Dialect Variations in Chinese, 81-95 Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology, Linguistics Section 2002-4-001-002-000032-2

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change

Chin-Chuan Cheng City University of Hong Kong

Languages Change all the time. But communication across living generations does not break down. On-going phonological changes in Chinese dialects were examined. The highest number of changes involved only six types. Moreover, in terms of phonology the maximal loss of mutual intelligibility index across living generations in about 100 years was 0.08. As an exercise of the predictive power of the constraint on phonological change for maintaining mutual intelligibility, this level of loss was compared with the calculated mutual intelligibility between the sound system of the Zhongyuan Yinyun of the 14th century and that of modern Beijing. The idea of the mutual intelligibility constraint can be utilized to evaluate historical reconstructions.

Lu Fayan (601) in Qieyun pioneered the Chinese phonological analysis for the ensuing millennium and a half. Within this tradition, sounds are analyzed in terms of the structure of the syllable consisting of initial, final, and tone. This tradition has provided useful constructs for research on historical evolution and dialect grouping. Modern linguistics in general also has a focus on structure, attempting to uncover the rules and conditions that interact to make up the language. We propose to do linguistics with a different concern. The Chinese language has a long recorded history. We can study the underlying principles that both allow and constrain historical changes. An underlying principle has to do with the maintenance of language intelligibility from one generation to another. Language is a common code for communication shared by a speech community. It could not change in large scale within a short period of time to interrupt communication. Maintenance of language mutual intelligibility

82／Chin-Chuan Cheng therefore is a constraint that prevents drastic innovation. Consequently finding out the degree of the constraint is a significant linguistic inquiry. My proposal for calculation of dialect mutual intelligibility in terms of phonology has been given in other writings (Cheng 1994a, 1996). Essentially the calculation involves the use of weights for various types of sound correspondence between two dialects. A syllable is divided into the initial, medial, vocalic elements, ending, and tone. The correspondence of these five elements can be regular with a large amount of cognate items to make a general rule. It can be irregular with only a few items and requires individual attention for understanding in communication. The regular correspondence is assigned a positive value and the irregular type a negative value. Later we will see more detail of the calculation in the Appendix. While reviews of the method have been published (Chen 1996, Zhang 1998) and minor improvements have been proposed (Cheng and Kuo 1999), here I will use the original quantification to work on the generational differences to derive intelligibility indices for a meaningful comparison with previous mutual intelligibility indices across dialects. I will examine the intelligibility index between old and young generations. This intelligibility index will then be used to predict the intelligibility between the speeches of historical stages from Middle Chinese to modern Beijing.

Phonological change between living generations

In a recent study of the phonological differences between the old and young generations as given in the Hanyu Fangyin Zihui Second Edition (Beijing University 1989), I have proposed the following views (Cheng 2000):

(1) 1. Putonghua dominance is a significant cause of current generational differences; 2. the most active changes in the speeches of the 20 dialect localities involve sibilants and nasals; 3. the number of the types of innovation in a language

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／83

community normally does not exceed six; 4. the mutual intelligibility index between the old and the young generations is normally around 0.92 out of a perfect score of 1.00.

The last two points are matters of language intelligibility. The number of phonological change is small in comparison with historical changes. For example, from Middle Chinese to modern dialects Chen (1976), Tsai-Fa Cheng (1985), and Ting (1982) list over a dozen types. I have examined the young generation innovations in the 20 dialects and found the highest number to be 6. Changes that involve modification of the phonological system, phonotactic conditions, or word contrasts can cause deterioration of mutual intelligibility. The observed maximum of six types may be significant in language cognition and communication. Naturally, if we record changes in the lexicon, many words disappear or appear during one’s life time. But introduction or demise of words has no particular effects on systematic configurations. I will use Guangzhou and Jinan to show the phonological generation gap. The Guangzhou young generation has the following change in phonology:

(2) 1. Merger of zero and 1 initials into zero initial; 2. lost of the rounded medial after velars; 3. merger of n and l into n/l.

These changes affected 466 of the 3,666 morphemes (including multiple readings) given in the DOC database based on the Hanyu Fangyin Zihui (Cheng 1994b). We calculated mutual intelligibility in two steps. First we take the speech of the old generation as the source language and that of the young generation as the target language and calculated the unidirectional intelligibility. Then we exchanged the source and target and calculated the second unidirectional intelligibility. Here for Guangzhou the calculated unidirectional intelligibility indices are 0.922 and 0.920, with very little difference.

