On the Progress of Phonemic Analysis of Chinese Word Syllables

Abstract

The process of the sound notation of sinographs arose in China to address problems in pronunciations. Attention to this process is almost as old as the use of the sinographs, and thus has marked historical relevance. Throughout this extended period of time, there was no strong appropriate method to convey the pronunciation of sinographs to the learners of the language, despite several attempts. With the design of different methods of sinograph sound notation, that is, direct notation, the fan-qie method, the national sound notation alphabet, and the scheme of the Chinese phonemic alphabet, the analysis of the Chinese word syllable has progressed developmentally, with an increasingly delicate view of segmentation of the Chinese syllable. The latter three methods, which divided the Chinese word syllable in two, three, and even four parts respectively, have been designed under influences of foreign linguistic methods, and for which, the communications between China, and India and European countries have offered an impetus for the progress in Chinese syllabic analysis. This paper thus addresses the development of these models for articulating the phonology of the Chinese word or syllable, by presenting the above models, and by describing their application and appropriacy to the field of Chinese linguistics through an ethnography of language and text.