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Ancient Chinese -p, -t, -k Endings in the Peking Dialect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Hugh M. Stimson
Hugh M. Stimson*
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

The present study is an attempt to account for the variety in which Ancient Chinese (AC) syllables ending in -p, -t, and -k develop tones in the Peking dialect (P) that are identical to the tones carried by P reflexes of other AC syllables. AC syllables ending in -p, -t, and -k belong to a category traditionally known as ju4 sheng1 ‘Entering Tone’; other syllables belong to any of the three other tone categories, called p'ing2 sheng1 ‘Level Tone’, shang3 sheng1 ‘Rising Tone’, or ch'ü4 sheng1 'Departing Tone'. Entering Tone syllables neutralize the tonal distinctions which apply to syllables in other tone categories.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 38 , Issue 4: October-December , December 1962, pp. 376 - 384
Copyright
Copyright © 1962 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Yale Linguistic Club, 20 March 1961. The line of argument was first suggested to me by Fang-Kuei Li, whose help I acknowledge with thanks.

2 Chinese names, book titles, and terms other than forms cited as linguistic examples are given in a modified Wade-Giles transcription. Citation of AC forms is given in a transcription based on Samuel E. Martin, The phonemes of Ancient Chinese (Suppl. to JAOS 16; Baltimore, 1953). The most obvious modification is that I write all initials as though they were unit phonemes: labials p, ph, bh, m; apicals t, th, dh, n, l, ts, tsh, dzh, s, z; frontals ty, tyh, dyh, tsy, tsyh, dzyh, sy, zy, nzy; retroflex tṣ, tṣh, dẓh, ṣ; dorsals k, kh, gh, h, γ, ŋ; glottal stop q. I write the rest of the syllable about the way Martin does: medials i, u; nuclei i, ǝ, e, ∊, a, â; endings p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, i, u. Tones are indicated by numbers that correspond to their P reflexes: 1 ‘Level’, 3 ‘Rising’, 4 ‘Departing’.

Citation of P forms is in a transcription similar to the one adopted for AC, though the inventory is radically reduced: initials—labials p, ph, f, m; apicals t, th, n, l, ts, tsh, s; retroflex tṣ, tṣh, ṣ, ẓ; postapicals (fronto-prepalatals before -i-, otherwise dorso-velars) k, kh, h. Medials are i, u. Nuclei are i, e, a; only and a occur before the endings n, ŋ, i, u. Other endings m and r will not be referred to in this paper. Tones are 1 ‘High Level’, 2 ‘High Rising’, 3 ‘Low’, 4 ‘Falling’; a fifth tone occurs only in connected speech and will not be referred to here. The standard works on P phonemes are Lawton M. Hartman 3rd, ‘The segmental phonemes of the Peiping dialect’, Lg. 20.28–42 (1944); Charles F. Hockett, ‘Peiping phonology’, JAOS 67.253–67 (1947).

3 Compiled by Lu4 Fa3-yen2 and others in 601.

4 Compiled by Ch'en2 P'eng2-nien2, Ch'iul Yung1, and others, in 1011.

5 Tei3-yin1 ju4-sheng1 yen3-pien4 k'ao3' [Examination of the development of the Entering Tone in Mandarin], Nü3-shih1-ta4 hsüeh2-shu4 chi4-k'an1 2:2 (the second article in this number; it is 42 pages long and is dated 1931).

6 The ju-shêng tone in Pekingese', BSOAS 13.443–7 (London, 1949).

7 ‘The phonology of the Chūng-yüán yīn yn’, completed in May 1960, to appear in the Tsing Hua journal of Chinese studies.