84／Chin-Chuan Cheng

Jinan has been reported to have the following phonological innovations:

(3) 1. Merger of zero and 1 initials into zero initial: This change affects 40 words in 1 to merge with 404 words in zero initial. 2. 曾梗攝莊組 /t‰ t‰+ ‰/ changed to /ts ts+ s/: 側側測嗇色 責策冊窄爭箏睜生生甥牲省 3. 日母合口 /l/ changed to //: 如如如如儒乳辱入褥蕊肉 軟戎絨茸 4. 通攝精組㆔等 finals /iu1, y/ changed to /u1, u/: 足俗 肅宿粟續宿蹤縱松 5. 曾梗攝㆒㆓等入聲 finals /ei, uei/ changed to /), u)/: 得德特勒則擇澤責策冊塞格隔克刻客嚇伯迫魄墨默陌 或白百柏拍麥脈摘宅窄拆北肋賊黑

These changes affected 483 of the 3,650 morphemes. And the two unidirectional intelligibility indices between the old and the new are 0.919 and 0.920. It is perhaps significant that the mutual intelligibility indices for both Guangzhou and Jinan are around 0.920. As the perfect score for intelligibility is 1, the loss of intelligibility score is 0.08 here. These two localities have more drastic living generation changes than other dialects. I will therefore postulate that the maximum of allowed phonological gap between the old and the young in a community is 0.08. To understand the 0.920 level or the 0.08 gap, we need to compare the mutual intelligibility across dialects. The figures calculated in a report published elsewhere (Cheng 1994b) are given in Table 1. As we can see in Figure 1, the highest mutually intelligible pair is Hankou and Chengdu with an index of 0.795. Empirically we know that these two speeches have no significant problems in communication. Beijing and Guanzhou are not mutually intelligible, and their index is 0.475.

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／85

Table 1: Dialect mutual intelligibility

北 濟 西 太 漢 成 揚 蘇 溫 長 雙 南 梅 廣 廈 潮

京 南 安 原 口 都 州 州 州 沙 峰 昌 縣 州 門 州 濟 .719 南 西 .685 .768 安 太 .608 .607 .614 原 漢 .727 .588 .635 .582 口 成 .726 .657 .693 .616 .795 都 揚 .541 .568 .641 .631 .578 .610 州 蘇 .499 .511 .548 .558 .549 .545 .608 州 溫 .394 .428 .441 .442 .422 .441 .407 .512 州 長 .609 .556 .593 .524 .676 .660 .529 .525 .476 沙 雙 .490 .481 .488 .427 .530 .506 .459 .501 .448 .499 峰 南 .582 .498 .533 .564 .602 .618 .543 .540 .422 .543 .501 昌 梅 .528 .465 .490 .546 .562 .572 .502 .526 .451 .524 .436 .656 縣 廣 .475 .454 .455 .446 .470 .454 .467 .483 .471 .433 .371 .495 .547 州 廈 .480 .439 .471 .472 .507 .477 .459 .493 .398 .418 .424 .513 .523 .474 門 潮 .443 .415 .465 .516 .468 .499 .475 .469 .445 .445 .353 .495 .497 .435 .504 州 福 .513 .462 .481 .541 .482 .514 .496 .484 .452 .467 .402 .542 .548 .469 .516 .550 州

We use 0.08 as an allowed loss of intelligibility for living generations. What is the duration of a living generation? The answer depends on life expectancy. Perhaps living generations can span one hundred years. Let me now use 0.08 loss for intelligibility for every one hundred years as a general guide to view intelligibility between historical stages.

86／Chin-Chuan Cheng

Intelligibility between historical stages

The Zhongyuan Yinyun was compiled in 1324, six hundred years ago. During these six centuries the loss of intelligibility would be 0.08*6=0.48. Thus if we expect the intelligibility index between Zhongyuan Yinyun and modern Beijing to be around 1-0.48=0.52. The actually calculated unidirectional intelligibility indices are as follows:

