7231004Linguistics (Special Lectures)
| Numbering Code | G-LET29 67231 LJ37 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester | |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | special lecture | |
| Target Year | Target Student | |||
| Language | Japanese | Day/Period | Fri.3 | |
| Instructor name | SADANOBU TOSHIYUKI (Graduate School of Letters Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
As the Chinese language was in use as an international language when the Tang Dynasty amassed extensive territories in eastern Eurasia during the Middle Ages, it had an enormous influence on the languages of neighboring ethnic groups through the transplantation or borrowing of Chinese character pronunciations. Signs of this remain in the written record. With the arrival of the early modern period, we can start to see aspects of phonological variations of northern dialects, such as Beijing dialect sounds, which are considered the standard pronunciations of modern standard language (Modern Standard Chinese). In this course, students will read and analyze various works from the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the early modern era, and trace the historical changes of Chinese pronunciation between medieval and modern periods to learn practical methods for diachronic linguistics in languages that retain an abundance of written materials. We will start with a general outline of materials that reflect medieval (middle ancient) Chinese language sounds and early modern Chinese sounds, and an outline of their phoneme systems. This will be followed by discussions about aspects of Chinese language initials, finals and tones of each period, based on all types of written materials that record medieval and early modern Chinese sounds. We will handle materials such as documents comparing the sounds of Tibetan, Khotan, and Uighur languages; Chinese character pronunciations, rime tables, and fanqie documents handed down in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam; and a variety of items in modern dialects. Above all, we will focus on Chinese language sounds reflected in documents written in Khitan scripts that have been deciphered in recent years. The historical vicissitudes of Chinese language sounds are a part of the fundamental knowledge that should be learned by those studying the history of Chinese language, and by those studying the languages and literatures of places neighboring China. The history of Chinese phonemes from this period especially is directly linked to the origins of the modern Beijing dialect, and it may provide useful information for those studying modern Chinese. |
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| Course Goals |
・To understand the terminology and concepts particular to Chinese phonetics, and to cultivate diverse perspectives of language studies. ・To use diverse literary materials to learn techniques for studying diachronic changes in speech sounds. |
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| Schedule and Contents |
In the first semester, we will cover the following topics. However, some of the content is subject to change depending on students' background knowledge. [Part 1] Foundations 1. Introduction 2. Chinese phoneme structures and modern Beijing sounds 3. Outline of Middle Chinese (1): Chinese dictionaries arranged by finals, fanqie, rime tables 4. Outline of Middle Chinese (2): finals and the tone system in "Qieyun" 5. Outline of Middle Chinese (3): the initial system in "Qieyun" 6. Outline of Middle Chinese (4): Middle Tang Dynasty Chang'an sounds 7. Outline of early modern sounds: Khanbaliq sounds in the Yuan Dynasty [Part 2] Initials 8. Outline of medieval and early modern literary documents 9. Voiced and unvoiced consonant theory (1): Tang Dynasty voiced and unvoiced consonants, and changes into the early modern period 10. Voiced and unvoiced consonant theory (2): All voiced consonants in medieval and early modern literature 11. Voiced and unvoiced consonant theory (3): Subsequent voiced consonants in medieval and early modern literature 12. Five tone theory (1): Issues related to labiodental and pharyngeal sounds 13. Five tone theory (2): Issues related to linguadental sounds 14. General remarks on initials 15. Feedback |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy | Based on class participation (short reports and participation in class) (50%) and end-of-term report (50%). | |||
| Course Requirements | Knowledge of Chinese is not required. Students with no experience in learning Chinese and no knowledge of Chinese linguistics are welcome to join. | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | Since the terminology and concepts covered in the first part of the course are particularly essential for the rest of the course, please review these until you understand them. | |||
| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | Not used | ||
| References, etc. | 牛島徳次・香坂順一・藤堂明保編 『中国文化叢書１ 言語』 (大修館書店、2011年新装版) ISBN:9784469232646 | |||
