Cover not available

Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 42:1 (2025) ► pp.118–136

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Some problems involving Proto-Mǐn onsets and new Old Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | Christopher Newport University
Published online: 20 December 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.23045.smi
Abstract
The Mǐn languages are crucial for the study of early Chinese, and Baxter, William H. & Laurent Sagart. 2014. Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar new Old Chinese system aims to prioritize Jerry Norman’s Proto-Mǐn of the 1970s. This report describes three key problems relating to the reconstruction of Proto-Mǐn syllable onsets, observing that, in relation to each problem, Baxter and Sagart’s new Old Chinese system is affected by serious errors with respect to data and methodology.
Résumé
On considère que les langues min sont cruciales pour l’étude du chinois des périodes anciennes, et le nouveau système de chinois archaïque de Baxter, William H. & Laurent Sagart. 2014. Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar vise enfin à donner la priorité au proto-min de Jerry Norman des années 1970. Ce rapport décrit trois problèmes cruciaux liés à la reconstruction des initiales syllabiques du proto-min, soulignant que face à chaque problème, la proto-langue des auteurs est touchée par des erreurs graves liées aux données et à la méthodologie.
Zusammenfassung
Die Mǐn-Sprachen gelten als entscheidend für die Erforschung des Chinesisch aus früheren Zeiten, und das neue System des Altchinesischen von Baxter, William H. & Laurent Sagart. 2014. Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar hat endlich zum Ziel, das Proto-Mǐn von Jerry Norman aus den 1970er Jahren zu priorisieren. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt drei Schlüsselprobleme bei der Rekonstruktion der Silben-Onsets von Proto-Mǐn und beobachtet, dass das neue System der Autoren bei jedem dieser Probleme von schwerwiegenden Fehlern in Bezug auf Daten und Methodik beeinträchtigt wird.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Proto-Mǐn and the philological tradition
  • 2.Mǐn and new Old Chinese
  • 3.Proto-Mǐn onsets: Puzzles and pitfalls
  • 3.1Norman’s Proto-Mǐn *Bh-
  • 3.2Norman’s Proto-Mǐn “softened” obstruents *-C-
  • 3.3Norman’s Proto-Mǐn *tš(h)-, *š-, etc
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (58)
References
Akitani, Hiroyuki (秋谷裕幸). 2008. Mǐnběiqū sān xiànshì fāngyán yánjiū (閩北區三縣市方言研究) [Studies on Northern Min dialects: Shipi, Zhenqian and Dikou] (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A12–2). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Mǐndōngqū Níngdé fāngyán yīnyùnshǐ yánjiū (閩東區寧德方言音韻史研究) [Phonological history of the Níngdé dialects of Eastern Mǐn] (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series 60). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Akitani, Hiroyuki (秋谷裕幸) & HÁN Zhéfū (韩哲夫 = Handel, Zev). 2012. Lìshǐ bǐjiàofǎ hé céngcì fēnxīfǎ (历史比较法和层次分析法) [The role of the comparative method and stratum analysis in the reconstruction of Chinese dialect history]. Yǔyánxué Lùncóng (语言学论丛) 451. 277–335.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alves, Mark. 2020. Historical ethnolinguistic notes on proto-Austroasiatic and proto-Vietic vocabulary in Vietnamese. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 13(2). 13–45. [URL]
Baxter, William H. 1992. A handbook of Old Chinese phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baxter, William H. & Laurent Sagart. 2014. Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Old Chinese reconstruction: A response to Schuessler. Diachronica 34(4). 559–576. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. Errata for Baxter Sagart, Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. [URL]
Beaudouin, Mathieu, Laurent Sagart & William H. Baxter. 2021. OC onsets in the Baxter-Sagart 1.01 system: Examples with corresponding forms in Proto-Min, Vietnamese, and Hmong-Mien. [URL]
Benedict, Paul K. 1972. Sino-Tibetan: A conspectus (Princeton-Cambridge Studies in Chinese Linguistics 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blust, Robert. 2006. The origin of the Kelabit voiced aspirates: A historical hypothesis revisited. Oceanic Linguistics 45(2). 311–338. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlyle, John. 2020. Common Yue: A comparative study of Yue dialect historical phonology. Seattle: University of Washington MA thesis.