(4) Beijing - Zhongyuan: 0.608 Zhongyuan - Beijing: 0.623

The difference between 0.52 and 0.608 or 0.623 is larger than expected. In this connection we need to reflect on matter: is the rate of loss of intelligibility constant over time? The lexicon can change rapidly due to political or cultural power dominance or close contact with other languages. Phonology may also change at different rates over time. A view of constant loss of intelligibility over generations might not be realistic for all historical stages. The 0.08 figure we proposed is meant for the constraint that limits the phonological change and therefore can be thought of as the maximum at any time. Thus the higher Beijing - Zhongyuan Yinyun indices are not indications of failure of the predictive power of the intelligibility constraint. We are now faced with some challenges. The intelligibility indices across the stages represented by the Qieyun, Zhongyuan Yinyun, Yunlue Huitong, and Modern Beijing should not be lower than the predicted amounts:

(5) Qieyun (601) - Zhongyuan Yinyun (1324) intelligibility: 1-(0.08*7) = 0.44 Zhongyuan Yinyun (1324) - Yunlue Huitong (17th C.): 1-(0.08*3) = 0.76 Yunlue Huitong (17th C.) - Modern Beijing (20th C.): 1-(0.08*3) = 0.76

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／87

We have yet to add the reconstructed values of the more than 3,000 words each for some of these rhyme books to our computer file for calculation of mutual intelligibility. This requires the work by others in historical reconstruction. It will also demand much of our time to prepare the material for calculation. However, I also see a significant advantage in dealing with language mutual intelligibility. In the past we reconstruct the phonology of a stage according to written documents, dialectal information, and reasonableness. This reasonableness mostly concerns language universals, typology, and others. Now we can add the quantitative mutual intelligibility constraint to check the plausibility of the reconstructed systems between two historical stages.

Appendix Calculation of Beijing - Zhongyuan Yinyun unidirectional intelligibility

The assignments of the weights for correspondence patterns are the following: When the correspondence has the number of cognates larger than the mean of all the patterns involving one source sound, it is considered a “signal” for communication enhancement. Otherwise it is taken as “noise” to interfere with communication.

Signal Noise For each item in a pattern, the target-dialect’s phonological a. element is the same as that of the source dialect: 0.20 -0.05 b. element is different from that of the source dialect i. and does not occur in the source dialect: 0.10 -0.10 ii. and occurs elsewhere in the source dialect: 0.05 -0.20

Phonological Categories in the first column are 1-Initial, 2-Medial, 3-Rime, 4-Ending, 5-Tone. The other columns are: Source Sound, target Sound, Number of Items, Group Total, Group Mean, Weight, Pattern Value, Cumulative Value.

88／Chin-Chuan Cheng

Let us look at the zero initial in Beijing. It corresponds to six initials in the Zhongyuan Yinyun. The total number of cognates is 239. The mean of 239 divided by 6 is 39.83. The zero initial of Beijing corresponding to the zero initial of the Zhongyuan Yinyun involves 207 cognates. The number 207 is larger than the mean. It is a signal type and the identical nature of the correspondence is given the weight of .20. The pattern value is 41.40 (0.20 * 207). And initially the cumulative value is 41.40.

1 207 239 39.83 0.20 41.40 41.40 1 v 22 239 39.83 -0.10 -2.20 39.20 1 n 2 239 39.83 -0.20 -0.40 38.80 1 ts 1 239 39.83 -0.20 -0.20 38.60 1 = 5 239 39.83 -0.10 -0.50 38.10 1 k 2 239 39.83 -0.20 -0.40 37.70

1 p p 127 131 65.50 0.20 25.40 63.10 1 p p+ 4 131 65.50 -0.20 -0.80 62.30

1 p+ p 12 85 42.50 -0.20 -2.40 59.90 1 p+ p+ 73 85 42.50 0.20 14.60 74.50

1 m p 1 86 28.67 -0.20 -0.20 74.30 1 m m 84 86 28.67 0.20 16.80 91.10 1 m v 1 86 28.67 -0.10 -0.10 91.00 1 f p+ 3 75 37.50 -0.20 -0.60 90.40 1 f f 72 75 37.50 0.20 14.40 104.80

1 t v 4 127 21.17 -0.10 -0.40 104.40 1 t t 115 127 21.17 0.20 23.00 127.40 1 t t+ 2 127 21.17 -0.20 -0.40 127.00 1 t n 1 127 21.17 -0.20 -0.20 126.80 1 t ts 3 127 21.17 -0.20 -0.60 126.20 1 t t6 2 127 21.17 -0.10 -0.20 126.00

1 t+ t 11 98 32.67 -0.20 -2.20 123.80 1 t+ t+ 85 98 32.67 0.20 17.00 140.80 1 t+ t6+ 2 98 32.67 -0.10 -0.20 140.60

