Linguistic Relationship between Chinese and Water Language: A Study on Chinese Loanwords and Shared Origin Stratification in Water Language

Author: Zeng Xiaoyu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: Ten years ago, under the guidance of my mentor, Professor Xing Gongwan, I completed my doctoral dissertation titled "A Study on Chinese and Water Relationship Words." After this work was published as a monograph, it was awarded the (Peking University Wang Li Linguistics Award) and the (Second Prize of Sichuan Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievements), but strictly speaking, there were many shortcomings in it, especially the avoidance of the difficult issue of distinguishing between cognates and old loanwords in relationship words. This has always troubled me—because, without solving this problem, the relationship between Chinese and Water, as well as Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages, cannot be truly explained. To unravel this knot in my mind, I have not been idle over the years: I have made four trips to Guizhou and Guangxi to conduct in-depth investigations into Water and Zhuang languages, as well as local Chinese dialects such as Pinghua and Southwest Mandarin; I have consistently followed and absorbed the latest research findings on language contact, historical comparison, and the history of Chinese language both domestically and internationally; I have seized opportunities to study abroad or attend international academic conferences, focusing on discussing relevant theoretical issues with Western scholars; and in my daily teaching and research work, I have emphasized thinking and exploring around the issue of "language relationships." Gradually, step by step, I have gained a broader perspective and fewer doubts, leading to the completion of this book. The relationship between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages is a major academic issue debated in both domestic and international Sino-Tibetan language research since the 1940s. Based on a review of previous research, we believe that the main reason for the ongoing debate lies in the constraints of traditional conventional thinking: that is, the relationship between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages is either a genealogical relationship or a contact relationship, with genealogy and contact being mutually exclusive, and one must choose between the two. In recent years, some of the most representative studies in this field include Professor Xing Gongwan's "Semantic Comparison Method (Deep Correspondence)" (1993, 1999) — which proves "genealogy"—and Professor Chen Baoya's "Relationship Word Hierarchy Theory" (1996, 2000) — which proves "contact." However, the relationship between languages is not limited to pure genealogical divergence or contact convergence, especially in the Sino-Tibetan language region, the relationship patterns between closely related languages are not merely "tree-like"; they also involve "network-like" structures. Chinese and minority languages often have both genealogical relationships and contact and fusion relationships since ancient times, which is determined by China's unique social history and geographical location. Based on this understanding, this book employs the "Relationship Word Stratification Method" to conduct a typical study of the ancient Water language within the Tai-Kadai language family. This method starts with Chinese loanwords in Water, through in-depth research into the history of the Water people, the history of Water, as well as the history of Pinghua and Southwest Mandarin in the regions where the Water people live. It analyzes the four layers of ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary Chinese loanwords in Water, clarifying the phonetic correspondence rules between each layer of loanwords and their original forms. Those that cannot be included in the loanword category (i.e., do not conform to the phonetic correspondence rules of each loanword layer) yet reflect ancient phonetic and semantic correspondences between Chinese and Water, as well as between Chinese and other Tai-Kadai languages, are identified as Chinese-Tai-Kadai genealogical words. In this way, old loanwords are distinguished from genealogical words, avoiding the one-sided emphasis on either genealogical words or loanwords. Our conclusion is that the relationship between Chinese and Water, as well as between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages, can be explained as a historical process of genealogy—divergence—contact.
At the time of this book's completion and printing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude:
—To Laurent Sagart, Ph.D., researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and linguist. In 2001, I was invited to collaborate and exchange at the Institute of East Asian Languages at the école des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales in Paris for three months. Professor Sagart, with his profound knowledge and insightful views, provided me with many enlightenments in terms of theoretical methods.
At the same time, I would like to thank Michel Ferlus, researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Barbara Niederer, Ph.D., and Fran