s^^y
^s^
i??»
^
.1»
-JOHN -FRYER*
CHINESE- LIBRARY-
A CJvAAl.MAK
i>K TIIK
CHIXE^E COLLOQUIAL LANGUAdE
COMMONLV CALLED THE
MANDARIN J) 1 A J. K C T
i;»
JOSEPH EDKINS 1]. A. I.ond.
FOREinN A8S0CIATB OP THB KTIINOORAPIIICAL SOCrETY OF KRAXCBi
OK TDK
L(»NDON MISSION AUY SOCIETY
TKKINCr.
SECOM) KDlTlOy.
SHANGHAI:
I'itfASnVTKr.FAN MISSION pRKSS.
1864.
'»
V
Main Lib.
JOHN FRYER CHINESE LIBRARY
4 I
y^;^^ /^^
£2?
^
PREFACE.
In this new edition many corrections have been made. In pronunciation a fuller exhibition of the northern sounds as heard in Pckinfj and Chili will be found. Some new northern idioms have been introduced, and an attempt has been mad«i to distinguish such idioms as are exclusively northern or southern by notes wheie they occur.
The Mand;i'-in Grammar of INI. Hazin, and the Hsin Ching Luof Mr. Wade, have snpplied some- valuable assistance.
The results of further inquiiies into tiic laws of tones and accent in th^ Pekinc? dialect have been embodied.
If the first part of the work looks forbidding to the beginner on account ol the pliiioIo<rical discussions it contains, he will find no lack of simple exam- ples in the second and third parts. Ry first studying those portions where cx- amp'tis aboun 1 he will he supplied with many modes of expression useful in daily life.
The plan of the work embraces the northern and southern m-nvlarin. This renders it impossible to be uniform in orthography, in m.my instances where the sound differs, the northern and southern form of it have both been
given
The reader is rccommendod in writing for himself to adopt such modifica- tions in sp<'llinir as are rendered n(>cess.iry by the dialect of the native who is his instructor in the lanmi.ise. If he has a Pekinese teacher it will not be ne- cessary to maintain the distinction between the initials h and * where they coalesce in the metropolitan dialect, as they do before the vowels i and u. The same remark may be made with respect to is and /.• which coalesce, and b<comc nearly r/t, befor*; the same vowels i and u. It will Ixj more convenient to write the one h or s, or hs. and the other ch uniformly. Na- tives of Tientsin and Hankow al.so pronounce in this way. Hut in writing in the dialects of Chefoo and Nanking it will be requisite to keep h and s separate in all cases, as also is and k.
IX
i»Ki:i'Aci: TO THi; nus'r kditiox, isjT.
'Vho study ol tilt' CliiiiC'se latiguaiix- i:s inuc}i too extensive to be convenient- ly comprised witliia the limits of a siriirlc work. The eliicid.-ition of one por- tion only of Chinese irrunmnr has ()een undertaken in the present work, viz. that ol llie mandarin dialect. The field thus embraced coincides with thai of }*remare in tlie first part of his work, and with the second division of J?cnni- sat's L^r:inmi;a\ I v<'ry much regret that I have not yi't s^-en .M. Hazin's work on colloquial mandarin, published this year. 'I'he manner in which lhi^ author prefers to discuss the spoken languaire, is however clearly seen in his earlier brochure on the same subject, given to the public several years sine;.'. His aim has b<'en to exhibit in all their copiousness and variety, the laws of com- bination existing in cfroups of words, and lurther to trace the origin and pro- gress of the mandarin language by means of its literature. This mode of treatment is in harmony with the advancement of mod(>rn philology oroncrally. and has resulted in several valuahh^ contributions to Chinese philology in par- I iiular.
TIk; works of Morrison and Marsbman on the grammar of this language, (ail to convey to the mind of the student, the richness of its idioms, and the extended development of its p-jculiar principles. Tbev were not aware of what their predecessors had already accomplished, aiid consequently spent seviTal years in acquiring such a knowledge ol the subject, as may now be gained in one, by means of Premare and the otiier helps since place^l in the liands of the learner.
Pr«'Mnan' liimself with all his breadth of view, learning and ta-5.te, lived too early to be influenced by modern iniprovements in the study ot languages. 'J'hat part of his treatise which is occupied with the mandarin dialect, ischiefjy a dietionary of ]");u'ticles with copious examples of their use. Invaluable as such a work is to the student, it is nt)t properly speaking a grammar, nor did the author adopt I'or it that •itle.
The province of the grammarian I imderstand to be, to find out the laws of tb«' language, and arrange them in the most natural and convenient manner. It has lM>en my endeavour to do some little towards realizing this conception, but practised comparative philologists must study Chinese grannnar closely, before a treatise upon it free from blemishes can be composed. Ere long pro- bably, well-qnalified scholars in Europe, will pursue their researches in 'liis lic^ld. and m the ct,gnate languages sj)oken in the Hirman jjeninsula. If so the best mode of arranging the <rranmiar oi a monosyllabic language will re- ceive full COILS iderat ion.
That scholars of high reputation still forjn erroneous viows of the Chinese languairt'. may be seen in the manner in winch Dr. K. ]\ Bokker speaks of it. in his profound work on the OrgJuLsm of language.* He says, "'I'he old-
* Organism dor Sprnclie, von Dr. K. F. Bekkor.
