans to other languages 93
4.2.2.1 Vietic 93
4.2.2.2 Hmong-Mien 94
4.2.2.3 Lakkia 96
4.2.3 Inferring Old Chinese manner distinctions from
comparative evidence 97
4.3 Singleton onsets 99
4.3.1 Voiceless unaspirated obstruents: type *p(ˤ)-  99
4.3.2 Voiceless aspirated obstruents: type *pʰ(ˤ)-  102
4.3.3 Voiced obstruents: type *b(ˤ)-  105
4.3.4 Voiced resonants: type *m(ˤ)-  108
4.3.5 Voiceless resonants: type *m̥ (ˤ)-  111
4.3.5.1  Dialect reflexes of coronal voiceless resonants 
*n̥(ˤ)-, *l̥(ˤ)-, and *r̥(ˤ)-  112
Contents vii
4.4 Tightly attached onsets 116
4.4.1 Onsets with preinitial *N 116
4.4.1.1 Preinitial *N plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents:
type *N.p(ˤ)-  116
4.4.1.2  Preinitial *N plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: type *N.pʰ(ˤ)-  120
4.4.1.3 Preinitial *N plus voiced obstruents: type *N.b(ˤ)-  121
4.4.1.4 Preinitial *N plus voiced resonants: type *N.r(ˤ)-  122
4.4.1.5 Preinitial *N plus voiceless resonants: type *N.m̥ (ˤ)-  122
4.4.2 Onsets with preinitial *m 123
4.4.2.1 Preinitial *m plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents:
type *m.p(ˤ)-  123
4.4.2.2 Preinitial *m plus voiceless aspirated obstruents:
type *m.pʰ(ˤ)-  128
4.4.2.3 Preinitial *m plus voiced obstruents: type *m.b(ˤ)-  131
4.4.2.4 Preinitial *m plus voiced resonants: type *m.n(ˤ)-  132
4.4.2.5 Preinitial *m plus voiceless resonants: type *m.r̥(ˤ)-  134
4.4.3 Onsets with preinitial *s 135
4.4.3.1 Preinitial *s plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents:
type *s.p(ˤ)-  135
4.4.3.2 Preinitial *s plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: type *s.tʰ(ˤ)-  138
4.4.3.3 Preinitial *s plus voiced obstruents: type *s.b(ˤ)-  141
4.4.3.4 Preinitial *s plus voiced resonants: type *s.m(ˤ)-  143
4.4.3.5 Preinitial *s plus voiceless resonants: type *s.n̥- 149
4.4.4 Onsets with preinitial *p, *t, *k  151
4.4.4.1  Preinitial *p, *t, *k plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents: 
type *p.k(ˤ)-  152
4.4.4.2  Preinitial *p, *t, *k plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: 
type *p.tʰ(ˤ)-  157
4.4.4.3 Preinitial *p, *t, *k plus voiced obstruents: type *k.dz(ˤ)-  160
4.4.4.4 Preinitial *p, *t, *k plus voiced resonants: type *p.m(ˤ)-  161
4.4.4.5 Preinitial *p, *t, *k plus voiceless resonants: type *p.m̥ (ˤ)-  165
4.4.5 Onsets with tightly attached unidentified preinitial *C  168
4.4.5.1 Preinitial *C plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents: type
*C.p(ˤ)-  168
4.4.5.2 Preinitial *C plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: type *C.pʰ(ˤ)-  169
4.4.5.3 Preinitial *C plus voiced obstruents: type *C.b(ˤ)-  170
4.4.5.4 Preinitial *C plus voiced resonants: type *C.m(ˤ)-  171
4.4.5.5 Preinitial *C plus voiceless resonants: type *C.m̥ (ˤ)-  173
4.5 Onsets with loosely attached preinitials 173
4.5.1 Onsets with preinitial *Nə  174
4.5.1.1  Preinitial *Nə plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents: 
type *Nə.p(ˤ)-  174
4.5.1.2  Preinitial *Nə plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: type 
*Nə.pʰ(ˤ)-  174
4.5.1.3 Preinitial *Nə plus voiced obstruents: type *Nə.b(ˤ)-  175
4.5.1.4 Preinitial *Nə plus voiced resonants: type *Nə.r(ˤ)-  176
viii Contents
4.5.1.5 Preinitial *Nə plus voiceless resonants: type *Nə.r̥(ˤ)-  176
4.5.2 Onsets with preinitial *mə  176
4.5.2.1  Preinitial *mə plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents: 
type *mə.p(ˤ)-  176
4.5.2.2  Preinitial *mə plus voiceless aspirated obstruents: 
type *mə.pʰ(ˤ)-  177
4.5.2.3 Preinitial *mə plus voiced obstruents: type *mə.b(ˤ)-  178
4.5.2.4 Preinitial *mə plus voiced resonants: type *mə.r(ˤ)-  178
4.5.2.5 Preinitial *mə plus voiceless resonants: type *mə.l̥(ˤ)-  180
4.5.3 Onsets with preinitial *sə  180
4.5.3.1  Preinitial *sə plus voiceless obstruents: types *sə.p(ˤ)- and 
