Abstract
The phonetic phenomenon “ping split into yin and yang” 平分阴阳 is one of the most important changes of Chinese tones in the early modern Chinese, which is reflected clearly in Zhongyuan Yinyun 中原音韵by Zhou Deqing 周德清 (1277-1356) in the Yuan Dynasty. The authors of this paper think the phe-nomenon “ping split into yin and yang” should not have occurred so late as in the Yuan Dynasty, based on previous research results and modern Chinese dialects, making use of historical comparative method and rhyming books. The changes of tones have close relationship with the voiced and voiceless initials in Chinese, and the voiced initials have turned into voiceless in Song Dynasty, so it could not be in the Yuan Dynasty that ping split into yin and yang, but no later than the Song Dynasty.
Highlights
Standard Chinese is a typical tone language in which the pitch contour over a syllable can distinguish word meanings (San Duanmu, 2007)
We focus on the question: whether the change of tone, that is, the ping tone split into yin ping and yang ping, occurred in the Yuan Dynasty
It is not convincing that it was not until the Yuan Dynasty the ping split into yin and yang if we only judge from the materials in Zhongyuan Yinyun. It is well-known that the splitting and integrating of tones have a close relation with the pronunciation of the initial consonants in Chinese. Another factor related with the theme of this paper is the phonetic change in early modern Chinese— voiced consonants turning into voiceless
Summary
Standard Chinese is a typical tone language in which the pitch contour over a syllable can distinguish word meanings (San Duanmu, 2007). Most experts agree, based on the previous studies on the phonology of Chinese, that the tones of Chinese came into being during the period between Zhou Dynasty (through Qin Dynasty) and Han Dynasty, when the ancient Chinese language developed. Languages change in their development together with other things in the universe. The qusheng 去声 “falling tone” came into being in Wei and Jin Dynasties; the voiced shangsheng 全浊上声 “falling-rising tone” became qusheng 去声 in the Later Han Dynasty and Five Dynasties; the ping 平 “level” was split into yin ping 阴平 “high level” and yang Ping 阳平 “rising tone” and the loss of the entering tone in Yuan Dynasty, etc. We focus on the question: whether the change of tone, that is, the ping tone split into yin ping and yang ping, occurred in the Yuan Dynasty
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