IIJ
rst history ol" the (.'liiiiese and orolliLi iiiunosyllubic lanjiuagos is uiialtttiiuible l«v US. \\ t' art' not to a position evc-ii to coiijectun' with any prohnbihty, what tloviutions from early development, or what outward causes, liave occa- >ioned in these lanqnages the early and entire loss ol' inflLClions, or their ori- triiiul absence. IJut the whole organic structure of tluse languaiies, is less perfect than that ol'laniruages having inflections. Vet'' he continues. '' philo- logy ni.iy obtain valuable illnstrali()n.s from abnormal langnaees, just as phy- siology i£ains information from misshapen orLranisms in the animal world.'' A better acquaintance with the (.'hiaese language will probably lead to the abandonment of such words as ''abnormal '" and ''misshapen." in the descrip- tion o( it. It will rather be spoken of, as possessinij a very copious and ad- mirable development of the principles of monosyllabic language,— as indeed the most perfect example of that class o( languages. Comparative philology has hitherto directed its efforts too exclusively, to languages whose words consist of a root and some addition to or modification of the root. The Chi- nese must be regarded as the best type ol those languages, which do not admit any modification of the rool. but allow the appendage of auxiliary words un- der a strict law of limitation. The scientific investigation of it is adapted to throw light on the strncmre of a language like the Fiiialish. The lOnglish occupies a middle ]>osition between the classical LiUropean languages, and the monosyllabic languages in Asia. To the former, it is related by its tense and case endings etc. ; to the latter, by its formation ol compounds and its auxi- liary verlis, etc. 'i'onic pronunciation also is found more fully developed in (^hina than elsewhere, and a competent knowledge of it as there existing, will lead to a better understanding of the local accent found in provincial dialects of Cnglish and othfM- modern languages, and ol the syllabic accents of Greek and .Sanscrit.
The line of distinction drawn in the present work, lietween natural tones belongjnij to the dialect of a city, and tone-classes extending over several pro- vinces or the entire empire, will be found essential to clearness of views on the suliject of tonic pronunciation. The sketch here attempted of the origin and growth of the mandarin pronunciation, of .secular <'hanges in the tone- classes, and of the older form of the languag(\ as it was l''om about the eighth century upwards, will shew that the earliest history of this language, is per- haps not ''unattainable." The description of native mandarin diciionarie.s, and the notice at the end of native researches in philology. ^'iH shew that the Chiin"-o have airearlv doiv no little to aid foreign siMinlnr^ in tlios'> iuvestiorn- tidif^.
In' the department of etyuioloey* the auxiliary substantives, and the remark- able development of the verb, have received particular attintion.
I still feel some uncertainty as to the distinction to be preserved between etymology and syntax ; but such deviations as ore here observable, from the plan of a former work on the Shanghai dialect, will probably be regarded as improvements.
Tin- examples have been taken jiartly from the lips of natives, and jtartly from l)Ooks in collociuial mandarin. Two works, tlie Sarrrd Edict Cnl/ot/i/inl- i zed nnd the Dream of the lied (. f.at?ibcr,holh written since the timeof Pre- mare, have furnished a eoiisi(l( rab!'' nnmlxr of them.
In reffard to the spellmg of the rhinese sounds a few words are here re- quisite. Inaccuracies in preceding works on the langnncre had to be corrected.
In Prcmare for example, the syllables pxran, c/ii.jht and chil had to be alterL'd, to p'ni, c/ii, jen and c/m, in the ortlioi:raphy of this work. In .Morrison, the syllables shcii, ?nun, and chnrj^. needed to be changed into shau. men and clieng. Tiiese chanires, and otbers of the s;imc class, will possibly be objected to by those who are accustomed to follow without questioning the sounds of these writers. But they are necessary for correctness. Premirc appears to have betMi inflnenced by the dialects west of Nanking, and ^Morrison by those of the southern provinces.
That such improvements as these should not have been made till the present time, IS a convincing proof that a reform in our spellin;^ of Chinese sounds is mucli wanted.
In adopting Sir "William Jones' mode of spelling, as proposed in the Chinese Repository, some modifications have been introduced to obviate the frequenl use of accents.
In preparing the present work, while J have been far from indifferent to the advancement of scientific philology, in application to the Chinese language, my liighest wish is that it may be useful in opening the treasures of the lang- uage to C'hristian Missionaries. "With the hope that it may in some liumble degree, aid in conveying religious truth to the Chinese nation, I commit it to the blessing of God.
T A1]L K 0 F r 0 N T K NTS.
PART T— ON SOUND. Tp. 1—%.
cnAPTEn 1, Alphabet aiul Tone Symbols. pn^cl
ClIAl'TEll 2.
Systems of M.irdarin Prouunciation, central, northern and western. pa^c 7
cnAPTER 3.
On Tones. — Natural Tones. — List of Natural Tones witli tlieir modifications. — On Tone-classes. — Their provincial variations. — Characteristic of Short-tone Word.s. — Natural Tones now iu u.^^e, in the niaiulariu-speaking cities. — Examples for practice. — On Accent. — On the present distribution of "Words among the Tone-clasijes. — Table of "Word.s that have changed from the second to the third Tone-class, page 10
rUArTKR 4.
