Southern Min

Comparative Phonology and Subgrouping

Bit-Chee Kwok

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781317372752
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Historical & Comparative Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Southern M?n refers to a group of Chinese dialects spoken mainly in Southeast China and Taiwan. This group occupies a special position in the study of Chinese dialects, not only because of its large population of speakers (around 48 million) but also because of its preservation of various archaic linguistic features long lost in other dialects. In this book, B.C. Kwok applies the comparative method on new fieldwork data to reconstruct the common sound system of 'Proto-Southern M?n', from which all modern Southern M?n varieties emerged. The syllable initials, finals and tonal categories of Proto-Southern M?n are illustrated by more than 500 examples. In addition, this book offers an alternative view on the subgrouping of 12 Southern M?n varieties. It proposes that the Quánzh?u dialect and the Zh?ngzh?u dialect form the two main branches of the dialect group. This book should be of great interest to advanced students and scholars in the fields of historical linguistics and Chinese dialectology.

1
Background and methodology

1. Objectives

The main aim of this study is to achieve a better understanding of the historical phonology of the Southern Mǐn dialects 閩南語 (‘SM’), a branch of Mǐn Chinese spoken chiefly in Fújiàn福建, Guǎngdōng 廣東, Hǎinán 海南, Zhèjiāng 浙江 and Taiwan. To this end we compare the phonological systems of six varieties of SM, whose data were newly collected from the field, and reconstruct the phonology of Proto-Southern Mǐn (‘PSM’) by the comparative method. The reconstruction of the PSM initials, finals and tonal categories will in turn be presented in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. Discussions will also be conducted concerning how the PSM developed from the higher level Proto-Mǐn (‘PM’), and into the lower level modern SM dialects. Chapter 5 is devoted to the subgrouping of twelve modern SM varieties. Based on the comparison between PSM and those modern dialects, a tentative SM family tree, which shows the historical origin and relationship of those members under investigation, will be reconstructed. We will compare the result of our subgrouping proposal of SM with the traditional classificatory proposals. Another highlight lies in the phonological comparison between PSM and the language reflected in Arte de la lengua chio chiu, one of the earliest SM texts with roman-isation compiled in the seventeenth century in Manila. It shows that the language of early Chinese Filipinos, known as Sangleys, is an SM dialect closely related to Zhāngzhōu 漳州. The conclusion summarises the findings of this study and points out issues deserving further investigation.

2. Basic information about Mǐn

In the Language Atlas of China (Wurm et al. 1987) ten Chinese dialect groups are identified: (a) the Mandarin (or Guānhuà) 官話 group; (b) the Jìn dialect 晉語 group; (c) the Wú dialect 吳語 group; (d) the Huī dialect 徽語 group; (e) the Gàn dialect 贛語 group; (f) the Hakka dialect 客語 group; (g) the Xiāng dialect 湘語 group; (h) the Mǐn dialect 閩語 group; (i) the Yuè dialect 粵語 group; and (j) the Pínghuà 平話 group. There are also a number of unclassified dialects, including the patois of southern Húnán 湘南土話. Among these groups the Mǐn occupies a special position in the study of Chinese dialects, not just because of its internal diversity but also because of its long developmental history, as reflected in the preservation of various archaic linguistic features which have been lost in other Chinese dialects.

The Mǐn dialects are spok...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of maps
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• 1 Background and methodology
• 2 Proto-Southern Mǐn initials
• 3 Proto-Southern Mǐn finals
• 4 Proto-Southern Mǐn tonal categories
• 5 Subgrouping Southern Mǐn
• 6 Conclusion
• Appendix: Proto-Southern Mǐn etyma
• References
• Index