從漢藏語的比較看上古漢語的詞頭問題

Prefixes in Old Chinese from the Perspective of Sino-Tibetan Comparative Studies

本文根據漢語內部語詞之間的語源關係，以及漢語與藏緬語同源詞的比較，討論上古漢語*s-，*r-，以及*N-三種詞頭。上古漢語*s-詞頭的研究，歷史最久，文獻也最豐富。本文從漢藏語比較研究的觀點，檢討過去的研究，提出作者的看法。本文提出上古漢語有*r-詞頭的假設，是從李方桂先生把知系字與照系字的上古音構擬為*tr-與*tsr-出發，根據漢藏同源詞的比較，指出對應關係顯示*r-音在前，且也往往扮演詞頭的角色。上古漢語的*N-詞頭，是為了要解釋漢語內部詞彙之間的語源關係、諧聲現象、語音變化、以及漢語與藏緬語之間若干不規則的對應關係，參酌與漢語同源的藏語詞頭及語音變化而提出的假設。

This paper discusses the prefixes *s-, *r-, and *N- in Old Chinese on the basis of etymological relationships among words in Chinese and the comparison of cognate words between Chinese and Tibeto-Burman. The study of the prefix *s- has a long history and abundunt literature. This paper reviews past studies and presents the writer’s view from the perspective of the comparative study of Sino-Tibetan languages. The prefix *r- is proposed based on the reconstructions of *tr- and *tsr- in Old Chinese by Fang-kuei Li. The correspondences between Chinese and Tibeto-Burman reveal that *r- occurred before initial consonants and sometimes played the role of a prefix. The hypothesis of the prefix *N- in Old Chinese is put forward on the basis of Sino Tibetan comparison, in order to account for regular as well as irregular sound correspondences between Chinese and Tibetan, etymological relationships among Chinese words, Xie-sheng contacts in Chinese characters, and sound changes in Chinese as well as in Tibetan.