The Roots of Old Chinese
| C.R.L.A.O., Paris
The phonology, morphology and lexicon of late Zhou Chinese are examined in this volume. It is argued that a proper understanding of Old Chinese morphology is essential in correctly reconstructing the phonology. Based on evidence from word-families, modern dialects and related words in neighboring languages, Old Chinese words are claimed to consist of a monosyllabic root, to which a variety of derivational affixes attached. This made Old Chinese typologically more like modern languages such as Khmer, Gyarong or Atayal, than like Middle and modern Chinese, where only faint traces of the old morphology remain.
In the first part of the book, the author proposes improvements to Baxter's system of reconstruction, regarding complex initials and rhymes, and then reviews in great detail the Old Chinese affixal morphology. New proposals on phonology and morphology are integrated into a coherent reconstruction system.
The second part of the book consists of etymological studies of important lexical items in Old Chinese. The author demonstrates in particular the role of proportional analogy in the formation of the system of personal pronouns. Special attention is paid to contact phenomena between Chinese and neighboring languages, and — unlike most literature on Sino-Tibetan — the author identifies numerous Chinese loanwords into Tibeto-Burman.
The book, which contains a lengthy list of reconstructions, an index of characters and a general index, is intended for linguists and cultural historians, as well as advanced students.
In the first part of the book, the author proposes improvements to Baxter's system of reconstruction, regarding complex initials and rhymes, and then reviews in great detail the Old Chinese affixal morphology. New proposals on phonology and morphology are integrated into a coherent reconstruction system.
The second part of the book consists of etymological studies of important lexical items in Old Chinese. The author demonstrates in particular the role of proportional analogy in the formation of the system of personal pronouns. Special attention is paid to contact phenomena between Chinese and neighboring languages, and — unlike most literature on Sino-Tibetan — the author identifies numerous Chinese loanwords into Tibeto-Burman.
The book, which contains a lengthy list of reconstructions, an index of characters and a general index, is intended for linguists and cultural historians, as well as advanced students.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 184] 1999. xii, 272 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
