On Tán/Tán Distinction in Modern Xiang Dialects and the Reconstruction in Proto Xiang

Abstract

According to Qièyùn, Tán (覃) and Tán (談) are two distinct rhymes, i.e. double rhyme, in Xián Shè Grade I. From the historical Chinese phonology perspective, the Northern people who spoke the Northern dialect started merging Tán / Tán distinction at early Tang Dynasty but, relatively, the Southern people retained it. In other words, Tán / Tán distinction is an important phonological feature to divide the early Chinese dialects into Northern group and Southern group. Recent researches shows that Tán / Tán distinction still obtain in modern Chinese dialects, such as Wú, Mĭn and Gàn dialects. However, the question ‘if Tán / Tán distinction obtains in modern Xiang dialect’ is under debate until now. This article would like to examine 12 modern Xiang dialects and explore the phenomena and phonological contrast in Xiang dialects. Furthermore, this article also tried to reconstruction the proto forms for Tán / Tán rhymes. This article not only focused on the phonological contrast provided by Qièyùn framework but also noticed the colloquial lexicons, which retained the early distinction. The main conclusions are as follows:1.From the viewpoint of phonological contrast, only one kind of Xiang dialect subcategories, i.e. Lóu-Shào Piàn, obtains Tán / Tán distinction. The distinction has been dropped in Cháng Yì Piàn and Xù Pŭ Piàn.2.From the viewpoint of colloquial lexicon, there are still four lexicons with Tán / Tán distinction. Those lexicons are distributed in modern Xiang dialects more or less. 3. From the viewpoint of historical linguistics, the Tán (覃) rhyme after velar initials could be reconstructed as *-oN and *-oʔ and the Tán (談) rhyme as *ɑN and *ɑʔ after the same initial environment. It shows that Tán / Tán distinction is partially remained in Xiang dialects. The main vowel *-o in *oN and *-oɁ finals tends to vowel breaking and so the reflections of *oN and *oʔ in modern Xiang dialects include -uẽ, -uɛ̃, -ua and -ue etc.