Twentieth-century Chinese phonetics

Author: Jiao Liwei/Ran Qibin/Shi Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Phonetics primarily employs experimental research methods, focusing more on the material and objective aspects of speech; while phonology mainly adopts analytical and inductive approaches, primarily exploring issues such as the system and function of speech. These two disciplines have made unprecedented significant progress in the 20th century. Ancient Chinese traditional phonetics—phonology—primarily involved the compilation of rhyme books and diagrams, the examination of the classification and combination of phonetic categories, and the systematic organization of phonetic systems, among other tasks. However, relatively fewer achievements were made in the exploration and research of practical phonetic principles. For example, traditional phonology included concepts equivalent to labial, dental, and pharyngeal sounds obtained from the perspective of phonetics, but their meanings often did not align with anatomical articulation points. Additionally, there were terms like "dental sounds," "alveolar sounds," "half-tongue sounds," and "half-dental sounds," which were even more difficult to explain consistently from a phonetic perspective. This book covers the foundational period (1900–1949), the accumulation period (1950–1976), and the prosperity period (1977–2000) of Chinese linguistics. It also includes nineteen specialized topics for study.