Proto-Hakka
| Proto-Hakka | |
|---|---|
| Common Neo-Hakka | |
| Reconstruction of | Hakka Chinese |
| Region | Southern China |
Reconstructed ancestors | |
Proto-Hakka (also called Common Neo-Hakka) is the reconstructed proto-language from which all Neo-Hakka varieties descend. Proto-Hakka is difficult to reconstruct through the comparative method due to its multistratal lexicon, and the variety of forms in the proto-language has only been accounted for recently. There are two major reconstructions of Proto-Hakka, by O'Connor (1978) and Coblin (2019) respectively. O'Connor's earlier reconstruction only utilizes data on Moiyan-like Hakka varieties, called "Mainstream Hakka" by Coblin, while Coblin's utilizes a wider range of Neo-Hakka varieties, as classified by dialectologists.
Neo-Hakka varieties
The following critera are used to determine Neo-Hakka varieties:[1][2]
- Sonorant-initial syllables corresponding to the Light Rising tone in Qieyun system appear in the Dark Level and Light Rising tones, and which tone they occur with are lexically determined.
- The copula should be a form of 係 *hei6.
- The first-person singular pronoun should take the form /ŋai/ in the popular register, or be derivable from an earlier */ŋai/.
- The verb "to eat" should be a form of 食 *šik8.
It is believed that Neo-Hakka is the sister branch to Shehua, forming a bifurcating tree from their common ancestor.
Phonology
Here the phonology of the Common Neo-Hakka reconstruction by Coblin (2019) will be presented.
Initials
| Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ň/ | /ŋ/ | ||
| Plosive | tenuis | /p/ | /t/ | /k/ | (ʔ) ⟨∅⟩ | |
| aspirated | /pʰ/ | /tʰ/ | /kʰ/ | |||
| Affricate | tenuis | /ts/ | /tš/ | |||
| aspirated | /tsʰ/ | /tšʰ/ | ||||
| Fricative | /f/ | /s/ | /š/ | /h/ | ||
| Approximant | /v/ | /l/ | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | (ɚ) | o |
| Open | a |
Vowels in parentheses appear in loanwords from some Northern Chinese variety, likely some Northern Ming or Qing Mandarin koine or even early Modern Standard Mandarin.[3]
The following chart lists all of the finals in Common Neo-Hakka:
| Nucleus | ∅ | /i/ | /u/ | /y/ | /ə/ | /a/ | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coda | ∅ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | ∅ | /ŋ/ | ∅ | /n/ | ∅ | /i/ | /u/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | ∅ | /i/ | /u/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | ||
| Medial | ∅ | [ɹ̩~ɻ̩] -i |
[i] yi -i |
[in] yin -in |
[iŋ] ying -ing |
[u] wu -u |
[ʊŋ] -ong |
[y] yu -ü1 |
[yn] yun -ün1 |
[o, e, ɤ] o, ê, e -o, -ê, -e |
[ei̯] ei -ei |
[ou̯] ou -ou |
[ən] en -en |
[əŋ] eng -eng |
[a] a -a |
[ai̯] ai -ai |
[au̯] ao -ao |
[an] an -an |
[aŋ] ang -ang |
| /j/ | [jʊŋ] yong -iong |
[je], [jo] ye, yo -ie, -io |
[jou̯] you -iu |
[ja] ya -ia |
[jau̯] yao -iao |
[jɛn] yan -ian |
[jaŋ] yang -iang | ||||||||||||
| /w/ | [wo] wo -uo2 |
[wei̯] wei -ui |
[wən] wen -un |
[wəŋ] weng |
[wa] wa -ua |
[wai̯] wai -uai |
[wan] wan -uan |
[waŋ] wang -uang | |||||||||||
| /ɥ/ | [ɥe] yue -üe1 |
[ɥɛn] yuan -üan1 |
|||||||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ Norman, Jerry Lee (1989). "What is a Kèjiā dialect? In Editorial Board of Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sinology (ed.)". Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sinology. Taipei: Academia Sinica. p. 323-344.
- ^ Coblin, W. South (2015). "VI Varia and Concluding Remarks". A Study of Comparative Gàn. Language and linguistics Monograph Series 58. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. ISBN 9789860459265.
- ^ Coblin 2019, p. 270.
References
- Coblin, W. South (2019). Common Neo-Hakka: A Comparative Reconstruction. Language and linguistics Monograph Series 63. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. ISBN 978-986-54-3228-7.