Oil tlie Initial.-;. — Ti.nal variations. Native system.^. — "Work of Chcu-teh-t'sing. p. 31
OHArTER 5.
Our the Finals. — Systems of native author.s. — Table of syllables. — Number of .sounds. — Local variations in the consonant finals, — in the vowel final.^, — in the short-tone finals. — Len^^thening of word.s in the short tone. — Table to find the modern tone- class, of words formerly in the .short-tone class, for the Peking dialect. — Examples for practice. — Table of variation.^ in vowels in words of the fourth tonc-cla.«s'<, in the l>riueipal Mandarin Dialects — Faults in Mandarin Dialects. P^gc 41
ClIAl'TER G.
Native mode of Writing Somul.-;. — Dictionaries of Local Dialects. — Syllabic Spelling. — Phonetic Characters. — Modern Alphabetic Writing. png<^71
CHAPTER 7. On the Age of the Mandarin Pronunciation. page 79
VI
illAI'TKU 8.
On the Partnt Stem of the Mandarin and other modern Dialects. — Its aljihabetic ele- ments.— Its partial rt-tention in variuus c■xi!^ting Dialects. — Table of the principal vowel changes. — Traces of old .rounds in old native works and translations. — Secular changes iu Tones. page ^4
PART II.— THE PAKTS OF SPEECH. Pp. OG— 21S.
(•HAPTEU 1.
Iniroduotory. — A list of Mandarin Particles. — Native Literature in the Mandarin Dialect. — Subdivisions iu Style page 00
CnAI'TEIl 2.
On Words. — Old words in modern u.<«e. — Changes in words. — Arrangement, page 100
CIIArTKR 3.
Divi.sion of words into Parts of Speech. — Indeterminateness of this division. }>ago 105
CHAPTER 4.
On the Substantive — Formation of Compounds. — Aiixiliary suffixes. — Different Kinds ofMuuns — Sex and Gender. — Number. — Ca.se. page 107
CUAriER f).
On Auxiliary Substantives or Numeral Particles. — Classification. — Distinctive Numeral Particles. — Significant Numeratives. — Collectives. — Numeral l^articles to Verbs.
]'age 127
CHAPTER 6.
On Adjectives. — Corapari.son of Adjectives: — Comparative. — Superlative. — Numbers. — Further rcmaiks on the Degrees of Comparison. page 143
CHAPTER 7.
On Pronouns. — Personal Pronouns. — Reflexive Pronoiins. — Demonstrative Pronoims. — Interrogative Pronouns. — Relative Pronouns. — Distributives. — Indefinite Pro- nouns.— Adjective Pronouns. — Substitutes for Pronoun.s. page 157
CHAPTER 8.
On the Verb. — Formation of Compounds: — Co-ordinates. — Auxiliary words- — (Jroups of two. — (Jruups ofthree and four. — Atfirmative and Negative Groups — Groups form- ed by Repetition and Antithesi.s. — Different kinds of Verbs. — Modes of Verbs. — Par- ticles of Time forming Tenses of Verbs, page 172
CHAPTER 0.
On Preposition? and Postpositions. page 197
vn
ciiAni:!; U'.
On Advorlts. — Cuuii>uiuuls. — Adverbs of Manner, — of lutonslty and Quantlt}-, — of Plaee and lUrectiou. — Affirmative, Negative and Knipliatic Particles, page iiOl
1 IIAI'TKK 1 1.
( )ii ('..iiiuiicfiniis. — Adversative — (\>njnmti\ e. — Causal. — Illative. — Ilypotlictioal.
page lil-i
I IIAIIKII 12.
^litfecllaucuus Partieles and lutcrjeetiun.s. page 217
I'AKT 111— ^•V^'TAX. lll\l•TKli 1. On (Jovernnient - - page 218
1 IIAITKI: '2.
Infltionte of J\)sitii)n on the Parts of Speech. — Sub.stantive.s. — Adjeetives. — Verbs. — Preposition.s. — Adverbs. page 219
' iiAiTKii ;!. lleduetiun and Expausiou. P^g^-' --2
rilAl'TKK 4.
Internal S tract ure of Giuups. — Governnn'nt in (jroup.'^. — Antltlie.sis. — Repetition. — Order of Speeics and (Jenu.s. — Order of Matter and Piirni. — -Order of Natural Prio- rity.— Order of Time. — Order of Arbitrary Choiee. — Order of a I'roposition. — Variation in Order. page 224
• IIAI'TKK 5.
External ll'lation.>i of ( IioajL-j. — In.separable (!roup«. — Separable Group.s. pngc 2o2
ntAl'TKK 0.
Ou *in>ple Propositions — Extension of the Subjcet. — Extension of the Predicate. — Extoo.siuu of the Copula. — Commands and (juestious. page 237
CIIAl'TKU 7.
Subordinate Sentences. — Cireunistantial Clau.scs. — The Object as a >'eparate Clause. — Relative Clausets. — Final Clause."*. — Explanatory Clau.ses. — Comparing Clauses. — Clau.-)cs expressing Similarity. — C«)nditional (clauses — Superadded Clau.'ies. i>. 2l(J
(IIAITKR 8.
