Date: 01-Feb-2006 From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com> Subject: The Chinese Rime Tables: Prager Branner (Ed)
Title: The Chinese Rime Tables
Subtitle: Linguistic philosophy and historical-comparative phonology
Series Title: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 271
Published: 2006
Publisher: John Benjamins
http://www.benjamins.com/
Editor: David Prager Branner, University of Maryland
Electronic: ISBN: 9027247854 Pages: viii, 358 Price: U.S. $ 144.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027247854 Pages: viii, 358 Price: Europe EURO 120.00
Abstract:
This book, the first in its field in a Western language, examines China's native phonological tool in 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.
Table of contents
Introduction: What Are Rime Tables and What Do They Mean? David Prager Branner 1-34
Part I: Rime-Tables in Chinese Reconstruction
On the Principle of the Four Grades Abraham Chan 37-46
The Four Grades: An Interpretation from the perspective of Sino-altaic language contact Wen-chao Li 47-58
On Old Turkic Consonanticism and Vocalic Divisions of Acute Consonants in Medieval Hàn Phonology An-King Lim 59-82
The Qièyùn System 'Divisions' as the Result of Vowel Warping Axel Schuessler 83-96
Part II: The History of Rime Table Texts and Reconstruction
Reflections on the Shouwen Fragments W. South Coblin 99-122
Zhang Línzhi on the Yùnjìng W. South Coblin 123-150
Simon Schaank and the Evolution of Western Beliefs About Traditional Chinese Phonology David Prager Branner 151-167
Part III: Rime Tables as Descriptive Tools
How Rime-Book Based Analyses Can Lead Us Astray Richard VanNess Simmons 171-182
Modern Chinese and the Rime Tables Jerry Norman 183-188
Common Dialect Phonology in Practice.: Y.R. Chao's Field Methodology Richard VanNess Simmons 189-208
Some Composite Phonological Systems in Chinese David Prager Branner 209-232
Common Dialectal Chinese Jerry Norman 233-254
Appendix I: Pronunciation Guide to Boodberg's Alternative Grammatonomic Notation Gari K. Ledyard 255-264
Appendix II: Comparative Transcriptions of Rime Table Phonology David Prager Branner 265-302
Bibliography 303-326 Index of Biographical Names 327-332 General Index 333-358
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
History of Linguistics
Philosophy of Language
Phonology
Subject Language(s): Chinese, Mandarin (cmn)
Language Family(ies): Altaic
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