178
71
70
THE CHINA REVIEW.
amended sketel will be published for refer-
ence,
Meanwhile there is a class of graduates called pa-kung, ugêu-kung, fu-kung, yu- kung, sui-kung, generically the five kung, (wu-kung),-about whom information will be gratefully received.
X. Y. Z.
RESTORATION OF THE OLD SOUNDS OF THE
CHINESE LANGUAGE.- Rev, J. Chalmers, in Vol. V., p. 297 of the China Review of this year, in treating on Chinese Etyraology en- tors partially on this subject and states some objections to my mode of treating it in my "Introduction to the Study of the Chinese Characters."
He does not quite accurately represent the two principles which he says lie at the foundation of my system. It can be shewn, and I contend has been shown, that very many Chinese syllables which end in a vow- el have lost a final consonant. This may be eafely maintained on the evidence (1) of existing dialects where such a consonant is retained, (2) of the Kwaug ya, Kwang yün, with other old banks, (3rd) of ancient rhymes, and (4th) of the phonetics. But it should not be said that all words ending in a vowel have lost a final consonant. It is not safe to say this, and I have avoided saying it. I may have restored some of the final consonants on insufficient grounds. In that case, I shall have to surrender them,
When be says, "Secondly, almost any consonant in the alphabet may in the course of time have changed to any other," he places the question of letter changes in a bight aufavourable to acceptance on the part of the reader. Perhaps he is trying to amuse his reader. There is however no doubt that letter changes go on not irre- spective of law, as he says I hold, but under the control of law, as I most firmly main- tain.
Transition from one letter to another must be smooth. How can ch a palatal let- ter interchange with a pa labial? Yet my critic ventures to take this case which would
require a leap of the voice right across the tooth barrier, and place it in a parallel posi- tion with the transition of 7 to s or of s to through d. What I contend for is not that any letter may change to any other letter, but that whenever a change of letters takes place it is in accordance with the physiology of the voice and the facts of dialects,
My critic does not think 'sing and 藍
lam can be the same word. Let him
shew then that my reasoning is wrong. It is this. Te and both come from d. A medial i comes from a. A final ng comes from m. Of these three propositions I have given proofs. See pp. 198 et seq. 210, 204 et seq. Both words are by this proof reduced to dam. The incredibility of which he speaks ariscs only from our habit of at- taching modern sounds to the characters and our declining to give those sounds a tho- rough overhauling, to learn their original form. I wish Mr. Chalmers had made it clear what the Ku-wen
characters
in the Shwo-wen are. He translates "Original characters;" but does not this phrase rather mean "currently accepted cha- racters, or at least shapes accepted by the author as of standard authority" The author of the Shwo-wen surely did not intend to pronounce a decided judgment as
to whether the 本字or the 古文
was
the primeval character, or to say that in every case the pen tsï was primeval and the ku men not so.
means an
When my oritic says ancient form, not the ancient form, he is too one-sided. Let him drop both on and the, I believe I have used the too much in my book. The correct view lies between us.
It is much to be regretted that Mr. Chalmers has not recognized cheerfully the doctrine of lost final consonants, Is not their preservation in the south-eastern pro- vinces indicative of their presence in all those words which there belong to the Aju sheng? The people who co- lonized those provinces came from the north, North China therefore retained the finals k,
NOTES AND QUERIES.
t, p down to the time when those provinces were colonized. Is it likely that the lan- guage was undergoing no changes before that time? Would not changes in the lan- guage before the time of Christ be likely to bear a certain analogy to those that took place after the time of Christ f
Influenced by considerations of this kind, I recognize most cordially the interesting discovery of Twan yi tsai, of the forms- tion of the principally from A
about that time, and I have also made most careful search in the tonic diction- aries for lost final cousonauts in phonetics now ending in vowels. The language is now throwing off consonants. Why should it not have done so anciently? I found consequently examples like she 6, 7 zhik, one of the highest importanes, which I would very earnestly wonument to the attention of my critic. If he would study this subject he would, I believe, find that we cannot safe- ly date the time of the formation of the characters later than the Chinese put it. To have safe ground to go upon in chrono- logy is an advantage,
My critic is afraid of final k in the cha- raeter and prefers the Shwo-wen's account of the formation of this character to mine. He says that it is "rational" to derive it from "thor." He cannot, however, escape from final k (which be seems to dread very much) by thus shelter- ing himself under the shield of the Shwo- wen, for this word "thorn" has final also. See my Introduction, p. 71, where he will And the opinion expressed that this character has in it also the idea of "binding." I have not my books at hand where I am now writing; this then must suffice. As to mis- prints and errors I shall be most happy to do all I can to correct them should the pub- lic demand a second edition, which how- evor is not likely to be the case for some time, if ever.
May I urge on Mr. Chalmers the study of In shu ku, the learned work of Tei tung.
He would not, if he had
carefully examined this work, say that no one since the time of the Shwo-wen has done anything to promote the scientific study of Chinese characters (p. 302).
Why should the letter changes remain to him a profound mystery " When in his "Origin of the Chinese" he identified the Canton sound of "fire" viz. fo with the English "fire," he would have been saved from this error by the knowledge of the fact that as the initial of hwo "fire" is a pure localism with no evidence whatever of antiquity attaching to it.
Mr. Chalmers having entered on an exton- sive comparison of Chinese words with those of other languages, the knowledge of letter changes in Chinese is essential to his success. The well-known and very eminent Pro- fessor l'ott of Halle has been criticising my "Introduction" at nearly the same time. His critique is found in "Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen" for the 14th and 21st of March 1877, and extends to 82 pages.
Here is a specimen, p. 358, "We may in general without error do homage to the fundamental proposition, viz. that the sound of the phonetic part of a character is an index to the pronunciation assigned to it at the time of the formation of the characters." Ile thus proceeds to analyse my method of inquiry into the sound of the primitive phonetics with great minuteness.
In pp. 378, 379, be alludes to the deriva- tion of 8, sh and (Engl.) ¡, cả from the tooth series, and remarks that if this is really the ease, it deserves the philologist's most care- ful attention.
I believe Professor Pott is admitted to be the greatest living representative of the orthodox school of comparative philology founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt, Grimm and Bopp. But even if Curtius, Pictel, Ascoli or others are by any one regarded as greater even than he, the very warm com- mendation he gives of my method and its results is extremely gratifying.
At the same time as a consistent member of the modern school of comparative philo.