Co-ordinate Sentences. — Simple Couneetiou — Councctivc Particles. — Sentences with Adversative Conjunctions. — l)i.«jun<-tive Sentences. — Illative and Transition Sen- toueca, — Uuestious cousistiug of two Sentences. — Comparison. page 255
Till
niAI'TKK .'.'.
Ellipsis aud Ploouabin. jtago "JO 1
CIlAriKI! |(».
AutitliC'sis. ■ j)!igc.' 203
CirAPTKU H.
llliytliiuus. ])ag<! 20")
APrHNJ)lX I. Ou rcccut Philological researches in Cliiua. — 2soticc of Authors. page 267
APPENDIX II. Ou Alauduriu Literature. pugu 209
APPi'LXDIX III. Ou the Southern Mandarin Dialect. page 278
RULES FOR USING THE OllTIlOCillAPHY HERE ADOPTED.
1. The five vowels i, c, a. o, u, in an open .sellable, have the Italian sound. They are the vowels contained in the words feel, fail, fatlser, foal. fool.
2. The vowels i, c, before n and ng are pronounced as the vowels in fin, fun. IJut after i aud y and before u, the letter e is to be pronounced a.i e in sent.
3. The vowels a, o, u, in closed syllables are the same as in opeu .syllables.
4. ^Yords iu the fourth tone-class (juh sheng) are terminated by h, to indicate that the sound closes abruntlv thou2;h without an articulate consonant.
5. The symbols i', ii, e, are pronounced as c in lasscl, u in the French word ///, and the first c in there.
6. The unites k, t, p. f, ch, thouirh sometimes a little softened in norUurn pntnuncia- tiou, so as to .'iouud like g, d, b, v, are to be considered hard like the i'jngli.>sli conso- nants k, t, p, f.
7. The aspirated consonants k', t', p', c'h, t's, are the corresponding mutes pron(mnced with a dif^tinct aspiration immediately fnllowinf.' them.
8. IJefore the vowels i aud ii. the letters k and is, are in the Peking and many other dialects heard as one sound, which appears to be approaching ch, but is not yet defi- uitely arrived at that sound. Before the same vowels, iu the .same dialects, h and s also coincide.
9. The five tone-classes are marked iu the following manner: — I. ,t'i; II. 't-i; TIT, t'i'; l^^ t'ih; V. .t'i. In Kiang-nan and the south, the regular four tone-classes are subdivided into an upper and lower scrie.-^, making eight in all. In mandarin this subdivisiuu extends gemrallv. unlv tn the fii^t which is subdiv ided iutit the first and the fifth.
A (JUAMiMAU
OK Till::
CIIINESK COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE,
COMMONLY CALLED THE
MANDARIN D I A L E C' T
I'AR'r \.~ON so USD.
CHAPTLK \.
Am'hahet and Tone Symhols.
1. ('oNsoNANTs. — Tlio foUowiiig syiiibols will be employed for consonants: gutturals, /t, /:•, ii'^; dentals.^, t'. n; labials, />, ;/, tn; aspirates,/, h; sibilants, s, nh.j^ Is, i^s, c/i, c'/i; liquids, /, ;•; semivowels, w, y.
p ^ ,kai, oughl.
iTfJ jk'ai, to opoi. IJ.;; I'l, boffl/.
^^( 'p'u, the whole.
!<: ^ngni, to grieve.
tt
>7H Jiwan;^, desolate. J{^ .jau, /A?<^'.
rJ cheu, «// round.
v\ .
7Q .n, son.
^^ \\\\\\ a grave. y^ jsieu, elegant. ^12 'tscu, to wall:. •fill jC'lieu, r/7-a?/) out.
m
^ ,wan, /o bend.
li, bottom. ^ pu', 5/r;). ,// ;fang, square. H/^ sheu, gather in. Y)\ jt'sieu, autumn, i'ij^ .leu, upper room. ^^ ,yru, sad.
The aspirated consonants /:'•, t\ ;*•, arc pronounced by inserting the sound h, after the letters A-, /, ;/. To obtain, for example, the aspirated form of t or ;>, enunciate the word Tahiti, without the vowel a, and fiap-hazard, without the initial hu These consonants, rare as they are in western languafjes, occur
A
2 MANIiARIN CIKA.M.MMJ. I'AUl' I.
extensively in those of southern and eastern Asia, and after snmo practice arc as easily distinguishaljle to the foreicj;n ear, as they arc to the native.
The consonant iii^, whether initial or final, is pronounced as in the word /.•/■??'■'•. Jt should jiavc a single letter as its symhol, but the Roman alphabet does liot lurnish one, • jtfdoes not occur as an initial in tlie English language. /.^1^<r""agiti.r*ata;/'. hag-, a- Citrons: harsh enunciation, apjiroaching before the vowels /, 1/, to s, and inniany dialects coalescing with that consonant.* This letter will also be used at the end ol words, as by many previous writers, to denote that they take a short intonation.
/ is the French /, and might be written c//. It is sometimes in English written z as azure, also si as in confusion.
Sh, properly a single consonant like ng, is written Avitli two letters for want of a better symbol.
