Loanwords as Evidence for Old Chinese Uvular Initials

Loanwords as Evidence for Old Chinese Uvular Initials

In a recent article (Pulleyblank 1977-78) it was proposed to reconstruct final uvulars, *-q and *-b, as well as palatals, *-c, *-ɲ, *-j, and labialvelars, *-kw, *-ŋw, *-w. Though this proposal is based primarily on internal reconstruction of the Shijing rhyme categories, the reconstruction of palatals and labialvelars gains support from the fact that we have independent grounds for reconstructing such consonants initially also. The fact that in several Middle Chinese rhymes distinctive kaikou and hekou finals are only found after back initials provides prima ficie evidence for labialvelars as a distinct category in Old Chinese (Pulleyblank 1962). F. K. Li (1974-75) also reconstructs such consonants initially as well as finally.