The Chinese Rime Tables

Linguistic philosophy and historical-comparative phonology

Editor

David Prager Branner | University of Maryland

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027247858 | EUR 120.00 | USD 180.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027288479 | EUR 120.00 | USD 180.00

This book, the first in its field in a Western language, examines China’s native phonological tool with regard to reconstruction, theory, and linguistic philosophy.

After an introductory essay on the nature of the tables and the history of their interpretation, the book concentrates on three areas: application of rime table theory to reconstruction, the history of rime table theory, and the application of the tables to descriptive linguistics. An appendix details a number of 20th century systems for transcribing their phonology into Roman letters.

Major topics include Altaic contact-influence on Chinese, early native understanding of the tables’ meaning, the phonological work of Yuen Ren Chao, and Stammbaumtheorie/diasystemic thinking about Chinese. New reconstructions of Han and “Common Dialectal” phonology appear here, as do complete texts and translations of the Shouwen fragments and Yunjing preface.

[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 271] 2006. viii, 358 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.271

Table of Contents

Introduction: What Are Rime Tables and What Do They Mean?

David Prager Branner | pp. 1–34

Part I: Rime-Tables in Chinese Reconstruction

On the Principle of the Four Grades

Abraham Chan | pp. 37–46

The Four Grades: An Interpretation from the perspective of Sino-altaic language contact

Chris Wen-Chao Li | pp. 47–58

On Old Turkic Consonanticism and Vocalic Divisions of Acute Consonants in Medieval Hàn Phonology

An-King Lim | pp. 59–82

The Qièyùn System ‘Divisions’ as the Result of Vowel Warping

Axel Schuessler | pp. 83–96

Part II: The History of Rime Table Texts and Reconstruction

Reflections on the Shouwen Fragments

W. South Coblin | pp. 99–122

Zhāng Línzhī on the Yùnjìng

W. South Coblin | pp. 123–150

Simon Schaank and the Evolution of Western Beliefs About Traditional Chinese Phonology

David Prager Branner | pp. 151–167

Part III: Rime Tables as Descriptive Tools

How Rime-Book Based Analyses Can Lead Us Astray

Richard VanNess Simmons | pp. 171–182

Modern Chinese and the Rime Tables

Jerry Norman | pp. 183–188

Common Dialect Phonology in Practice.: Y.R. Chao’s Field Methodology

Richard VanNess Simmons | pp. 189–208

Some Composite Phonological Systems in Chinese

David Prager Branner | pp. 209–232

Common Dialectal Chinese

Jerry Norman | pp. 233–254

Appendix I: Pronunciation Guide to Boodberg's Alternative Grammatonomic Notation

Gari K. Ledyard | pp. 255–264

Appendix II: Comparative Transcriptions of Rime Table Phonology

David Prager Branner | pp. 265–302

Index of Biographical Names | pp. 327–332

General Index | pp. 333–358

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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