New Book History of Chinese Phonology

Author: Zhou Zuixiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: "A New Study of the History of Chinese Phonology" is neither a detailed history nor a completely factual one. It merely marks the beginning of the normal development of phonological history research, with many issues yet to be explored and resolved. The publication of this book aims to draw attention to the serious abnormal phenomena existing in the current field of phonology, hoping that the study of phonological history and phonology can move onto a realistic and correct track. It is purely a work to provoke further discussion. After years of research, subsequent phonological facts have proven that the Qieyun phonological system is a synthesis of the refined speech of the southern and northern imperial capitals during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period—Jinling and Luoyang. The theory of tone tables was also a product of the Tang and Song dynasties' phonologists, who used the evolving pronunciation of the time to map out the comprehensive phonological system of the Guangyun. Therefore, the phonological history constructed and derived from such a phonological system and theory is undoubtedly questionable in its reliability. As a result, the "new study" of phonological history no longer uses the Guangyun phonological system as the representative of Middle Chinese pronunciation, nor does it use the theory of tone tables as the theoretical basis for reconstructing ancient Chinese phonology. In other words, the Guangyun phonological system and the theory of tone tables have been abandoned in the "new study" of phonological history. The founder of the history of Chinese phonology should be the great friend of the Chinese people, the renowned Swedish sinologist Bernhard Karlgren. Using the theories of Western modern linguistics and the methods of historical comparative linguistics, Karlgren reconstructed the Middle Chinese phonological system of the Guangyun and the ancient Chinese phonological system of the Book of Songs, laying the framework for the current history of Chinese phonology.