Phonological Changes in Tang China According to Transcriptional Sources

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23046
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: Hashimoto Takako 神戸市外国語大学, 外国学研究所, 客員研究員 (00844416)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 対音資料 / 梵漢対音 / 霞浦文書 / 軽唇音化 / 脱鼻音化 / 音訳漢字 / 義浄 / インドの方言音

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to glean insights from transcriptional sources about phonological changes in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), specifically the extent of the dentalabialization in some labial initials and the phonetic values of the wei-initial and ri-initial. According to the analysis, from the late seventh century, dentalabialization was underway to some extent and the wei-initial, yet to be fully spirantized and denasalized, remained nasal. However, the study also found instances in transcriptional sources dated to the end of the Early Tang Dynasty that reflect the spirantization of the ri-initial. Additionally, the author suggests a possible reason why Yijing tended to transliterate the Sanskrit /v/ into bingmu (b-) in his Chinese transliteration of Sanskrit: rather than this tendency arising because of issues on the Chinese-language side, it reflected the fact that /v/ was often used interchangeably with /b/ on the Indian side.

Free Research Field

中国語音韻史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、初唐期の音韻状況を明らかにしただけでなく、漢訳仏典や漢訳マニ教文献の文献学的研究にも寄与するものである。更には初唐期に東アジアや中央アジアで成立した対訳資料、対音資料に基づく歴史学的研究にとっての言語学的基盤にもなりうると考えられる。