Ts and cit, with their aspirated forms, are the only compound initials, or initials consisting of more than one consonant, found in Chinese words. Ch formed of t and s/t, is written ch instead of ish for brevity. The aspirate in these compound consonants, occurs after t, not after s, lor if t be omitted, the aspirate cannot be pronounced. Ts is pronounced as z in the German lano-uage, and as ts in Whitsuntide. Like ng and ;*, it does not occur as an initial in English, and lience, as in the case of those consonants, some effort is usually required by speakers of English, to attain the pronunciation.
2. Tn addition to the twenty two conso7iauts occurring in the mandarin dialect, eight more will be necessary to express provincial sounds. They are g, d, b, r, //j z, dz, dj. Tliey form a series of soft consonants, whose place is next to the aspirated letters /•', iK dec. of the first paragraph.
The symbol // is used for a weak aspirate, whieh in some dialects accompa- nies the common harsh aspirate of mandarin pronunciation.
/)/ is allied to r//, as g to /,*, dz to Is, *fcc. It is the English / as '\n jewel. Dj and dz though really compounds of r/, z and / are for convenience treated as single consonants, according to native usage.
♦ Since the publiration of the fir.st edition, Mr. Wade in his hook o( ex|HTiinenl.s, htis introduced the fij'inhol hs lo represent the strong hissin<T aspirate desrrilicd almve. The peculiar nature of this aspirate is thus constantly before the learner's mind, hut I prefer for myself to keep the distinction be- tween the two sets of wonU beginning with k and .i respectively.
•ii.\»'Tf;u 1.
AI.IMlAfUl' ANIi J'ttNF. SVMl'.iM.S.
[i.
The pronunciation of Snellen and llangclicn havini;^ tljf:5(! eight eonsonants, in addition to those ahove-mcntioned, possesses a Hcxihility and variety, which do not Ikilong to the mandarin dialect.
o Vowel StCiN.s. — Tiie vowels required for expressinii^ the sounds of lh<' Kwan-hwn, or mandarin pronunciation an- — i. e, r. a. o, n. Y. n and ei
I Din / iSi//iihnls.
J'Jnu-lish Value.
Examples of Use.
1 i e
e, e
a o u
u
ei
I ni marine.
1 m win-,'-.
u m sun. e in there.
a in father, o in lone, n in prune. e ill tnsscl or in
ample. u in plat. (Fr.) ei in ein. (Ger.)
U
\:7t
ft
;Si, west.
sing, iftar. ,fen, divide. she', cottage. ,tMen, heaven. 'waug, to go. 'k'o, can. ,tu, (dl. ,si, thinh'.
ri: rar. ^ii, must. wei', because tf.
l-It: neng, r.f/«. pf shell, tonque. -^- snieh. snow. fpl p'..',/rr/r.
i|l 'tung, understand. / ,tsi, sister. /»M rill; I: now. 4^ lei in I, cAie/*.
4. W hen a large iiumher ot vowds is needed, as in writing provincial sounds, accew/5 will be introduced according to the well-known system of .Sir William Jones. P^or the mode of using the accents adopted in the j)rpscnt work, sec the fifth page. No great inconvenience occurs from dispensing with the accents in mandarin as will be found on trial.
5. Some reasons lor not adopting Dr. Morrison's spi^lling for the vowels will be now given.
First. It is better to spell a single vowel sound with one letter than with two, both for brevity and (or accuracy. In writing 'ku, ancient, or ,c*he, a carriage, koo and ,c'hay, there is a sacrifice of analogy with other lansna^cs, in the use of vowel symbols in favor ot our own irregular orthography, and more than thi.s, there is a loss of time in writini:, through the inrreasod length of the words.
4 MANDARIN (.KAMAIAK IWIVV 1-
Second. Dr. Morrison's spellinir i.s jiot unilorni. For rxainple, >clien, tnic ; .men, door ; ^keng, watch, whicli have the same vowel, are written by him chin, mun, kan^. So also 'chi, paper, tsr, self, tsi', limit, 'si, die, 'si, to wash are written in his system incorrectly with the same vowels: thus, die, tsze tse, sze, se. By adopting another symbol for the vowel sound contained in the first, second, and lourlh of these words, this irregularity is avoided. Further tV, to meet, kliS a sentance, having the same vowel, arc spelt by Mor- rison yu, keu. By using the diaeresis y and c may both be omitted with ad- vanta'^e. INIorrison spells .hwei, to return, and .wei, to do, two words which exactly rhyme in their sound, in two modes hwuy and wei. So also the former of these words rhymes according to the same author with JSP^suiand ^(B, jChui, which he spells suy, cliuy. In fact, ei should follow kic, hw and ID, while ui is preceded by t, s, ts, ch, j, n and /. The voice passes quickly over w as in "swerve," but rests on u as in "ruin" Two symbols lo^n^u are tlieretore necessary, a vowel and consonant.
(i VowiiLs. — The symbols i, v., will be observed to have two sounds, ac- cording as their position is at the end or in the middle of a word. The me- dial lis always short in mandarin; the f^nal. except with the short intonation is always long. Final ii, which will be used to indicate the short tone, does not count as anything but a lone-mark.