1 n 4 55 18.33 -0.20 -0.80 139.80

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／89

1 n n 47 55 18.33 0.20 9.40 149.20 1 n l 4 55 18.33 -0.20 -0.80 148.40

1 ts t 1 82 27.33 -0.20 -0.20 148.20 1 ts ts 75 82 27.33 0.20 15.00 163.20 1 ts t6 6 82 27.33 -0.10 -0.60 162.60

1 ts+ ts 2 48 9.60 -0.20 -0.40 162.20 1 ts+ ts+ 36 48 9.60 0.20 7.20 169.40 1 ts+ s 2 48 9.60 -0.20 -0.40 169.00 1 ts+ t6 4 48 9.60 -0.10 -0.40 168.60 1 ts+ t6+ 4 48 9.60 -0.10 -0.40 168.20

1 s s 65 71 23.67 0.20 13.00 181.20 1 s t6+ 1 71 23.67 -0.10 -0.10 181.10 1 s 6 5 71 23.67 -0.10 -0.50 180.60

1 l l 120 120 120.00 0.20 24.00 204.60

1 tÝ 1 198 49.50 -0.20 -0.20 204.40 1 tÝ ts 42 198 49.50 -0.20 -8.40 196.00 1 tÝ k 152 198 49.50 0.05 7.60 203.60 1 tÝ x 3 198 49.50 -0.20 -0.60 203.00

1 tÝ+ ts 1 82 16.40 -0.20 -0.20 202.80 1 tÝ+ ts+ 29 82 16.40 0.05 1.45 204.25 1 tÝ+ t6+ 3 82 16.40 -0.10 -0.30 203.95 1 tÝ+ k 2 82 16.40 -0.20 -0.40 203.55 1 tÝ+ k+ 47 82 16.40 0.05 2.35 205.90

1 Ý s 55 120 24.00 0.05 2.75 208.65 1 Ý t6+ 3 120 24.00 -0.10 -0.30 208.35 1 Ý k 1 120 24.00 -0.20 -0.20 208.15 1 Ý k+ 1 120 24.00 -0.20 -0.20 207.95 1 Ý x 60 120 24.00 0.05 3.00 210.95

1 t‰ ts 2 156 39.00 -0.20 -0.40 210.55 1 t‰ t6 140 156 39.00 0.10 14.00 224.55 1 t‰ t6+ 4 156 39.00 -0.10 -0.40 224.15 1 t‰ 6 10 156 39.00 -0.10 -1.00 223.15

90／Chin-Chuan Cheng

1 t‰+ t6 11 117 29.25 -0.10 -1.10 222.05 1 t‰+ t6+ 102 117 29.25 0.10 10.20 232.25 1 t‰+ 6 3 117 29.25 -0.10 -0.30 231.95 1 t‰+ k+ 1 117 29.25 -0.20 -0.20 231.75

1 ‰ s 2 150 75.00 -0.20 -0.40 231.35 1 ‰ 6 148 150 75.00 0.10 14.80 246.15

1  5 42 21.00 -0.20 -1.00 245.15 1  = 37 42 21.00 0.10 3.70 248.85

1 k k 87 91 45.50 0.20 17.40 266.25 1 k x 4 91 45.50 -0.20 -0.80 265.45

1 k+ k 1 34 17.00 -0.20 -0.20 265.25 1 k+ k+ 33 34 17.00 0.20 6.60 271.85

1 x x 95 95 95.00 0.20 19.00 290.85

2 1067 1594 398.50 0.20 213.40 504.25 2 u 40 1594 398.50 -0.20 -8.00 496.25 2 y 16 1594 398.50 -0.20 -3.20 493.05 2 i 471 1594 398.50 0.05 23.55 516.60

2 u 88 288 72.00 0.05 4.40 521.00 2 u u 171 288 72.00 0.20 34.20 555.20 2 u y 22 288 72.00 -0.20 -4.40 550.80 2 u i 7 288 72.00 -0.20 -1.40 549.40

2 y 4 49 16.33 -0.20 -0.80 548.60 2 y y 36 49 16.33 0.20 7.20 555.80 2 y i 9 49 16.33 -0.20 -1.80 554.00

2 i 59 371 123.67 -0.20 -11.80 542.20 2 i y 8 371 123.67 -0.20 -1.60 540.60 2 i i 304 371 123.67 0.20 60.80 601.40

