Alternation between Middle
Chinese p(h)- and xw- in
word families
Laurent Sagart and William H. Baxter
37th JLAO, Paris
We present pairs of Chinese synonyms
• having the same OC rhyme
• and MC p(h)- vs. xw- for initials
• allowing for different affixes
• and disregarding pharyngealization
In current OC reconstructions systems (including ours) such
words cannot belong to the same word-family, because the
alternation between MC p(h)- vs. xw- is not compatible with
any one OC initial.
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Yet there are at least twelve such pairs
Too many for accidental resemblances
We think we are probably dealing with cognate words
i.e. words that share the same root
which had a single initial in OC
Here are some examples
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to disperse, dissolve, melt
泮 phanH ‘to melt, of ice’
渙 xwanH ‘to disperse (intr.)’
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ample, corpulent, large
胖 * > ban > pán ‘ample, corpulent (K)’
奐 * > xwanH > huàn ‘ample (K)’
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white, shiny, brilliant
番 pa ‘white’
煥 xwanH ‘brilliant’
Note: OC *-ar can evolve to Late OC –aj; then –aj
to MC –a; and, in another dialect, to late OC *-an,
MC -an
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to fly, flutter about
翩 phjien ‘fly, flutter about’
翾 xjwien ‘fly about’
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quick, impetuous, rash
憋 phjiet ‘impetuous, rash’
決 xwet ‘quickly (loan for)’
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to cleave, split
擘 peak ‘cleave, split’
殈 xwek, xjwiek ‘cleave (egg shells)’
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to collapse, die
崩 pong ‘to collapse’ (of a mountain)
薨 xwong ‘to die’ (of a king or prince)
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‘stupid’ (?)
豩 pin ‘stupid’
豩 xwaen ‘stupid’
Meaning of 豩 pin according to Duan Yucai.
This is a rare instance where both members
of a pair are written by the same character
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There are grounds to think that xw- is
secondary (discussed later)
We hypothesize that OC *p- and *pʰ- evolved to MC p- and ph- in the
general case
But to MC xw- after an unknown prefixed element we call ‘X’. Thus:
崩 pong ‘collapse (v., of a mountain)’ < *pˤəŋ
薨 xwong ‘to die (of king or prince)’ < *X.pˤəŋ
We leave open the precise phonetic nature of ‘X’
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We now discuss two important word-families
fire
flower
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1. ‘fire’
𩰟 phjun : an old character for 紛 ‘numerous and messy’
The phonetic is
燹 xwijH ‘fire’
whose own phonetic is
豩 pin or xwaen ‘stupid’
just mentioned.
This makes the case that 燹 xwijH ‘fire’ began in *X.p-
In addition, the vowel must be *ə and the final consonant *-r
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燹 xwijH ‘fire’
only differs from the well-known 火 xwaX ‘fire’ in
pharyngealization of the initial
火 rhymes with vowel *ə in the Shi Jing: Baxter-Sagart
reconstruct *[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ
one should reconstruct *X.pər(ʔ)-s for 燹 and *X.pˤərʔ for 火
good cognate words.
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Two word families have a root *p(ˤ)ər(ʔ)
‘stupid’
豩 pin ‘stupid’ < *pər
豩 xwaen ‘stupid’ < *X.pˤ<r>ər
maybe also the modern word: 笨 bwonX ‘stupid’ < *N-pˤərʔ
‘fire’
燹 xwijH ‘fire’ < *X.pər(ʔ)-s
火 xwaX ‘fire’ < *X.pˤərʔ
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This clarifies the uses of 豩 as a phonetic
• 豩 pin ‘stupid’ < *pər
• 豩 xwaen ‘stupid’ < *X.pˤ<r>ər
• 豩 ngwaen ‘stupid’, maybe < *N-X.pˤ<r>ər
• 燹 xwijH ‘fire’ < *X.pər(ʔ)-s
• 燹 senX ‘fire’, maybe < *sə-pˤər(ʔ)-s
• 𩰟 phjun ‘numerous and messy’ < *pʰər
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The new reconstruction*X.pˤərʔ for 火
corresponds very well to the TB reconstruction on the
STEDT website:
#2152 PTB *bʷar ⪤ *pʷar BURN / FIRE / KINDLE /
ROAST
where -ʷ- can be ignored
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Proto-Austronesian *dapuR ‘cooking fire’
is a cognate of OC *p(ˤ)ərʔ ‘fire’ and of PTB *par ‘fire’
The sound correspondences
PAN *p- :: OC *p- :: TB *p-
and
PAN *-R :: OC *-r :: TB *-r
are recurrent
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For the vowel, the correspondence
PAN *u :: OC *ə :: PTB *a
is recurrent abutting a labial:
‘broom, to sweep’ ‘needle’
• PAN-(S) *Capuh ‘sweep, broom’ PAN-PAN(S) *zaRum ‘needle’
• 帚 *[t.p]əʔ > tsyuwX > zhǒu ‘broom’ 箴 *t.[k]əm > tsyim > zhēn ‘needle’
PTB *k-ra(p/m) NEEDLE
• PTB *k/p-y(w)ak SCOOP SWEEP
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exactly as in ‘fire’:
PAN *dapuR ‘cooking fire’
OC ⽕ *X.pˤə[r]ʔ > xwaX > huǒ ‘fire’
PTB *par (...) FIRE (...)
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2. ‘flower’
MC ph- and xw- alternate in:
葩 phae ‘flower’ vs. 花=華 xwae ‘flower’
and
荂 phju ‘flower’ vs. 荂 xju ‘flower’ (same character)
Proposed reconstructions: 葩, 荂 *pʰ(ˤ)ra vs. 花 荂 *X.pʰ(ˤ)ra
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Proto-Karen *phɔᴬ ‘flower’ is cognate,
compare *Ɂbɔᴬ ‘cheek’
OC Proto-Karen PTB (STEDT)
(Luangthongkum)
flower 花 *X.phˤra *phɔᴬ —
cheek 輔 *[b](r)aʔ ‘cheek, upper jaw’ *Ɂbɔᴬ *m/s-ba
Proto-Karen has *ɔ for OC *a and PTB *a, after labials.
PST *p(h)a ‘flower’
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PST *p(h)a ‘flower has an Austronesian
cognate:
PAN *pahpah ‘petal, leaf, flower’
• Atayal (Ogawa) pahpah 'flower’; (Egerod) hpah id. (left
truncation), p-hpah 'to flower’ (denominal p- prefix).
• Proto-Siraya *hapa 'leaf' > G, UM hapa 'idem' (Adelaar);
Makatao (Marun) hapa 'leaf' [Ino, pp. 209sq.]
• Amis papah 'leaf’;
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Direction of the change
The Tibeto-Burman and Austronesian cognates
argue that in the p(h)- vs. xw- pairs presented
here, the labial stop is original and the fricative
is secondary:
*p(h) > p(h)-
*X-p(h) > xw-
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Date of the change
• The character 華 ‘flower’ was created in Western Zhou.
• old form: 【𦾓】
• The phonetic is 于 *ɢwa
• 于 *ɢwa is an acceptable phonetic for MC xw- but not for p(h)-
• for instance 冔 MC xju ‘ceremonial cap’
• this argues that 𦾓 was already pronounced with xw- in western
Zhou.
• we do not have an upper date.
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Thank you for your attention
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