For the short a of Sanscrit, represented in sun and^o^iby u and o, e is liere employed. This agrees with the usage of Prcmare and other French writers- If A or u were taken as the symbol of this sound, it would be necessary to in- troduce the accent for long quantities, in a large number of words. The same symbol e, will be appropriated to express the final vowel in .she, a snake, and similar words, and the grave accent will be used to distinguish the vowel in "^ cheh, from that in -i|'- keh. the former being pronounced as v in '-there,' and the latter as a in ^^son."
The vowels a and o arc in mandaiin both long, whether as medial or final,
and are never shortened into the a and o of the English words hat, hot. Tiie
accent therefore is unnecessary for these vowels, except for provincial dialects.
Wln'ii " follows /■ in words endiiiL'" with //, the sound ri;prri;ented is that
CHAPTER I. ALIMIABKT AND TONE SYMBOLS. 6
heard iii the Eii^^lisli words "men," "mend," e. 2:- 'ti<'ii |!^|4 a jjui/il. Tliis c is pronounced «, in many parts i>f North China.
Perhaps the u^rcatest difficulty in framing nn ortho<rraphy for Chinese sounds, is in findinsf a representative for tin' vowel part of the words rT, tieo, s'C. foni\ tsr, a character, chr, Lnoipledv:c, \\ jdi, a <luij^ and siniihr words. Tiio sound is easierto imitate than to writedown. It is produced hy enuncia- ting the consonant without any of the common vowels foUowiuir, only taking c:ire to m dvc the sound distinctly audilile hy a full expiration ot vocal hreath. To express it in writing, a new symbol, viz. i is here employed.* l?y this means, the insertion of z is dispensed with, and confusion in the use of i or e is also avoided. A further advantage attending the use of a distinct symbol for this vowel is, that .sounds such as |^^, p| ? [|^. pronounced shih, ji'h, chih, can thus be more accur.itoly represented than by the spelling shih, jih, chih. No vowel / is heard, and these words differ only in tone from the sound of p^ shi, /^ chi, ifcc. To omit a vowel symbol altogether as in the system of the Chinese Repository, seems to me uncalled for, since the sound answers all the purposes of a true vowel.
7. In expressing the much larger number of vowel sounds found /;/ pro- vincial dialects, many more symbols are needed, which arc o'^taincd l)y the use of accents. The acute accent is used (or long vowels. The grave and circumflex accents, with the diaeresis, denote other modifications of the vowel. In the short tone, linal h is added, as also /r, t. />. when reqnired.
8. Vowels with Diacritical Mark.s.
1. i as ce in sec ; i as i in sit ; i as e in tassel. E. e as ay in /kii/; e as u in but; 0 as c in thore, t/irn. A. A as a in culm; a as a in cat; a as a in man. O. 6 as o in tone; o as o in lot; 6 as o in ffonc; o as Ti in Gothe. U. u as 00 in fool; u as nfitll; n as n in nul (French); u nso pronounced long ; d as u in but pronounced long.
• For the same vowel i may be ii»o<l if prefrrrctl. But it is »uggcstive of short quantity whirh is an objcciion. It matters not what symbol is employcti, if only the sound be known, and the symbol s*'!^:!!^! 1h; suggestive of it.
6
MANDARIN (i RAM MA 11.
PAUr I.
The sound here written i, may Ue ilhistrated further hy words sucli as ma- son, Whit.mntide, where the sound exists after s and ts. To obtain it, the n that lollows must be omitted.
9. This is the system, slightly modified, introduced in the Chinese Reposi- tory several years since, and retained in other works issued at the Canton press.
The unaccented a is here made the symbol of a in liat, a sound not pro- vided for in the Canton system, tliough often needed.
10. Comparative Table of Orthoghaphies. — The following table will show how the orthoijraphy here adopted differs Irom those of Morrison and Medhurst. Premare. Goncalves and the Chinese Repository.
|
Morrison. |
Premare. |
Gongalves. |
Repository. |
Wade. 1 |
||
|
P' |
pe |
1 Pi |
pi |
pi i |
pi |
J:b |
|
pih shi SI |
peih she sze |
Pi chi se |
pi xe su |
pih shi sz' |
pi shi szft |
if w A 'iit % |
|
tsi |
tsze |
tsee |
tzu |
tsz' |
tsu |
|
|
pen jen |
pun |
pen |
pen jen |
pan j'li |
pen jen |
|
|
sh^ |
shay |
she |
sheo |
shio |
she |
|
|
teh |
tih |
te |
too |
teh |
te |
|
|
t& |
ta |
ta |
ta |
ta |
ta |
|
|
kiing |
kung |
kong |
kum |
kung |
kung |
rn |
|
td |
to |
to |
to |
to |
to |
|
|
pa |
poo |
pou |
pu |
pu |
pu |
|
|
sheng lieu |
sang lew |
seng lieou |
xam lieu |
sanq; lii'i |
sheng liu |
|
|
kiiien h'ln |
keuen 1 hm |
kiien li\n |
kiuen luen |
iciuen lun |
chtian lun |
i& |
|
kau |
kaou |
kao |
kau |
kau |
kao |
dr. |
|
sdi |
suy |
soui |
suei |
sni |
sui |
Sii |
|
kien |
keen |
kien |
kien |
kien |
chien |
m |
|
ri |
urh |
eull |
oir |
'rh |
urh |
% |
rn Al* TKIl 'i. SYSrKMS ok .M ANH.MIIX l*Jtt^Nr\riATlt>N. 7
1 I Tones. — Tlie only reiuaiiiinjr symlwls to be noticed arc those for tones. Tlie Chinese use a small circle at one of the tour corners of the character to mark the tone. Instead of this niarlc, a comma turned away trom the word will be employed for the 1st, 2nd, '.ird and 1th tones, and a full stop for the fifth tone. Thus i»j5 ii. (jW I'i, |^ tM , fi} til. , 7^ .t'i. The Chinese n unos of the tone-classes, to which these five word.-^ respectively belonir. are Jl I** sl»''"i? l'"'!,% _[l W ^li^"'ir sheng, ^ ^ff k'ii shcng, /^ ^:i^juh sheng, and P ""j'* hiap'ing. Hut for reasons stated in the chapter on tones they will lor convenience be spoken of as 1st, 2nd, 5th, (fcc, in preference to retaining the native nomenclature.
