The origin of Mandarin
官话的起源
Zhongwei Shen 沈钟伟

Abstract 摘要
Our recent studies on the ancient non-Chinese scripts, namely the Khitan Lesser Script, the Jurchen Script, and the hP’ags-pa Script, have demonstrated that the basic characteristics of modern Northern Mandarin can be traced to the Liao dynasty, about three centuries earlier than the Zhongyuan Yinyun of 1324, which is commonly accepted as the earliest evidence of the Mandarin phonology. Of the seven phonological characteristics analyzed, five characteristics, including the devoicing of MC voiced obstruents, already existed in the Liao dynasty. That Mandarin originated in the territories of Liao and Jin has been speculated by a number of Chinese linguists. Now the speculations on the origin of Mandarin can be firmly proved with linguistic evidence.

我们近年来对辽金元三代契丹、女真、八思巴文字的研究揭示现代北方官话的基本语音特征可追溯至辽代，比《中原音韵》，即一般所接受的官话音系最早证据，早了近三百年。在所分析的现代北方官话的七个语音特征中，五个在辽代汉语中已经出现。不少语言学家曾猜测官话起源于辽金疆域之中。现在这个官话起源的猜想可以用语言学材料来具体证实。

Keywords 关键词

Origin of Mandarin 官话起源 Phonological characteristics 语音特征 Ancient non-Chinese scripts 古代民族文字

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