Abstract
It has been recognized so far that sound change was not used in order to avoid using a taboo character. Nevertheless, we find examples that suggest that there was indeed a habit of changing sounds to avoid using taboo characters in speech. Such sound changes can be seen not only in the case of state taboo, i.e., avoidance of the given names of emperors, but also in the case of secular taboo, e.g., sound changes of the vocabularies for genitals practiced in the Buddhist society. Interesting enough, these sound changes were not a case of temporary substitution but were used as one of the stable pronunciations of the characters.
Highlights
The taboo characters are peculiar to Chinese textual history, and an understanding of their various usages has been essential to the Chinese philological study
We find examples that suggest that there was a habit of changing sounds to avoid using taboo characters in speech. Such sound changes can be seen in the case of state taboo, i.e., avoidance of the given names of emperors, and in the case of secular taboo, e.g., sound changes of the vocabularies for genitals practiced in the Buddhist society
I will discuss the issue of the taboo characters in the Chinese history, the relationship between the sound changes and taboo characters
Summary
We find examples that suggest that there was a habit of changing sounds to avoid using taboo characters in speech Such sound changes can be seen in the case of state taboo, i.e., avoidance of the given names of emperors, and in the case of secular taboo, e.g., sound changes of the vocabularies for genitals practiced in the Buddhist society. Interesting enough, these sound changes were not a case of temporary substitution but were used as one of the stable pronunciations of the characters. This paper is mainly concerned with the “state taboo,” i.e., the avoidance of emperors’ names, but “secular taboo” in Buddhist society will be discussed
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