上古漢語韻部的再分部－以月部為例

Further Dividing the Traditional Rhyme Groups in Old Chinese: Using the 月 Yuè Group as an Example

白一平(William H. BAXTER)

《饒宗頤國學院院刊》 6期 (2019/08) Pp. 29-71

摘要

從現代語言學的角度分析上古漢語音韻系統，有充分理由顯示上古漢語為六元音體系，即：*i、*ə、*u、*e、*o和*a。據本文分析所得，傳統月部包含押*-at、*-et和*-ot韻的字。假如我們同意韻腳應當有相同的主元音才能有規律地押韻，那麼可以推論傳統月部該細分為*-at、*-et和*-ot三個韻部。白一平《上古音手冊》（1992）作出了概率學分析，充分證明*-at、*-et和*-ot三部在《詩經》韻部中有明顯區別，足與六元音構擬所展示的其他差別互相印證。不過此一分析在數理上非常複雜，似未能說服太多同行。迄今為止修訂傳統韻部而獲得廣泛接納的韻部離析方案，當數王力教授提出的「脂微分部」，成功將江有誥的脂部分成脂、微兩部。王力的分析比《上古音手冊》的概率分析簡易，因此本文參照王力的方法，檢驗*-at、*-et、*-ot三部是否在《詩經》中各自為韻。結果是肯定的：有足夠證據揭示這三個韻部的區別，說服力不下於王力的脂微分部。

關鍵字

上古漢語 ； 六元音 ； 韻部離析 ； 月部 ； 脂部

並列摘要

Analysis of the Old Chinese phonological system from the point of view of modern linguistics strongly suggests that Old Chinese had a system of six main vowels: *i, *ə, *u, *e, *o, and *a. According to this analysis, the traditional 月 Yuè rhyme group include words with the rhymes *-at, *-et, and *-ot. If we adopt the natural assumption that words should have the same main vowel to rhyme regularly, this suggests that the traditional 月 Yuè rhyme group should actually be treated as three rhyme groups, *-at, *-et, and *-ot. A probabilistic analysis presented in Baxter (1992) strongly supports the conclusion that *-at, *-et, and *-ot really are distinguished in the rhymes of the Shījīng, as are other distinctions suggested by the six-vowel reconstruction. But that analysis is mathematically very complex, and has not proved convincing to many scholars in the field. In fact, the only significant revision of the traditional rhyme analysis that has been widely accepted is the proposal by Professor Wáng Lì 王力 that the 脂 Zhī rhyme group of Jiāng Yǒugào 江有誥should be split into a 脂 Zhī group and a 微 Wēi group. Wáng Lì's analysis is easier to follow than that in Baxter (1992), so in this paper I use a method modeled on Wáng Lì's approach to test whether *-at, *-et, and *-ot really do rhyme separately in the Shījīng. The result is positive: in fact, the evidence for these distinctions is at least as strong as the evidence for the distinction between the 脂 Zhī and 微 Wēi rhyme groups.

並列關鍵字

Old Chinese ； six main vowels ； rhyme group division ； 月Yuè group ； 脂Zhī group