摘要
本研究涉及音韻、構詞和句法。人稱代詞音韻演變包括*-m＞-n以及大部分*ŋ-的丟失。本研究進一步得到以下幾個認知：（1）周德清的《中原音韻》乃是改寫並補充卓從之的《中州樂府音韻類編》；（2）《中原音韻》資料若有誤，可以參考卓從之的《中州樂府音韻類編》來訂正；（3）早期官話尚有疑母的殘留；（4）周德清的《中原音韻》並非就是現代北方官話的祖語。元曲人稱代詞系統遠比現代北方官話豐富、複雜。除了今日大家所熟悉的「我、你、您、他」之外，還有「俺」、「吾」、「喒」、「咱」、「自家」、「恁」、「伊」等詞。這些人稱代詞在各種不同的劇本中出現的次數有相當大的差異，可能顯示不同作者的作品有時代和次方言的差異。早期官話還有「儂」是第一人稱，元曲資料卻很少見。「咱」字有這三種用法：人稱代詞、語法助詞、「自家」的合音；「儂」和「恁」也各有二、三種不同的功用。現代北方官話區分「咱們」（包括式）和「我們」（排除式），早期官話雖已有這種對比，但還不一定分得很清楚。早期官話有些人稱代詞，如「俺」*iam、「您」*niəm、「喒」*tsam都收*-m尾表複數，本來都只當複數使用，後來才轉而作單數使用。早期官話常以「每」附在人稱代詞或屬人名詞之後表複數。
並列摘要
Early Mandarin has a much larger number of personal pronouns than Modern Mandarin. Many of them (俺, 吾, 咱, 喒, 伊, 自家) have gone out of use or are retained only in a few minor modern dialects today. Three monosyllabic pronominal forms in Early Mandarin contain the plural-marking suffix *-m: 俺 *ia-m '1PL, EXCL', 喒 *tsa-m '1PL, INCL', and 您 *niə-m '2PL'. These pronouns functioned as plurals at an earlier stage, but later also singulars. The distinction between inclusive and exclusive forms was discernible in some examples, but not always clear, during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). Linguistic evidence indicates that Modern Mandarin is not directly inherited from Early Mandarin as represented by Zhongyuan Yinyun. There seems to be at least an active morphological process of suffixing *-m to the human nominals in the 13th and 14th centuries, which is lost in modern Mandarin. Three monosyllabic pronominal forms were then replaced by disyllabic forms during this period. These two changes, from inflectional to isolating and from monosyllabic to disyllabic, can be considered significant morphological changes that were taking place six to seven hundred years ago. Sound changes involving personal pronouns are also discussed in this paper. Errors can be detected in the data of Zhou Deqing's Zhongyuan Yinyun, which should be double-checked with another rhyme book produced a little earlier. There are still remnants of the initial *ŋ- in Early Mandarin, contrary to what was claimed by T'ung-ho Tung. The same Chinese characters, including 咱, 儂, 恁, may have two or three entirely different functions.