Coblin, W. South. 1991. Studies in Old Northwest Chinese (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 4). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press on behalf of Project on Linguistic Analysis, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Common Neo-Hakka: A comparative reconstruction (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series 63). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023. Alveopalatal affricate/fricative mixing in common Min cognate sets. In Gang Peng, Jiangping Kong, Zhongwei Shen & Feng Wang (eds.), Inspirations from a lofty mountain: Festschrift in honor of Professor William S-Y. Wang on his 90th Birthday, 37–58. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Douglas, Carstairs. 1873. Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy, with the principal variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew dialects. London: Trübner and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferlus, Michel. 2012. Remarques sur la pharyngalisation en chinois archaïque (Old Chinese) dans le système Baxter-Sagart. Linguistique de l’Asie Orientale 251. [URL]
HÁN, Zhéfū (韩哲夫 = Handel, Zev). 2015. Huíyìng Chén Zhōngmǐn duìyú “Lìshǐ bǐjiàofǎ hé céngcì fēnxīfǎ” de huíyìng (回应陈忠敏对于《历史比较法和层次分析法》的回应) [The role of the comparative method: Rejoinder to Chen Zhongmin’s rejoinder]. Yǔyánxué Lùncóng (语言学论丛) 511. 329–339.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Handel, Zev. 2003. Northern Min tone values and the reconstruction of “softened initials.” Language and Linguistics 4(1). 47–84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Old Chinese and Mǐn. Chūgoku Gogaku (中国語学) 2571. 34–68.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harbsmeier, Christoph. 2016. Irrefutable conjectures: A review of William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart, Old Chinese: A new reconstruction [= Baxter & Sagart 2014]. Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies 64(2). 445–504. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Nathan W. 2017. [Review of Baxter & Sagart 2014:] Old Chinese: A new reconstruction. Archiv Oientální 85(1). 135–140. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2019. The historical phonology of Tibetan, Burmese, and Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ho, Dah-an. 2016. Such errors could have been avoided: Review of Old Chinese: A new reconstruction [= Baxter & Sagart 2014]. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 44(1). 175–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacques, Guillaume. 2017. On the status of Buyang presyllables: A response to Professor Ho Dah-an. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 45(2). 451–457. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2021b. Antipassive derivations in Sino-Tibetan/Trans-Himalayan and their sources. In Katarzyna Janic & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Antipassive: Typology, diachrony, and related constructions, 427–446. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwok, Bit-Chee. 2018. Southern Min: Comparative phonology and subgrouping. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
LǏ, Rúlóng (李如龍). 1985. Zhōnggǔ quánzhuó shēngmǔ Mǐn fāngyán jīndú de fēnxi (中古全浊声母闽方言今读的分析) [Analysis of contemporary pronunciations of the medieval voiced obstruents in the Mǐn dialects]. Yǔyán Yánjiū (語言研究) 1985(1). 139–149.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
LǏ, Rúlóng (李如龍) & PĀN Wèishǔi (潘渭水). 1998. Jiàn’ōu fāngyán cídiǎn (建甌方言詞典) [Dictionary of the Jiàn’ōu dialect]. Nanjing: Jiāngsū jiàoyù chūbǎnshè.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
List, Johann-Mattis. 2017. Using network models to analyze Old Chinese rhyme data. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 9(2). 218–241. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
LUÓ, Jiéruì (罗杰瑞 = Norman, Jerry). 2005. Mǐn fāngyán zhōng de Lái mǔ zì hé zǎoqī Hànyǔ (闽方言中的来母字和早期汉语) [Early Chinese and LÁi-onset words in Mǐn dialects]. Mǐnzú Yǔwén (民族语文) 2005(4). 1–5. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Michaud, Alexis. 2012. Monosyllabicization: Patterns of evolution in Asian languages. In Nicole Nau, Thomas Stolz & Cornelia Stroh (eds.), Monosyllables: From phonology to typology, 115–130. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norman, Jerry. 1969. The Kienyang dialect of Fukien. Berkeley, CA: University of California dissertation.
