Notes on the Finals of a Northwest Dialect of Tang Times

Notes on the Finals of a Northwest Dialect of Tang Times

本篇讀接已付印的拙著『晚唐西北方言聲母系統研究』來探討唐末「沙州T」方言的韵母系統。研究方法是依據邵榮芬先生所著『敦煌俗文學中的別字異文和唐五代西北方音』以斷定該方言的韵母歸類；然後用比較語言學方法，從現代西北方言音系追溯至唐末。最後以吐蕃時代藏文轉寫大乘中宗見解（TextT）的藏漢對音為旁證而測定其實際音值。

This paper is a companion and sequel to an earlier study, which dealt with the initials of a late Tang Chinese dialect of the Shazhou area. The name chosen for this hypothetical dialect is "Shazhou T". The present paper deals with the finals of the dialect. The primary basis for the sound categories of this language is Shao Rongfen's study of loangraph substitutions in Buddhist-oriented colloquial texts of late Tang Shazhou. The actual sound values reconstructed for this dialect are considered to be backward projections of the sound systems of certain modern northwest dialects. Specific information on the sound values is gleaned from the Tibetan transcriptions of the Dasheng zhongzong jianjie, which is widely referred to in Tibetological circles as "Text T".