A Dynamic Study of Old Chinese Dialects

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00532
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02060:Linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUE Takashi 京都大学, 人間・環境学研究科, 教授 (90344530)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 戸内 俊介 二松學舍大學, 文学部, 教授 (70713048) ; 野原 将揮 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 准教授 (80728056)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 古代中国語 / 動態的変化 / 揚雄『方言』 / 甲骨文・金文 / 否定詞 / 上古音 / びん方言 / 円唇母音

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated diachronic linguistic phenomena related to grammatical and lexical changes from Ancient Chinese (from the Shang to the Western Han dynasty) to Medieval Chinese (Tang and Five Dynasties period). The main research findings are as follows: (1) We elucidated the existence of social dialects in the Early Ancient Chinese period (Western Zhou); (2) discovered linguistic similarities between the Dongqi-Haidai dialect and the distant Qin dialect during the Late Ancient Chinese period (Western Han); and (3) proposed a dynamic change model for the Jiangdong dialect from Ancient Chinese to Middle Chinese (Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties).

Free Research Field

中国語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

古代中国における言語面での地域的・階層的差異の明示や、それらの動態的な変遷を跡付けは、中国語史のみならず、歴史研究（とりわけ地域史研究）や文化史研究に対しても貢献し得るところがあり、ひいては古代中国の多様性の内実を明らかにすることにも資するところがあると考えられる。