. 1973. Tonal development in Min. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1(2). 222–238.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1974. The initials of Proto-Min. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 2(1). 27–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1981. The Proto-Min finals. In International Conference on Sinology Editorial Board (ed.), Zhōngyāng yánjiūyuàn guójì Hànxué huìyì lùnwén jí: Yǔyán wénzì zǔ (中央研究院國際漢學會議論文集： 語言文字組) [Proceedings of the Academia Sinica International Conference on Sinology: Language and writing group], 35–73. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1982. The classification of the Shaowu dialect. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 531. 543–583.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986. The origins of the Proto-Min softened stops. In John McCoy & Timothy Light (eds.), Contributions to Sino-Tibetan studies, 375–384. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1988. Chinese (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. The Mǐn dialects in historical perspective. In William S-Y. Wang (ed.), Languages and dialects of China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 3), 323–358. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996. Tonal development in the Jennchyan dialect. Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data 21. 7–41.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000. Voiced initials in Shyrbei. In Anne O. Yue-Hashimoto & Pang-Hsin Ting (eds.), In memory of Professor Li Fang-kuei: Essays on linguistic change and the Chinese dialects, 271–280. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. The Chinese dialects: Phonology. In Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages, 72–83. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. A model for Chinese dialect evolution. In Richard VanNess Simmons & Newell Ann Van Auken (eds.), Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan linguistics: Dialect, phonology, transcription and text, 1–26. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ostapirat, Weera. 1999. Discussions on Tai and Chinese obstruent correspondences. Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Linguistic interaction in South China: The case of Chinese, Tai and Miao–Yao. International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL) 201.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1984. Middle Chinese: A study in historical phonology. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ratliff, Martha. 2010. Hmong-Mien language history. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagart, Laurent, Guillaume Jacques, Yunfan Lai, Robin J. Ryder, Valentin Thouzeau, Simon J. Greenhill & Johann-Mattis List. 2019. Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America 116(21). 10317–10322. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagart, Laurent & MA Kun. 2020. A 250-item list of Old Chinese vocabulary in the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 491. 92–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schuessler, Axel. 2007. ABC etymological dictionary of Old Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. New Old Chinese. Diachronica 32(4). 571–598. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
SHĔN, Ruìqīng (沈瑞清). 2018. Zǎoqī Shaò–Jiāng fāngyán xiǎngyīn shēngmǔ de shēngdiào yǎnbiàn: Chóng fǎng Luó Jiéruì xiānsheng de ‘Shàowǔ jiǎshuō (早期邵将方言响音声母的声调演变——重访罗杰瑞先生的‘邵武假说) [Tonal change of sonorant onsets in early Shaojiang: Jerry Norman’s ‘Shaowu hypothesis’ revisited]. Yǔyán Yánjiū Jíkān (语言研究集刊) 21(2). 140–167.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, Jonathan. 2021. On comparative Proto-Mǐn *Dʰ- and putting conjectural morphology in its place. Papers in Historical Phonology 61. 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ting, Pang-Hsin (丁邦新). 2013. Zài lùn Mǐnyǔ báihuà yīn cóng Gǔ Hànyǔ fēnzhī de niándài (再論閩語白話音從古漢語分支的年代) [Dating the bifurcation of Min colloquial readings from Old Chinese: Another look]. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 7(1). 3–13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zheng, Zhijun. 2018. A new proposal for Min subgrouping based on a maximum-parsimony algorithm for generating phylogenetic trees. Lingua 2061. 67–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue