Title

Chronological Implications in the Migration Behaviors of Sonorant-Initial Characters in Peking Mandarin

Author

Chung-yu Chen

Genre

Article  

Pages

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Key words

Phonology, Tones, Mandarin

Abstract

      This paper submits evidence of the relative chronology deduced from the migration behaviors of the sonorant-initial, i.e. Ci-Zhuo, characters in three types pf tonal changes taking place between Middle Chinese of A.D. 601(hereafter, MC) and Modern Peking(hereafter, MP). They are: (1) Ru-sheng transitions, (2) interflows between Yang-ping, Shang and Qu, and (3) the convergent changes from these there tones into Yin-Ping. The manifested relative chronology reveals that Ci-Zhuo characters, largely speaking, began to (1)migrate out of the Ru-sheng category at a later time, (2) particular in the interflows at a later time and (3)move towards Yin- Ping at a later time. This explains the rare presence of Ci-Zhuo characters carrying the Yin-Ping tone in MP. These findings together exhibit an accord with my earlier claim (Chen 1992b-c) that Ru-sheng transitions in the language were chronologically determined rather than phonologically conditioned.