|
List of Tables
|
x
|
|
Acknowledgements
|
xi
|
|
Abbreviations
|
xi
|
|
1. Introduction
|
1
|
|
1.1 The importance of word families in reconstructing Old Chinese
|
1
|
|
1.2 Old Chinese
|
4
|
|
1.3 Methodology of reconstruction
|
9
|
|
1.4 Plan of this book
|
11
|
|
2. Old Chinese Words and Roots
|
13
|
|
2.1 The Asian look of Old Chinese words
|
13
|
|
2.2 Words, roots, word-families, affixes
|
14
|
|
2.3 Chinese words and the Chinese script
|
19
|
|
2.4 Root structure
|
20
|
|
2.5 Place of insertion of the infix
|
21
|
|
2.6 Working hypothesis: morphological nature of consonant clusters
|
21
|
|
2.7 A/B distinction
|
23
|
|
3. Root Segmentals
|
24
|
|
3.1 Initials
|
24
|
|
3.2 Some controversial issues relating to Old Chinese root initials
|
29
|
|
3.3 Medials
|
42
|
|
3.4 Vowels, codas, rhymes
|
49
|
|
4. Prefixe *s-
|
63
|
|
4.1 Clusters which include prefix *s- as their first element
|
63
|
|
4.2 The functions of *s-
|
70
|
|
5. Prefix *N-
|
74
|
|
6. Prefix *m-
|
79
|
|
6.1 The reconstruction of m-
|
79
|
|
6.2 The functions of m-
|
81
|
|
7. Prefix *p-
|
87
|
|
8. Prefix *t-
|
90
|
|
8.1 The reconstruction of *t-
|
90
|
|
8.2 The functions of *t-
|
92
|
|
9. Prefix *k-
|
98
|
|
9.1 The reconstruction of *k-
|
98
|
|
9.2 The functions of *k-
|
100
|
|
10. Other Prefixes
|
108
|
|
10.1 Prefix *q-
|
108
|
|
10.2 Voiced stop prefixes
|
110
|
|
11. Infix *-r-
|
111
|
|
11.1 Medial -r- as an infix in OC
|
111
|
|
11.2 Infixed -l- in the Jin dialects
|
117
|
|
11.3 Infixed -VI- in the Min dialects
|
118
|
|
11.4 -l- insertion in modern dialects as the continuation of OC *-r- infixation
|
120
|
|
12. Initial Clusters
|
121
|
|
12.1 Infixal clusters
|
121
|
|
12.2 Prefixal clusters
|
121
|
|
13. Suffixation
|
131
|
|
13.1 Chinese tones and OC suffixes
|
131
|
|
13.2 Suffix *-ŋ ?
|
134
|
|
13.3 Suffix *-n?
|
135
|
|
14. Reduplication and Compounding
|
137
|
|
14.1 The die2 yun4 reduplications
|
138
|
|
14.2 The shuang1 sheng1 compounds
|
138
|
|
15. Etymologizing Old Chinese Words
|
139
|
|
16. Personal Pronouns
|
142
|
|
16.1 The first- and second-person pronouns
|
142
|
|
16.2 The third-person pronoun
|
146
|
|
17. Numerals
|
148
|
|
17.1 Three
|
149
|
|
18. Body Parts
|
153
|
|
18.1 Blood
|
153
|
|
18.2 Eye
|
153
|
|
18.3 Head
|
155
|
|
18.4 Hand
|
155
|
|
19. The Physical World
|
157
|
|
19.1 Water, river
|
157
|
|
19.2 Fire
|
158
|
|
19.3 Moon, night
|
159
|
|
20. Wild Animals
|
161
|
|
20.1 Deer
|
161
|
|
20.2 Snake
|
161
|
|
20.3 Dove
|
162
|
|
21. Mankind and Kinship
|
163
|
|
21.1 Man (human being)
|
163
|
|
21.2 Child (young human)
|
163
|
|
21.3 Child (kinship term)
|
164
|
|
21.4 Nephews and nieces; maternal uncle
|
165
|
|
21.5 Brothers
|
169
|
|
21.6 Wives and concubines
|
173
|
|
21.7 Sons
|
174
|
|
22. Agriculture: The Cereals
|
176
|
|
22.1 Millets
|
176
|
|
22.2 Rice
|
180
|
|
22.3 Wheat
|
183
|
|
22.4 Field
|
183
|
|
23. Other Cultivated Plants
|
185
|
|
23.1 Beans
|
185
|
|
23.2 Tea
|
188
|
|
24. Domesticated Animals
|
190
|
|
24.1 Dogs
|
190
|
|
24.2 Pigs
|
191
|
|
24.3 Fowl
|
192
|
|
24.4 Horned cattle
|
192
|
|
24.5 Goats and sheep
|
194
|
|
24.6 Horses
|
195
|
|
25. Food
|
197
|
|
25.1 Gruel
|
197
|
|
25.2 Vegetables
|
197
|
|
25.3 Meat
|
197
|
|
26. Metals
|
198
|
|
26.1 Copper and bronze
|
198
|
|
26.2 Iron
|
200
|
|
26.3 Silver
|
202
|
|
27. Transportation
|
204
|
|
27.1 Chariot
|
204
|
|
27.2 Boat
|
205
|
|
28. Commerce
|
206
|
|
28.1 Buy/sell I
|
206
|
|
28.2 Buy/sell II
|
206
|
|
28.3 Price
|
208
|
|
28.4 Money coin
|
208
|
|
29. Writing
|
209
|
|
29.1 To read
|
209
|
|
29.2 To write
|
210
|
|
29.3 Chinese character
|
210
|
|
29.4 Writing brush
|
212
|
|
29.5 Ink
|
213
|
|
29.6 Book
|
214
|
|
References
|
216
|
|
Appendix A: Chinese Chronology
|
234
|
|
Appendix B: List of Reconstructions
|
235
|
|
Index of Chinese Characters
|
243
|
|
General Index
|
249
|
“[...] the scholarly community should be pleased to have the views and a wealth of etymological suggestions of this prominent sinologist available in the form of a book [...]”
Axel Schuessler in Language and Linguistics Vol.1:2
“[...] a major achievement in Chinese linguistics [...] Sagart's book belongs on the shelf of every serious Chinese historical linguist and many Asian language comparativists. It presents the best reconstruction of OC available [...]”
Marc Miyake in Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, Vol. 30:2 2001
“[...] an invaluable abundance of information together with challenging and clever proposals.
[...] an ansolute pleasure to read and should interest not only Sinologists but also linguists concerned with the reconstruction of the internal history of languages.
”Gonzalo Rubio, Ohio State University
“This is a truly significant book for East Asian historical linguistics and is necessary reading for all specialists in the field.”
Christopher I. Beckwith, Indiana University, in Anthropological Linguistics, December 2002
“This is easily the most important book on the Old Chinese lexicon since Karlgren's Word-Families [...] and the most challenging contribution on Old Chinese morphology ever written. It deserves to be taught and tested, applied or amended, by whoever reads Old Chinese texts.”
