The g (k, kh) Initials in Wu and Min

Abstract

In both the Wu and Min dialects, there are some  (, ) initials which belonged to Xia initial of Qieyun. But their current pronunciations reflect that, in Ancient Wu, the first, second and fourth grades of Archaic Qun initial still kept their Archaic form *, and did not merge into Xia as happened in the history of other dialects. A peculiarity of Wu is that there are also some  initials that belonged to non-Xia initials of the Jian initial series of Qieyun, or were produced through sandhi, or whose origin is unclear. These  initials might not derive from Archaic Qun. This phenomenon is not found in Min.