A Diachronic Comparative Analysis for the Phonology of Xiāng Dialects

Abstract

Xiāng Dialect has been proposed as a sub-branch of Chinese for ninety years, though its status is still heavily contested among scholars. The lack of an identifiable uniquely shared innovation among the Xiāng dialects is a major obstacle faced with the efforts towards any taxonomic classification. Recent study has suggested disintegration of the proposed group into smaller units that carry certain phonological innovations among some of the subsets. In response, established on the ground of family tree model and applying the historical comparative method, this study has analyzed substantial published data on the Xiāng dialects, and ultimately put forward a proposal that the Xiāng dialects could form a single taxonomic group characterized by an early and distinct innovation.

The study starts from a propositional working hypothesis that an envisaged innovation constitutes both the sufficient and the necessary conditions for membership of Xiāng. From this starting point, a common phonological system is steadily reconstructed, with thirty two initials plus initial zero, seventy three finals, and eight tones. The result supports the hypothesis that the innovation in concern is uniquely shared by most dialects in the area traditionally proposed to be Xiāng speaking. Remarkably, this innovation is ancient in that it accompanied the division of Early Middle Chinese into Mandarin, Gàn, Hakka, and the Xiāng. Meanwhile, the prior suggestion on setting up a taxonomic group in central Xiāng area is denied. Implied by this result, the status of several dialects in the south of Húnán Province is subject to reconsideration for further studies.

Alternate abstract:

自九十年前湘語初次被學術界提名為漢語一大分支以來，有關其地位的爭議在學者中異常激烈。其中，缺少一項可被識別的獨特共享創新，一直是湘方言的分類學研究面臨的主要障礙。近年來，有研究認為應當將湘語進行拆分，以便描述其中個別組團的某些共享創新。對此，這篇研究建基於歷時譜系樹架構，採取了歷史比較法手段，引用了公開詳實的數據，最終提出了湘方言可在一項早期的獨特共享創新之上構建單一共系群的看法。 本文首先將一個設想中的創新假定為判定湘語的充分必要條件。在此基礎上，本文構擬了一套擁有三十二個聲母外加零聲母、七十三個韻母及八個聲調的共同語音系。結果顯示，先前所假設的創新的確是多數傳統被認為屬於湘語的方言所共享的創新。更重要的是，這一獨特的創新還伴隨著早期中古漢語分化為官話、贛語、客家話和湘語的過程。同時，早前學者所提出在湘語中部單獨劃立一個類型學群落的建議遭到否決。研究結果還建議，湖南省南部若干處方言的地位應當重新進行考慮。