G. Sampson, “A Chinese phonological enigma”: Four comments

Wolfgang Behr

Abstract 摘要
Professor Sampson's paper sets out with a somewhat nonchalant equation of the distinction be¬tween zì 字 and cí 詞 (p.1). But it is precisely this relationship which needs to be detailed against the diachrony of disyllabicity, tonogenesis, word length, prosody and frequency during various stages of premodern Chinese, before we can be sure whether we are dealing with enigma or just with messy data.