3 a a 375 495 82.50 0.20 75.00 676.40 3 a au 1 495 82.50 -0.20 -0.20 676.20 3 a e 59 495 82.50 -0.20 -11.80 664.40

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／91

3 a  2 495 82.50 -0.20 -0.40 664.00 3 a u 4 495 82.50 -0.20 -0.80 663.20 3 a o 54 495 82.50 -0.20 -10.80 652.40

3 au au 163 171 42.75 0.20 32.60 685.00 3 au u 2 171 42.75 -0.20 -0.40 684.60 3 au o 4 171 42.75 -0.20 -0.80 683.80 3 au ou 2 171 42.75 -0.20 -0.40 683.40

3 an ai 1 1 1.00 0.05 0.05 683.45

3 ai a 2 99 49.50 -0.20 -0.40 683.05 3 ai ai 97 99 49.50 0.20 19.40 702.45

3 e au 4 72 18.00 -0.20 -0.80 701.65 3 e ai 16 72 18.00 -0.20 -3.20 698.45 3 e e 51 72 18.00 0.20 10.20 708.65 3 e o 1 72 18.00 -0.20 -0.20 708.45

3 ei ai 1 99 24.75 -0.20 -0.20 708.25 3 ei ei 93 99 24.75 0.20 18.60 726.85 3 ei i 4 99 24.75 -0.20 -0.80 726.05 3 ei — 1 99 24.75 -0.20 -0.20 725.85

3 ( a 15 139 46.33 -0.20 -3.00 722.85 3 ( e 118 139 46.33 0.05 5.90 728.75 3 (  6 139 46.33 -0.20 -1.20 727.55

3  a 7 185 46.25 -0.20 -1.40 726.15 3   151 185 46.25 0.20 30.20 756.35 3  u 26 185 46.25 -0.20 -5.20 751.15 3  o 1 185 46.25 -0.20 -0.20 750.95

3 ³ — 5 5 5.00 0.05 0.25 751.20

3 u au 2 269 67.25 -0.20 -0.40 750.80 3 u  1 269 67.25 -0.20 -0.20 750.60 3 u u 265 269 67.25 0.20 53.00 803.60 3 u ou 1 269 67.25 -0.20 -0.20 803.40

92／Chin-Chuan Cheng

3 y  16 71 23.67 -0.20 -3.20 800.20 3 y u 53 71 23.67 0.05 2.65 802.85 3 y i 2 71 23.67 -0.20 -0.40 802.45

3 i a 1 317 79.25 -0.20 -0.20 802.25 3 i ei 7 317 79.25 -0.20 -1.40 800.85 3 i  150 317 79.25 0.05 7.50 808.35 3 i i 159 317 79.25 0.20 31.80 840.15

3 — i 2 31 15.50 -0.20 -0.40 839.75 3 — — 29 31 15.50 0.20 5.80 845.55

3 Ž i 39 67 33.50 0.05 1.95 847.50 3 Ž — 28 67 33.50 -0.20 -5.60 841.90

3 o au 8 96 16.00 -0.20 -1.60 840.30 3 o ai 6 96 16.00 -0.20 -1.20 839.10 3 o $u 11 96 16.00 -0.10 -1.10 838.00 3 o ei 1 96 16.00 -0.20 -0.20 837.80 3 o u 8 96 16.00 -0.20 -1.60 836.20 3 o o 62 96 16.00 0.20 12.40 848.60

3 ou au 2 110 36.67 -0.20 -0.40 848.20 3 ou u 8 110 36.67 -0.20 -1.60 846.60 3 ou ou 100 110 36.67 0.20 20.00 866.60

3 ) a 1 75 10.71 -0.20 -0.20 866.40 3 ) au 5 75 10.71 -0.20 -1.00 865.40 3 ) ai 14 75 10.71 0.05 0.70 866.10 3 ) e 27 75 10.71 0.05 1.35 867.45 3 ) ei 4 75 10.71 -0.20 -0.80 866.65 3 ) — 3 75 10.71 -0.20 -0.60 866.05 3 ) o 21 75 10.71 0.05 1.05 867.10

4 1331 1335 333.75 0.20 266.20 1133.30 4 n 1 1335 333.75 -0.20 -0.20 1133.10 4 1 2 1335 333.75 -0.20 -0.40 1132.70 4  1 1335 333.75 -0.10 -0.10 1132.60