In illustrating the colloquial language from dialects where the tone-classes are more niunrrous, full stops and double connnas may be used. In sucli cases, there is always an arrangement in two series. For the ujiper scries commas may be employed, fnll stops for the lower, and double commas for other subdivisions. Thus, 71" sheng, 'pi 'shen<:, ^^ sheng, p^ .shih 'fj|(|i .sheng, 3l shang, _J2 sliaug-, li|^:jliien', ^ shih..
CHAPTF-R II. Systems of Mandarin Pronunciation.
1. The native name of the pronunciation used at court, and in public ofR- ces is kwan hwa, or iiutndarin* dialed. Tiiis dialect is in its essential fea- tures, the common language of the people in the provinces north of the Yang- tsi-kiang, in Si-chwcn, Yim-nan, Kwei-cheu, and in parts of Hu-nan and Kwang-.>i. At least, there is sufficient similarity in the sounds employed through this wide extent of country, embracing two-thirds of China, to war- rant their being called by a conmion name.
2. If is usual for the people, while includuig the dialects of so wide a ter-
ritorv under the designation Inran liwa. to distinguish them bv locals names:
e.g. S/iantmig' kwan hwa, the mandariti spoken in Shantiiug ; but it is still
• The word mandarin, ihoiich Portujjurse in origin, u too convrnicnl to Ik* rwi^nod .is an V.nz- lUh cqniv.ilcnt for Kwav. The term " court dialect " is not oxlrnnivi' cnoii;;h to nprocnt the public colloquial medium of conversation in all [(ulilic offirrx throu;;'' '''•" • fintry, nnd niiioni! thi- |>eop|e throujjhout twothirdu of it.
O .MA.NJiAlilN CiHAMMAH PAliT I.
correct to recognize the dialects of tlie provinces mentioned as Genuine man- darin, allowance beina made for some admixture ol hlaiig tan, or provincial- isms.
3 Naxking Mandarin. -The pronunciation of these regions readily se- parates into tlirce systems; that of Nanking, of Peking with the northern provinces, and of the wes'ern provinces. Jn the first of the systems, tlie words are distributed into five classes, with a tone proper to each. The fourth of these is short. The filth class does not admit the initials /•, /, y;, ch. ts with- out the aspirate. The final ii becomes ng^ after tlie vowels o, i. No conso- nant final exists except ;/ and //g, which is also true of all mandarin dialects.
The confusion of the finals ;/ and ng is not authorised by dictionaries, and should be marked as a defect to be avoided. Morrison and other writers, though professedly following the Nanking pronunciation, have been guided by the dictionaries, and the Peking dialect, where natives of Nanking are faulty, as in this instanc eaiid in confounding the initial n with /.
4 Peking Mandarin. — In the Peking dialect, ^ pj^" ching hwa, the words offourth tone-class are all distributed among the other four classes, Avith no rule but custom to determine into which they have wandered. The short vowels common to this class, are all lengthened so as to admit of their being pronounced with the long vowel tones. There is thesame rule as at Nanking respecting aspirates in the fifth tone-class, but words transferred from the fourth to that class, do not assume the aspirate, if it docs not belong to them original- ly. The finals n, 7ig, are kept distinct from each other after all vowels, and are the only consonants that can terminate a word. The initials /* and /,-, when they stand before i or w, change to s and ts (or ch.)*
5 Northern Provinces. — The pronunciation of the ncighbourino- pro- vinces is guided by similar laws. I3ut words of the fourth tone-class, in changing their class, and lengthening their vowels, do so without uniformity. Among the dissimilarities of the northern dialects, this is the chief Tiic ir-
♦ Scholars who arc nativos ol Pckirur clistinijuish the metropolitan dialect from the Kwan-hwa. SoundN used in reading:, and words found in i.rinted mandarin books, form tlie Kwan-hwa. i^ounds not used in readin? and words not found in l)ooks are referred to the local dialect. Of iho i)rr.>onal pronouns, npn. I, nl. 30U, are fvwnn-hwa, while vo and niii na arc Ching-hwa, — the first of tfiesc last inav on account of its almos>l universal use he called Ivwan-hvra.