Wolfgang Behr
Cited by
Cited by other publications
No author info given
2010.
In Rice,
► pp. 513 ff. 
Aldridge, Edith & Barbara Meisterernst
2018.
In Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 250],
► pp. 157 ff.
Baxter, William H. & Laurent Sagart
2017. Old Chinese reconstruction.
Diachronica 34:4 ► pp. 559 ff.
Bisang, Walter
2014.
In Paradigm Change [Studies in Language Companion Series, 161],
► pp. 23 ff.
Bisang, Walter
2020. Radical analyticity and radical pro-drop scenarios of diachronic change in East and mainland Southeast Asia, West
Africa and Pidgins and Creoles.
Asian Languages and Linguistics 1:1 ► pp. 34 ff.
Bradley, David
2011. Proto-Tibeto-Burman Grain Crops.
Rice 4:3-4 ► pp. 134 ff.
Cheng, Jie
2015. On syntactic intervention in Chinese denominal verbs.
Diachronica 32:3 ► pp. 293 ff.
Dan, Xu
2008.
In Space in Languages of China,
► pp. 1 ff.
Enfield, N. J.
2018.
In Mainland Southeast Asian Languages,
Handel, Zev
2014.
In The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics,
► pp. 576 ff.
Harbsmeier, Christoph
2016. Irrefutable Conjectures. A Review of William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart, Old Chinese. A New Reconstruction.
Monumenta Serica 64:2 ► pp. 445 ff.
Hill, Nathan
2019.
In The Historical Phonology of Tibetan, Burmese, and Chinese,
HILL, NATHAN W.
2011. An Inventory of Tibetan Sound Laws.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21:4 ► pp. 441 ff.
Hill, Nathan W.
2012. Evolution of the Burmese Vowel System.
Transactions of the Philological Society 110:1 ► pp. 64 ff.
Jacques, Guillaume
2012. An Internal Reconstruction of Tibetan Stem Alternations1.
Transactions of the Philological Society 110:2 ► pp. 212 ff.
Jacques, Guillaume
2013. Les noms du cochon domestique en celtique.
Historical Linguistics 126:1 ► pp. 287 ff.
Konnerth, Linda
2016. The Proto-Tibeto-Burman*gV-nominalizing prefix.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 39:1 ► pp. 3 ff.
Luo, Xiaoliang
2015. Deux méthodes phonologiques pour une même langue.
Histoire Epistémologie Langage 37:1 ► pp. 99 ff.
Meisterernst, Barbara
2016. The syntax of aspecto-temporal adverbs from Late Archaic to Early Medieval Chinese.
Journal of East Asian Linguistics 25:2 ► pp. 143 ff.
Meisterernst, Barbara
2017. Modality and aspect and the thematic role of the subject in Late Archaic and Han period Chinese: obligation and necessity.
Lingua Sinica 3:1
Meisterernst, Barbara
2018.
In Buddhism and Linguistics,
► pp. 123 ff.
Meisterernst, Barbara
2019.
In New Perspectives on Aspect and Modality in Chinese Historical Linguistics [Frontiers in Chinese Linguistics, 5],
► pp. 159 ff.
Miyake, Marc Hideo
2019. A first look at Pyu grammar.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 42:2 ► pp. 150 ff.
ORLANDI, GIORGIO
2019. Joseph Edkins and the “Discovery” of Early Chinese: the linguistic ideas behind the first (partial) reconstruction of the sound system of Early Chinese.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 29:3 ► pp. 519 ff.
Orlandi, Giorgio [Georg]
2019. A Rejection of the Aramaic Origin of the Chinese Word for Monastery.
Monumenta Serica 67:2 ► pp. 517 ff.
Rousseau, André
2001. Réflexions sur les catégories des unités linguistiques : comparaison de l’allemand et du chinois.
Linx :45 ► pp. 59 ff.
Sagart, Laurent
2016. The wider connections of Austronesian.
Diachronica 33:2 ► pp. 255 ff.
Schuessler, Axel
2016. New Old Chinese.
Diachronica 32:4 ► pp. 571 ff.
Jonathan M. Smith 趙納川
2011. The Di Zhi 地支 as Lunar Phases and Their Coordination with the Tian Gan 天干 as Ecliptic Asterisms in a China before Anyang.
Early China 33 ► pp. 199 ff.
Wiedenhof, Jeroen
2015.
In A Grammar of Mandarin,
Williams, Crispin
2011. Early references to collective punishment in an excavated Chinese text: analysis and discussion of an imprecation from the Wenxian covenant texts.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 74:3 ► pp. 437 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 05 may 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 99016629