From Value to Fact: The Emergence of Phonology as a Precise Discipline in Late Imperial China

Abstract

The emergence of phonology as a key discipline during the Ch'ing dynasty was closely tied to the triumph of precise empirical techniques of philological analysis, championed by participants in the evidential research movement, over Neo-Confucian moral philosophy. In phonology, such applications stressed the reconstruction of archaic finals through an examination of ancient rhyme schemes. In the late eighteenth century, significant steps were taken to investigate archaic initials as well. Such pioneering studies established the foundations of modern Chinese linguistics and at the same time provided Western linguists with much of the necessary data and tools needed to refine earlier reconstructions of ancient Chinese phonology.