论闽方言及其演变

Min Dialect and Its Evolution: A Discussion

闽方言如何形成及何时形成 ,是一个难以解答的问题。但采用地名相关分析法和字音分析法对现有认为闽语当是由吴语演变而来的证据进行再分析 ,结果表明 ,两种方法均不难归集到支持“闽语是由吴语演变而来”和支持“闽语是由中原语演变而来”的证据。双方证据相对均衡 ,从而并不特别支持“中原话为祖父辈 ,吴语是父亲辈 ,而闽语当属儿孙辈”之说法。

Contradictory to the assumption in the mainstream linguistics literature that Min Dialect evolved from ancient Mandarin spoken in the middle part of China (i.e., Henan province), some recent studies argue that Min Dialect evolved from Wu Dialect rather than ancient Mandarin. There is some evidence revealing that, since the reclamation of Fujian, the majority of the new settlers had migrated from Zhejiang, which is in turn reflected in the similarity of naming dwelling between the residents in Zhejiang and the immigrants in Fujian. Inspired by such a finding, the present paper examines closely the existing evidence by analyzing place names in Fujian Province and Zhejiang Province as well as analysing character pronunciation. It is then reasoned that, for those who support the argument that Min and Wu are from the same dialect family, the preferred evidence would be the finding of various character pronunciation, accent and place name which could only be found in both Fujian and Zhejiang but not elsewhere, and on the other hand, for those who are against the argument, the favourite evidence would be the collection of character pronunciation and place names which could only be found in Fujian but not in Zhejiang or the collection of character pronunciation and place names which could only be found in Zhejiang but not in Fujian. 2×2 contingent tables demonstrate that both supportive and unsupportive evidence could be easily granted by looking into both Min Dialect and Wu Dialect. In addition, some very unique character pronunciation (e.g., the verbs “kiss” and “give me a hand”) and place names (e.g.,“埕” and “厝”)used in Fujian are deliberately illustrated in the present study, suggesting that the semantic distance between Min Dialect and some non Chinese languages (such as English, Japanese and Malay) is much closer than that between Min Dialect and other Chinese dialects. In summary, mixed evidence of relationship between ancient Mandarin and the two dialects is somewhat at variance with the assertion that, analogously, ancient Mandarin could be seen as grandfather, Wu Dialect as father and Min Dialect as children or grandchildren.