4 n 2 521 130.25 -0.20 -0.40 1132.20

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／93

4 n m 123 521 130.25 -0.10 -12.30 1119.90 4 n n 393 521 130.25 0.20 78.60 1198.50 4 n 1 3 521 130.25 -0.20 -0.60 1197.90

4 1 6 446 148.67 -0.20 -1.20 1196.70 4 1 n 1 446 148.67 -0.20 -0.20 1196.50 4 1 1 439 446 148.67 0.20 87.80 1284.30

5 214 3 426 85.20 -0.10 -0.30 1284.00 5 214 13 30 426 85.20 -0.10 -3.00 1281.00 5 214 22 343 426 85.20 0.10 34.30 1315.30 5 214 35 17 426 85.20 -0.20 -3.40 1311.90 5 214 53 33 426 85.20 -0.10 -3.30 1308.60

5 35 2 503 100.60 -0.10 -0.20 1308.40 5 35 13 434 503 100.60 0.10 43.40 1351.80 5 35 22 48 503 100.60 -0.10 -4.80 1347.00 5 35 35 11 503 100.60 -0.05 -0.55 1346.45 5 35 53 8 503 100.60 -0.10 -0.80 1345.65

5 51 3 789 157.80 -0.10 -0.30 1345.35 5 51 13 33 789 157.80 -0.10 -3.30 1342.05 5 51 22 75 789 157.80 -0.10 -7.50 1334.55 5 51 35 20 789 157.80 -0.20 -4.00 1330.55 5 51 53 658 789 157.80 0.10 65.80 1396.35

5 55 1 584 116.80 -0.10 -0.10 1396.25 5 55 13 49 584 116.80 -0.10 -4.90 1391.35 5 55 22 85 584 116.80 -0.10 -8.50 1382.85 5 55 35 415 584 116.80 0.05 20.75 1403.60 5 55 53 34 584 116.80 -0.10 -3.40 1400.20 Total number of morphemic syllables: 2302 Cumulative value: 1400.20 Unidirectional intelligibility: 0.608

94／Chin-Chuan Cheng

References

Beijing University. 1989. 漢語方音字匯（第㆓版）[Chinese Dialect Character Pronunciation List, Second Edition]. Beijing: Wenzi Gaige Chubanshe. Chen, Hailun (陳海倫). 1996.〈論方言相關度、相似度、溝通度指標問 題〉，《㆗國語文》1996.5:361-368。 Chen, Matthew Y. 1976. From Middle Chinese to modern Peking. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 4.2-3:113-277. Cheng, Chin-Chuan (鄭錦全). 1994a.〈漢語方言溝通度的計算〉，《㆗ 國語文》1994.1:35-43。 Cheng, Chin-Chuan. 1994b. DOC: Its birth and life. In Honor of William S-Y. Wang: Interdisciplinary Studies on Language and Language Change, ed. by Chen and Tzeng, 71-86. Taipei: Pyramid Press. Cheng, Chin-Chuan. 1996. Quantifying dialect mutual intelligibility. New Horizons in Chinese Linguistics, ed. by Huang and Li, 269-292. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Cheng, Chin-Chuan. 2000. Phonological generation gap. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics. Cheng, Chin-Chuan, and Shiun-Zu Kuo. 1999. Formulation of sound correspondence patterns between Southern Min and Cantonese. Paper presented at the 11th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Cheng, Tsai-Fa. 1985. Ancient Chinese and Early Mandarin. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series No.2. Berkeley: Journal of Chinese Linguistics. Ting, Pang-hsin (㆜邦新). 1982.〈漢語方言區分的條件〉，《清華學報》 新 14:257-273。 Zhang, Shuzheng (張樹錚). 1998.〈關於方言溝通度和方音理解的幾個問 題〉，《㆗國語文》1998.3:201-207。

Language Intelligibility as a Constraint on Phonological Change／95

語言溝通度對音韻變化的制約

鄭錦全 香港城市大學

語言隨時在變化，但是生活在㆒起的兩代之間，語言溝通並沒有斷絕。 我們檢查漢語方言正在進行的變化，發現音韻變化最多只有六類；還有，100 年內兩代音韻方面的溝通度的失落指數最多是 0.08。這是溝通需求對音變的 制約。為了驗證這個論點，我們計算出㆗原音韻的構擬和現代北京話之間的 溝通度來比較。這種溝通度制約的觀點可以用來評鑑音韻歷史構擬。