CIIAPTKU 2. SVSTK.M OK MANDAUIN PRONUNCIATION. 9
regular distribution of the short-tone words, nmonjT the other tones, is found to extend southwards to the Yano-tsi-kiiiiiii: in llu-j)tli, but on the sea coast, not farther than the mouth of the \'('llo\v Kiver.
6 Westeun Mandakin. — 'riiroui^h pohtical and teinpoiary arrangements, the Peking dialect as that of the capital is the standard of Kwan-hwa, but true philology must embrace in its researches the whole territory, where in its es- sential characteristics, the same spoken laniruagc prevails. Accordingly a tliird mandarin system must here be introduced. The Nanking and Pekinji^ dialects are at least as wide apart, as that ot Si-c-hwen is from either of them. In fact, the tliree are varieties of the same great dialect.
In Wester)i Mamhirin, taking C'heng-tu-fu the capital of Si-c'hwen as the standard, there are four tone-classes; they are the first, second, third and filllr Words orisdually in the fourth or short tone-class, are here found to be all in the fifth, without however assuming the aspirate after /.-, /, c)'c., properly be- longing to that class, unless they had it originally.
The final ng, when it follows /, changes to n, so that sing , fainUij vavie for example, has tlie same pronunciation as sin, to believe. Tlie same law exists for the initials h and /.-, as in northern mandarin. Before the vowels /, w, they coalesce with 5 and ^.s\
The same system seems to be spread throughout. a great part of tlie western j)rovinces. It exists so far as respects the tone system, in Kwei-chcu and parts of Kwang-si.
7 ('ritkrion of Mandarin. — From tliis analysis of the preceding dialects, it aj)pears that mandarin, so far as sound is concerned, may be defined as that system which has either five or four tones, has only n and ng for consonant finals, and is wanlinor in the letters g^ d, 6, z, r, among its initials.
8 Standakl) of Mandarin. — l-^oreigners in writing Chinese sounds, have usually adopted a mixture of the Nanking and Peking proniincintion as a standard, and where it varies from the orthography of the national dictionaries, as given in initials and finals, the latter has been sometimes followed.* In the
• It h.os hrcn silrntlv tnkrn for c'Tinlrd l«v • -- that the ort' ' v of (nodrrn Jiclionarirs
reprosoiils thr proniini'i.'ition of oilier tiiii's. > in f • mfv ■ -■ tlictiunnries rcUin the
forj;otlcn sounds o( a tl)0U!ian(l vcam ajjo Mornv>n in pr> is vrrv useful syllatiir dir-iionary
from the native work Wu t'hc yun fu w ■■; n i ..i ir.- that iLl - ^ he followed were iiot Mandarin
at all, bnt «n obsolete pronunciation.
K
10 MANOARIN' GUAMiMAU. PART I.
present work, ali these modes ol proininciatioii, will be illustrated as far as appears suitable to the character oftlie book.
The Peking dialect must be studied by tliosewho would speak the language of the imperial court, and what is, when purified of its locahsms, the accre- dited kwan hwa of the empire. It has not been selected as the only standard of spelling in the ]iresent instance, because it is too far removed from the an- alogies of the dialects in the southern half of the country. While many de- tails respecting it will be found here, the form of tiie sounds hitherto adopted by ioreigners on the principle of compromise, will not be abandoned. The Pekinj? dialect is more fashionable, but that of Nanking is more widely under- stood and is better suited by its central situation to the scope of this work, which aims to collect and compare the characteristics of many dialects. The Peking sound of characters, where different from that of Nanking, will be usual- ly inserted in a parenthesis.
CHAPTER III.
On Tones.
Values of the vowels as used in this work.
Medial, i as in ring ; e as in run ; a as in rather ; o as in roll ; u as in r?de Final, i a^s in reel ; e as in there ; a as in rather ; oas ia yoq ; u as in trwe; u as in in ; i as in rattle.
1. In trcatino^ of tones, it is necessary to distinguish natural tones from TONE-CLASSES. By natural tones are meant certain injlcxions of the voice, and variations in time and pitch, used with vowels and consonants to form spoken words. By toiic-classcs arc meant those word-groups, into which the words of a dialect are divided, in order to receive the inflexions or other tonic variations preferred by that dialect. The tone-classes vary in num])er from four to ei<>-ht. The natural tones are upwards of twenty. From them each dialect chooses arbitrarily a set sufficient to furnish an intonation for each of the classes referred to. For example, in the Nanking dialect, the words are distributed inio live classes, ;iiid a distinctive intonation is applied to each
rilAl'TKK ."}. ON Tin: SAII l;\l ■v>\v II
thus j Ji -^- ni|i 'ji^ }j'\^ all written t'o, bclonjj to difTcront classes uiuuljcr- ed from I to V, and roceivc dillerent intonations.
On the Natural Tonks. 2. Till" natural tones nrc the even or monotone, the rising and fjillin" in- flexion, and the risini,' and tailing circnmncx. These five tones are donhled in nninhcr by pronouncinir them ([uickly and slowly. IJy placing the ten in tonations thus obtained, in a high or low key, they are still further increased- to twenty. Four more are formed by applying