Depth of Historical Change

こんにちは！

Just to close off my discussion of phonological change, I would like to provide you with what I have learned thanks to Sojeong Min and Joseph Maza--Omniglot fan Club members who both really knew their stuff! 

Maza provided one truly insightful comment: "The modern Mandarin pronunciation may not be a good gauge since Mandarin has made many innovations that more conservative languages such and Cantonese do not have."

He also informed me that: "the 'ha' series was the 'ɸa' series: [h] -> [ɸ]."

Min brought up the influence of tone, saying: "Generally speaking, letters whose Mandarin reading start with b or f and have the first (high level 55) or the third tone (dipping 214) correspond to Japanese h, while those with the second (mid-rising 35) or the fourth tone (high-falling 51) correspond to both Japanese h and b."

Min provided examples to help clarify: 

           般 Mandarin ban1 /p-/ :: Japanese han (< fan)

          兵 Mandarin bing1 /p-/ :: Japanese hyou~hei (< fyau~fei)

Further, Min provided an explanation behind these processes.

"There were Middle Chinese phonemes /p/, /b/, and /ph/. Japanese borrowed each as /f/, /b/, and /f/ respectively.
 In Middle Chinese, there were three tones called level (平), rising (上), and departing (去). Level tone starting with /p/ or /ph/ became the Mandarin first tone (55), while level tone starting with /b/ became the second tone (35). Rising tone starting with /p/ or /ph/ became the third tone (214), and rising tone starting with /b/ and departing tone starting with any of the three consonants became the fourth tone (51).
/p/ and /b/ followed by /j/ became /f/ and /v/ respectively. Both of them are reflected in Mandarin as Pinyin f. Later, /p/ and /b/ merged to become a single phoneme that is represented as Pinyin b. However, the former distinction of /p/ and /b/ is left in the tones. This is an example of what is sometimes called 'cheshirization'.
"

I want to give Maza and Min a big ありがとうございます！for participating in the discussion. I would love to hear from more of my readers. Practice, discussion, hypotheosizing, and sharing knowledge are all keys to learning! And I hope we are all learning something new.

I'll be back for more practice in the near future.

さよなら！

Borrowing and Sound Changes Pt2 Clarifications and /b/ -- /h/ (and more)

皆さん、こんにちは！

Clarifications:

Thanks to some awesome readers in the Omniglot Facebook Group (particularly, Sojeong Min), I was  directed to William H. Baxter's work in historical Chinese phonology. It has been hypothesized that the Chinese /r/ and the Japanese /ni/ were, in Middle Chinese, something akin to /nj/. Others noted that /r/ may be a misleading symbol, as the sound is more similar to /z/ than the English "r" sound--which is an absolutely great point. Therefore, thank you commenters!

Let this serve as a caveat that I am comparing current Mandarin and Japanese sounds, but I am not asserting what proto-sounds may have existed. While I do have some limited experience and enjoyment of historical linguistics, this is not a field that I would ever claim expertise. Moreover, my hypotheses are me testing my own linguistic skills. I don't mind being wrong if I am able to learn something new.

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Today, I would like to look at another group of sounds.

• ba          hachi
• bai         haku
• ban        han
• bei         hoku
• ben        hon
• bing       byoo

Wow! What a cornicopia of linguistic information! Do you see the same patterns that I am seeing?

First and foremost, as the title says, there is a clear connection between the Chinese /b/ and the Japanese /h/. In five of the six examples, we see this difference. Interestingly enough, there is still one  in which there is both /b/ sounds used. What makes this one different?

Well, if the first place that I like to look at are the sounds before and after the sound in question. As these are all word initial, there is only one way to go...to the vowels. If you pronounce the sounds /a/ and /o/, you will notice that both are made with the tongue low in the mouth. At the same time, the sound /i/ brings the tongue up nearer the roof of the mouth. And there we notice a clear distinction.

/b/-->/h/, #_V[low]  This may be translated to mean, the Chinese /b/ is a Japanese /h/ when it is word-initial and followed by a low vowel. 

Also, it can be noted that /ba/ is related to /ha/ while /be/ is related to /ho/. The Chinese /bi/ is the Japanese /by/. Can we find other examples to support this hypothesis?

Interestingly enough, I cannot verify the /bi/ & /by/ connection. Look  at these examples:

• 便 --  bian (pian)            bin, ben
• 彬蔚 -- binwei                hin'utsu

Clearly, this hypothesis needs refinement. What about the other two hypotheses?

• 笆     ba        mase

• 把持  bachi    haji

• 把    ba         ba/pa

Well, this one does get complicated. The bisyllabic /bachi/ very clearly relates to the Japanese /haji/. However the other examples do not follow the pattern. This will require more in depth research.

• 崩壊   benghuai       hookai
• 奔流   benliu            honryoo

This hypothesis has the best legs. What more can we find in these examples? Here is your chance to offer suggestions and help me correct any mistakes.

ありがとうございます！じゃあまた！