Chinese and Water Language Relationship Theory (A Hierarchical Study of Chinese Loanwords and Cognates 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 Research on Chinese and Water Relationship Words. After this work was published as a monograph, it was honored with the Beijing University Wang Li Linguistics Award and the Second Prize of the Sichuan Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award. However, strictly speaking, there were many shortcomings in it, especially the need to avoid the difficult issue of distinguishing between cognates and old loans in relationship words. This has always troubled me—because, without solving this problem, the relationship between Chinese and Water, as well as between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages, cannot be truly explained. To resolve 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, Zhuang, local Chinese dialects such as Pinghua and Southwest Mandarin, and have always kept abreast of and absorbed the latest research findings on language contact, historical comparison, and the history of Chinese language both domestically and internationally. I have also seized opportunities for overseas visits and participation in international academic conferences to focus on theoretical discussions with Western scholars. In my daily teaching and research work, I have focused on exploring the issue of "language relationships." Gradually, I have stood taller, broadened my horizons, and reduced my doubts, leading to the completion of this book. The relationship between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages is a major academic issue debated in the field of Sino-Tibetan studies both domestically and internationally since the 1940s. Based on a review of past research, we believe that the root of the ongoing debate lies in the constraints of traditional conventional thinking: that is, the relationship between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages is either one of genetic relationship or contact, with genetic and contact being mutually exclusive, and one of the two must be true. 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 "genetic relationship," and Professor Chen Baoya's "Relationship Word Hierarchy Theory" (1996, 2000), which proves "contact." However, the relationship between languages is not limited to pure genetic divergence or contact convergence, especially in the Sino-Tibetan language region. The relationship patterns among closely related languages are not merely "tree-like"; they also involve "network-like" structures. Chinese and minority languages often share both genetic and contact-mingling relationships since ancient times, a phenomenon 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 begins with Chinese loanwords in Water, through in-depth research on the history of the Water people, the history of the Water language, as well as the history of Pinghua and Southwest Mandarin in the regions where the Water people live. It analyzes the four layers of Chinese loanwords in Water—ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary—and clarifies the phonetic correspondence rules between each layer of loanwords and their original forms. Those that cannot be classified as loanwords (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 "relationship words," which are considered genetic relationship words between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages. In this way, old loanwords and genetic relationship words are distinguished, avoiding the one-sided emphasis on either genetic relationship 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 genetic divergence and 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. During my three-month collaboration and exchange at the école des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris in 2001, Professor Sagart, with his profound knowledge and insightful views, provided me with many enlightening ideas in theoretical and methodological aspects.
At the same time, I am grateful to Michel Ferlus, researcher at the CNRS; Barbara Niederer, Ph.D.; and Frédéric Bottero, Ph.D., for their academic discussions, from which I benefited greatly.
I am also grateful to the Cultural and Technological Cooperation Office of the French Embassy in China for providing funding for this collaboration and exchange.
—I am grateful to the officials, scholars, and pronunciation collaborators from various ethnic groups in Guizhou and Guangxi who supported my field research from 1999 to 2002: among the Water people, Mr. Meng Xixiu, Mr. Meng Shaoqiu, Mr. Meng Zongfu, Mr. Meng Xilin, Mr. Wu Guoren, Mr. Meng Shaoxian, Mr. Pan Chaolin, Mr. Wang Pinquan, Mr. Shi Guoyi, and Mr. Yao Binglie; among the Zhuang people, Mr. Zhang Yiling and Mr. Liang Kaichen; and among the Han people, Professor Liu Cunhan and Mr. Wang Zhigang. Whenever I recall their warm and sincere attitudes, my research work is filled with motivation.
—I am grateful to the leadership of the School of Liberal Arts and the Department of Linguistics at Nankai University for their understanding and support. Without the harmonious, relaxed, rigorous, pragmatic, and cooperative academic atmosphere of the School of Liberal Arts, my research work would not have been completed.
—I am grateful to my doctoral and master's students. Their active minds, broad questions, and especially the process of translating and discussing contemporary Western theoretical works on language contact with them, have made me deeply appreciate the joy of "learning from teaching." Additionally, my students Sun Yi, Wang Yufeng, and Gan Chunyan helped me input thousands of field research cards and original records of folk songs and folk tales into the computer, with tens of thousands of characters mostly consisting of inconvenient-to-input International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols. I am particularly grateful for their hard work.
—I am grateful to Director Zhou Hongbo of the Chinese Language Editing Department at the Commercial Press and Mr. Hu Zhongwen for their support and help with the book's topic selection. I am also grateful to Editor-in-Chief Jin Xinxin for his meticulous editing and review. This book aims to achieve theoretical and methodological innovation, to unravel the knot of genetic relationship words and loanwords between Chinese and Tai-Kadai languages. However, due to my limited academic capabilities, I sincerely hope that scholars and colleagues in academia will kindly point out any shortcomings or errors in my exploration and research.
Zeng Xiaoyu
Written on August 25, 2003, in Room 408, Fan Sun Building, Nankai University