The nasal endings and retroflexed initials in Peking Mandarin: Instability and the trend of changes
北京音系里的鼻韵尾与卷舌声母: 混淆情况及变化趋向
Chung-yu Chen 陈重瑜

Abstract 摘要
Thirty-six instances of confusion between the nasal endings -n and -ng in dictionaries and rime books have been cited. The data here show that among all the finals, the pairs -in/-ing and -en/-eng have been most unstable. There are indications that final -in will be the first to lose its identity. Data of current actual speech in Singapore and Taipei reveal a predominant trend of -in merging into -ing and -eng merging into -en. A total of 104 attested examples of confusion or interflow between the retroflexed and the dental obstruents have been found in rime books, dictionaries and, in a few cases, reported current speech. There are 66 instances of de-retroflexion; 46 of them have lost retroflexion completely; 20 are in a two-reading stage. 15 examples of acquisition of retroflexion have been found; 13 can probably be attributed to influence of graphs sharing the same phonetic component. There were 23 characters that started out with both types of initials; 20 of them in Middle Chinese and 3 recent formations in the 1932 system. Of which, 11 retain only the dental readings, 5 retain only the retroflexed readings, 4 preserve both types of readings and 3 have become obsolete. The data here indicate that the confusion between the two types of initials can be traced back to the time of MC.

鼻韵尾 -n 与 -ng的混淆在词典与韵书里已有迹可循：本文举出的36个例证显示 -in/-ing 与 -en/-eng 两组最不稳定；而目前台北与新加坡两地的实际语音里的变化则是以 -in 变向 -ing, -eng变向 -en进展得最快。卷舌音与不卷舌音的混淆在中古音里已不乏其例，而自中古音以降，中原音韵，1932系统，1963-85系统各阶段之间，读音亦多有变更。文中的104个字例只有笔者在短期内搜寻所得；实际上的字数当远多于此。此处104个例证可说是北京一地的变化。在北京以外，台湾的国语，新加坡的华语，及中国大陆许多地区的普通话里，卷舌正迅速地消失。这种现象可能促使卷舌音在北京一地的变化步伐加速。

<< Back 返回

Readers 读者