Social:Ba–Shu Chinese
| Ba–Shu Chinese | |
|---|---|
| 巴蜀語 | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Sichuan Basin |
| Extinct | Extinct during the Ming dynasty. Some features are preserved in Sichuanese Mandarin, especially the Minjiang dialect. |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Ba–Shu Chinese (Chinese: 巴蜀語; pinyin: Bāshǔyǔ; Wade–Giles: Ba1 Shu3 Yü3; Sichuanese Pinyin: Ba¹su²yu³; IPA: [pa˥su˨˩y˥˧]), or simply Shu Chinese (Chinese: 蜀語), also known as Old Sichuanese, is an extinct Chinese language formerly spoken in what is now Sichuan and Chongqing, China .
History and influences
Ba–Shu Chinese was first described in the book Fangyan from the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE) and represented one of the earliest splits from Old Chinese.[1][2] This makes Ba-Shu Chinese similar to Min Chinese, which also diverged from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.
Ba-Shu Chinese started to disappear during the late Southern Song dynasty period due to the Mongol conquest of China, which resulted in a massacre throughout the Sichuan Basin. The language was supplanted by Southwestern Mandarin after settlement by people from other parts of China, mostly from present-day Hubei and Hunan.[3]
Phonological aspects of Ba–Shu Chinese are preserved in the Minjiang dialect of Sichuanese Mandarin, which caused debate on whether the dialect is a variant of Southwestern Mandarin or a modern-day descendant of Ba–Shu.[4][5]
Phonology
Although the Ba–Shu language is extinct, some phonology features of rhymes can be found by researching the local literati and poets' use of rhymes in their works. Liu Xiaonan (2014) assumed that they wrote verses in Standard Chinese of the Song dynasty, but because their mother tongue was Ba–Shu, their verses rhymed in the Ba–Shu accent.[3]
Coda mergers
According to Liu's research, there is enough evidence to assume a significant number of coda mergers had taken place or were taking place in the Ba–Shu language during the Song dynasty:[3]
- *i(ə)m and *i(ə)n often merged as *-n (Template:Zhi).
- *i(ə)n and *i(ə)ŋ often merged as *-n (Template:Zhi), this progress can be abbreviated as /*im/ > /*in/ < /*iŋ/.
- *an and *aŋ sometimes merged as *-n.
- *am and *an sometimes merged as *-n.
- Ditto, which can be abbreviated as /*am/ > /*an/ < /*aŋ/.
- *-t, *-k, and *-p probably all merged as *-ʔ, and sometimes are dropped entirely (especially in the west of the Sichuan Basin).
Vocabulary
Ba–Shu language had some unique words that scholars identified as possibly being influenced by the Old Shu language.
| Word | Recorded period | Translation | Middle Chinese pronunciation (Zhengzhang) | Standard Chinese | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| late Northern and Southern dynasties to early Sui dynasty, c. 600 | 'pellet' | *pɨkD | Yan Zhitui—Yan Family Instructions: "Encouraging Learning" Template:Zhi。 "When I was sitting with several people in Yizhou, I saw a small light [point] on the ground when the sun was shining and asked them, "What is this?" A Shǔ (Template:Zhi) child looked at it and replied, "It is a Template:Zhi." They looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what he said, [We] ordered [him] to bring [the object] over and [found that] it was a small bean. When I visited many learned men in Shǔ, [I asked them why that child] called Template:Zhi as Template:Zhi, but no one could explain it. I said: '[According to] Sancang and Shuowen, this character is Template:Zhi under Template:Zhi, generally interpreted as Template:Zhi, the common literal reading is Template:Zhi.'[lower-alpha 1] The crowd was enlightened." | ||
| Eastern Han | 'mother' | *tsiaB | Xu Shen—Shuowen Jiezi
Template:Zhi | ||
| Tang | 'monk' | *ʃiɪA | Du Fu—Alone, Looking For Blossoms Along The River "#5"
Template:Zhi | ||
| 'burying place' | *tʰɑpD | ||||
| Northern Song | 'sky' | *ɦʉiA | Huang Tingjian—Template:Zhi
Template:Zhi | ||
| Han | 'tea tree', also an ancient hydronym and a name of county | *kˠaA mˠɛŋA | Yang Xiong—Fangyan |
Notable speakers
Notable speakers of the Ba–Shu language include the "Three Sūs": (Template:Zhi, sān sū):
- Sū Shì (Template:Zhi), who was from Meízhōu (Template:Zhi), Chéngdū circuit (Template:Zhi).
- Sū Zhé (Template:Zhi), Sū Shì's younger brother.
- Sū Xún (Template:Zhi), Sū Shì and Sū Zhé's father.
See also
- Ba–Shu culture
- Ancient Kingdom of Ba
- Ancient Kingdom of Shu
- Second Kingdom of Shu
- Third Kingdom of Shu
- Fourth Kingdom of Shu
Notes
- ↑ Template:Zhi *ʉɐ̄ŋ lɨk → pɨk, see fánqiē.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 汪启明 (2009). "“蜀语”名义阐微". 云南师范大学学报 (1).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 孙越川 (2016). 《四川西南官话语音研究》. 电子工业出版社. ISBN 978-7-121-29110-4.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Liu, Xiaonan 刘晓南 (2014) (in Chinese). 宋代四川语音研究. Press of Peking University. ISBN 9787301201350.
- ↑ Xiang, Xuechun 向学春 (2008). "Sìchuān fāngyán zhōng de gǔ Bā-Shǔ tǔzhùyǔ yánjiū" (in zh). Chóngqìng Sānxiá Xuéyuàn xuébào 2008 (5): 103–106.
- ↑ Liu, Xiaonan 刘晓南 (2009). "Shì lùn Sòngdài Bā-Shǔ fāngyán yǔ xiàndài Sìchuān fāngyán de guānxì - Jiān tán wénxiàn kǎozhèng de yīgè zhòngyào gōngyòng: Zhuīxún shīluò de fāngyán" (in zh). Yǔyán kēxué 8 (6): 586–596.
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