Historical sources of alveolar-velar correspondences in Chinese Dialects

DONG Hongyuan

This paper looks at a rare type of sound correspondence between an alveolar initial, e.g. t-, and a velar initial, e.g. k-, in Chinese dialects. The aim of this paper is to identify the sources of such correspondences. Although many previous studies have touched upon this phenomenon, e.g. Bao (2006), Baxter and Sagart (2014), no systematic analysis of this phenomenon across different dialects has been given. I examined all the dialect data given in “______”, and picked out all those words that have an alveolar-velar correspondence across many different dialects. Indeed this correspondence is very rare, and the more representative data are given in the following table. The Middle Chinese initials of these characters are given in parentheses after the entry words. The dialect locations are also given after each pronunciation.

 

I will argue that these four words represent at least three different sources ranging from Old Chinese, Middle Chinese and more recent innovations.

The word _ has an initial t- in Fuzhou, and it has been widely agreed upon that Fuzhou initial t- here is a preservation of the Old Chinese initial t-. On the other hand, the Jian’ou pronunciation has a velar initial k^h-. But the etymological character for this pronunciation is _. According to the book F_ngyán by Yang Xiong (in late Old Chinese period), the word for “pig” in the Chu area was _ (“_____”). Thus this t-k^h correspondence might have been a dialect difference in Old Chinese.

Now let’s look at the word _. Xiamen has a t^h- initial, while Fuzhou has a x- initial. This correspondence might have come from Middle Chinese, since the word _ also had a pronunciation with the _ initial in Middle Chinese, which could develop into the x- initial in Fuzhou.

The word _ represents another source. The Chaozhou dialect has a t- initial, which corresponds well to the original initial in Old Chinese. However the initial k- in Shuangfeng is rather unusual, since there is no written record for the existence of such a velar initial for this word. According to Blevins and Grawunder (2009), the t-k alternation is perceptually quite close and leads to variations across many different languages. Thus it is very likely that this k- initial in Shuangfeng is a more recent innovation.

The word _ is a little ambiguous. Since the Middle Chinese initial of this word is _, the Old Chinese initial should be k-, and the Chaozhou pronunciation is consistent with this. As to the initial t- in Shuangfeng, there are two competing theories. It could either be a preservation of older features (e.g. Luo 1940), or a more recent innovation (e.g. Bao 2006). Suppose it represents an older feature, then this could be another case of dialect variation in Old Chinese. If this is a more recent innovation, it could be similar to the t-k alternation as discussed by Blevins and Grawunder (2009).

Therefore the alveolar and velar correspondences in Chinese dialects might have come from three different sources. Some may be due to dialect variation in Old Chinese. Some may correspond to a distinction in Middle Chinese, and some may be more recent innovations.

 

References:

Bao, H. (___). 2006. Xi_ng F_ngyán Gàiyào.

Blevins, J. & Grawunder, S. 2009. *KL > TL sound change in Germanic and elsewhere: Descriptions, explanations, and implications.

Baxter, W.H. & Sagart, L., 2014. Old Chinese: A new reconstruction.

Luo, C. (___). 1940. Línchu_n Y_nxì.