*sə.pʰ(ˤ)-  181
4.5.3.2 Preinitial *sə plus voiced obstruents: type *sə.b(ˤ)-  181
4.5.3.3 Preinitial *sə plus voiced resonants: type *sə.l(ˤ)-  182
4.5.4 Onsets with preinitial *pə, *tə, *kə  183
4.5.4.1 Preinitial *pə, *tə, *kə plus obstruents: type *kə.d(ˤ)-  183
4.5.4.2 Preinitial *pə, *tə, *kə plus voiced resonants: type *kə.l(ˤ)-  184
4.5.4.3 Preinitial *pə, *tə, *kə plus voiceless resonants: type *kə.l̥(ˤ)-  185
4.5.5 Onsets with loosely attached unidentified preinitial *Cə  186
4.5.5.1  Preinitial *Cə plus voiceless unaspirated obstruents: 
type *Cə.p(ˤ)-  186
4.5.5.2 Preinitial *Cə plus voiced obstruents: type *Cə.b(ˤ)-  188
4.5.5.3 Preinitial *Cə plus voiced resonants: type *Cə.l(ˤ)-  190
4.5.5.4 Preinitial *Cə plus voiceless resonants: type *Cə.m̥ (ˤ)-  191
4.6 Onsets with complex preinitials 191
5 Old Chinese rhymes 194
5.1 Overview: vowels, codas, postcodas 194
5.2 The six-vowel system 198
5.2.1 The rounded-vowel and front-vowel hypotheses 203
5.2.2 The six-vowel reconstruction as a philological heuristic  207
5.3 Rhyme development: main processes 211
5.3.1 The effects of pharyngealized onsets 211
5.3.2 The effects of prevocalic *-r- 213
5.3.2.1 Prevocalic *-r- in pharyngealized (type-A) syllables
(“division II”)  213
5.3.2.2 Prevocalic *-r- in nonpharyngealized (type B) syllables 215
5.3.3 Assimilations and dissimilations 218
5.4 Rhymes with back codas (*-∅, *-k, and *-ŋ) 219
5.4.1 *a with back codas 219
5.4.1.1 *-a (= traditional 魚 Yú) 221
5.4.1.2 *-ak(-s) (= traditional 鐸 Duó) 224
5.4.1.3 *-aŋ (= traditional 陽 Yáng) 227
5.4.2 *ə with back codas  228
5.4.2.1 *-ə (= traditional 之 Zhī)  229
5.4.2.2 *-ək(-s) (= traditional 職 Zhí) 229
5.4.2.3 *-əŋ (= traditional 蒸 Zhēng)  231
Contents ix
5.4.3 *e with back codas 231
5.4.3.1 *-e (⊂ traditional 支 Zhī)  232
5.4.3.2 *-ek(-s) (⊂ traditional 錫 Xī)  233
5.4.3.3 *-eŋ (⊂ traditional 耕 Gēng)  234
5.4.4 *i with back codas 236
5.4.5 *o with back codas 241
5.4.5.1 *-o (= traditional 侯 Hóu) 242
5.4.5.2 *-ok(-s) (= traditional 屋 Wū)  243
5.4.5.3 *-oŋ (= traditional 東 Dōng)  244
5.4.6 *u with back codas 245
5.4.6.1 *-u (⊂ traditional 幽 Yōu)  247
5.4.6.2 *-uk(-s) (⊂ traditional 覺 Jué) 248
5.4.6.3 *-uŋ (= traditional 冬 Dōng)  250
5.5 Rhymes with acute codas (*-j, *-t, *-n, and *-r) 251
5.5.1 The coda *-r 252
5.5.1.1 The rhymes *-ən, *-əj, and *-ər  252
5.5.1.2 The rhymes *-an, *-aj, and *-ar  256
5.5.1.3 Transcription evidence for *-r 260
5.5.1.4 OC *-r > *-j in and near the Shāndōng peninsula  264
5.5.2 *a with acute codas 268
5.5.2.1 *-aj (⊂ traditional 歌 Gē)  269
5.5.2.2 *-at(-s) (⊂ traditional 月 Yuè) 271
5.5.2.3 *-an (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) 273
5.5.2.4 *-ar > *-an (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) or *-aj (⊂ traditional 歌 Gē) 
according to dialect 273
5.5.3 *e with acute codas 274
5.5.3.1 *-ej: > *-e (⊂ traditional 支 Zhī)?  275
5.5.3.2 *-et(-s) (⊂ traditional 月 Yuè) 275
5.5.3.3 *-en (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) 277
5.5.3.4 *-er > *-en (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) or *-ej (> *-e, ⊂ traditional 支
Zhī?)  278
5.5.4 *o with acute codas 279
5.5.4.1 *-oj (⊂ traditional 歌 Gē)  279
5.5.4.2 *-ot(-s) (⊂ traditional 月 Yuè) 280
5.5.4.3 *-on (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) 281
5.5.4.4 *-or > *-on (⊂ traditional 元 Yuán) or *-oj (⊂ traditional 歌 Gē), 
according to dialect 282
5.5.5 *ə with acute codas  283
5.5.5.1 *-əj (⊂ traditional 微 Wēi)  284
5.5.5.2 *-ət(-s) (⊂ traditional 物 Wù) 286
5.5.5.3 *-ən (⊂ traditional 文 Wén) 287
5.5.5.4  *-ər > *-ən (⊂ traditional 文 Wén) or > *-əj (⊂ traditional 微 Wēi), 
according to dialect 288
5.5.6 *i with acute codas 288
5.5.6.1 *-ij (⊂ traditional 脂 Zhī)  289
5.5.6.2 *-it(-s) (⊂ traditional 質 Zhì) 290
5.5.6.3 *-in (⊂ traditional 真 Zhēn)  291