吳語時間層次研究簡史－－兼憶周師祖謨先生

A brief history of the discovery of chronological strata in the Wu dialects and in memory of Professor Zhou Zumo

本文嘗試說明吳語的時間層次研究導源於周祖謨先生的三篇文章：〈萬象名義中之原本玉篇音系〉（1936），〈顏氏家訓音辭篇注補〉（1943）、〈切韻的性質和它的音系基礎〉（1963）。第三節假想周祖謨、董同龢兩位先生1936年在南京史語所宿舍裡的對話：夜闌人靜，論及音韻，因論南北是非，古今通塞。 Tung T'ung-ho (1911-1963) 董同龢 and Zhou Zumo (1914-1991) 周祖 謨 are two of the earliest members of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. On October 19, 1936 both of them went from Peking to Nanking to report for duty as Research Assistant of the Institute. Both of them were bachelors then and according to Zhou Zumo's own account, they shared a double room in the dormitory and often discussed phonological matters late into the night. What were the topics of their discussion? In Zhou Zumo's bibliography one can find his paper on the phonological system of the Yupian 玉篇 (1936), “An exegesis of the phonological chapter in Yan Zhitui's Family Instructions for the Yan Clan” 顏氏家訓音辭篇注補 (1943) and “The nature of the Qieyun 切韻 and the basis for its phonological system” 切韻的性質和它的音系基礎 (1963). In the last paper, Zhou Zumo showed that there were two major dialects during the Six Dynasties Period, the Jiangdong 江 東 dialect in the south and the Hebei 河北 dialect in the north, and that the Qieyun is a composite work, based upon two distinct dialects. Tung T'ung-ho on the other hand, always believed that the Qieyun is a unitary work. Zhou Zumo's work was to have a lasting influence in my attempt to understand the history of the Wu dialects. This paper imagines a dialogue between Zhou Zumo and Tung T'ung-ho in 1936-37 on the nature of the Qieyun. It is written as a tribute to my teachers.